No Monthly Readings to NPower

schrodie

We're told by MSE and other consumer organisations to provide monthly gas and electricity meter readings to our energy supplier; however NPower has told me not to do this as every time I do their computer system issues a bill and recalculates my DD (invariably) upward and as I've only been with them for 5 months isn't exactly an accurate reflection of my annual consumption this despite having given NPower annual consumption figures for both gas and electricity for the previous 3 three years. They've told me also that my meter will be read twice a year!

Should I ignore this advice and continue to give NPower monthly readings.

scaredofdebt

If you're getting a bill every time you are giving the readings then the person you are speaking to doesn't know what they are doing.

Do you give readings over the phone? Just say when you give the readings that you don't want a bill and you won't get one. Assuming you are on a Monthly Fixed Direct Debit then you only get billed automatically every six months and that's when the Direct Debit is reassessed.

Direct Debits are also reassessed if you change tariff and you can ask them to do this manually at any time.

But nPower's systems are a complete shambles so anything can happen!

The more often you give readings the less likely the chance of getting an estimated bill and when there is an estimate it is likely to be more accurate. Once a month is good if you can be bothered.

schrodie

scaredofdebt wrote: »

If you're getting a bill every time you are giving the readings then the person you are speaking to doesn't know what they are doing.

Do you give readings over the phone? Just say when you give the readings that you don't want a bill and you won't get one. Assuming you are on a Monthly Fixed Direct Debit then you only get billed automatically every six months and that's when the Direct Debit is reassessed.

Direct Debits are also reassessed if you change tariff and you can ask them to do this manually at any time.

But nPower's systems are a complete shambles so anything can happen!

The more often you give readings the less likely the chance of getting an estimated bill and when there is an estimate it is likely to be more accurate. Once a month is good if you can be bothered.

I use NPower's wonderful online account system. I'll try phoning readings through which really negates the whole point of having an online account but I'll have to set aside at least an hour to get throughout as that's normally how long it takes me to get through to NPower!!

victor2

schrodie wrote: »

We're told by MSE and other consumer organisations to provide monthly gas and electricity meter readings to our energy supplier; however NPower has told me not to do this as every time I do their computer system issues a bill and recalculates my DD (invariably) upward and as I've only been with them for 5 months isn't exactly an accurate reflection of my annual consumption this despite having given NPower annual consumption figures for both gas and electricity for the previous 3 three years. They've told me also that my meter will be read twice a year!

Should I ignore this advice and continue to give NPower monthly readings.

EDF's system used to be like that. I stopped giving them readings because every time I did my DD would be increased, when I knew I was paying enough. They knew it was a problem and said for about a year that it would be fixed. It has improved now. For the last 5 or 6 months I have given them readings and they have generated a bill and adjusted the DD, but by a much more realistic amount and even down one month!

From what we hear, nPower's billing system is completely screwed up, so you might be better not giving them monthly readings. BUT, do take them yourself and work out what your annual usage would be, along with the corresponding monthly DD. If you're paying enough then fine. Not enough then put a bit aside. Too much and consider arguing with them to get it reduced.

Stevefromdonny

I give scottish power monthly readings now, so my usage graph looks something like reality. They send me "what looks like" a bill a couple of days after every reading. This is entirely online, nothing is posted to me, so it costs them nowt to do a monthly bill. They send a DD review every year in February (after assessing my forecast usage and adding £300 onto it for good measure). I haven't had my meter read for about 2 years now.

kuepper

I've given readings online to npower and they don't seem to register on the website (when it's working which isn't often). Complained via website and not heard a thing in 2 weeks. tried to phone them at 7pm (open til 8pm according to website) and got automated message saying due to volume of customers (presumably dissatisfied) they'd cloded the lines early !

SnowMan

I supply monthly readings to Npower. Even though, since the initial payment was set up, I had used considerably less kwh than I normally would over the Winter (even taking into account the mild winter), they have increased my monthly payment to more than the monthly cost of energy I use in the coldest Winter months. So if I left that unchanged, I would build up a massive credit during the Summer which would not decrease over the Winter.

Their on-line energy predictions are comical. I used 1100kwh of gas in February but Npower are predicting I will use about 3,000kwh in March. That would be more than the highest usage month I have ever recorded.

I've submitted an on-line request to reduce the payment to what it was originally, we'll see what response I get.

Stevefromdonny

Scottish Power allowed me to state what I wanted the DD to be when I phoned them. Surprised me a little. I based my DD on their usage predictions which turned out to be £81. I had been paying £107 and built up £300 credit up to February this year. The Feb bill had a cover letter saying your DD is staying the same after we have assessed your account!