Overcharged by nPower?

AdamantUK

I'm with nPower and have been on a fixed price tariff with them since April 2013, fixed until August 2014.

They sent me a letter around December telling me they were changing the way they did the DD discount which was previously applied once a year and will now give a proportional discount every month.

I read it pretty well as wondered what happened about the credit I'd already built up as I was probably half way through the year but it says I'll receive it as a credit and then go monthly.

I've not received this credit yet but I'll chase that with them.

I've had my bill come through and, around the time they sent me the letter it looks like they put me on a higher tariff for a couple of weeks. I guess this is when they changed their internal tariffs to the new proportional discount but isn't this completely wrong?

I raised a ticket with them and haven't had a response yet but would appreciate everyone's comments as I can't be the only one this has happened to and it may only be a couple of pounds but times the number of customers they have...

Hopefully someone can see if they can decode the bill any better than I can and maybe I'm wrong!

I've obfuscated the exact pennies and kWh used to hopefully not be identifiable from the bill.

Adam

I'm not allowed to post links so the url of my bill is tinypic.com/r/1zodi0k/8

ebayingnovice

I have moved to on line billing and logged on today find out the balance was after my mid February meter reading. It looks as if I won't be billed until August 2014. Is there an alternative to using an an old bill and working it out with a pencil. Some humour in that there is a video presentation on the site saying how clear their new bills are. Not helpful if you have not had a bill for 6 months.

AdamantUK

I know, I think of myself as fairly "financially savvy" but, as per my initial post, I *think* they've overcharged me (and possibly lots of others) but don't want to go kicking up a fuss without being sure!

nPower

AdamantUK wrote: »

I'm with nPower and have been on a fixed price tariff with them since April 2013, fixed until August 2014.

They sent me a letter around December telling me they were changing the way they did the DD discount which was previously applied once a year and will now give a proportional discount every month.

I read it pretty well as wondered what happened about the credit I'd already built up as I was probably half way through the year but it says I'll receive it as a credit and then go monthly.

I've not received this credit yet but I'll chase that with them.

I've had my bill come through and, around the time they sent me the letter it looks like they put me on a higher tariff for a couple of weeks. I guess this is when they changed their internal tariffs to the new proportional discount but isn't this completely wrong?

I raised a ticket with them and haven't had a response yet but would appreciate everyone's comments as I can't be the only one this has happened to and it may only be a couple of pounds but times the number of customers they have...

Hopefully someone can see if they can decode the bill any better than I can and maybe I'm wrong!

I've obfuscated the exact pennies and kWh used to hopefully not be identifiable from the bill.

Adam

I'm not allowed to post links so the url of my bill is tinypic.com/r/1zodi0k/8

Hello AdamantUK,

Thank you for your post.

Your discount that you have built up, up until the change date will be applied on your annual statement. If you would like me to look into your account and see when you will get your discount please send me your details on an email to the address on my profile page and I'll be more than happy to look into this for you.

Thanks

Carmel

jbuchanangb

You said you are on a tariff with the price fixed until August 2014. The name of the tariff you are on, according to your bill is "Energy Online August 2014". The word "Fix" does not appear. I am on a tariff called "Online Price Fix August 2014".

Your tariff is one in which, until August 2014, NPower will keep the rates a certain percentage below their standard rate, but if their standard rate goes up, your rate goes up.

Having said that, it does look as though they have charged you a higher than usual standing charge for 14 days from 1 December to 14 December, which is worth querying with them.

My tariff is one where the rates stay the same until August 2014, even if their standard rates go up.

As regards the dual fuel and direct debit discounts. NPower were forced by OFCOM to discontinue the one-year lock-in whereby you had to stay with them for a whole year before you received the dual fuel and direct debit discounts.

This meant that they had to make a one-off backdated credit to everyone for the discounts from the last anniversary up to a certain date, and after that they have to apply the discount on a daily basis included in every half-yearly bill.

I have checked my account on-line today, and I have found that they have credited £15.54 to the account which is the correct amount of backdated discount for my situation.

Unless the tariff name has the word "Fix" in it, the rates are not fixed, only the term of the deal.