nPower bill arrives.....

Narf

Foolishly I moved gas and electric from Scottish Power to nPower last year lured away by a comparison site telling me I should save money by doing so. We were paying Scottish around £130 per month until they put their prices up and wanted nearly £180 instead.
So, off we went to nPower. All has been going fine. At the time of our November bill (first full 6 months) a healthy credit had built up and the monthly bill cut from £134 to £85 per month. Happy with this I carried on paying, not thinking about it until nearly two weeks ago when they contacted me and asked for a meter reading. I gave them the readings and while online, tried to make sense of my account..... According to their Android app I was £860 in credit. Not possible. More confusingly if I looked using my PC I was in credit by more than £1300 - probably as much if not more than I'd ever paid.
As the next bill was due 2 June, I thought I'd wait and see as it should be straitened out at that point rather than phone straight away to query it. I should probably point out the 31 may/1 June according to the app the credit amount was £1236.
This morning I log in to check my bill.....One for £100 covering 9 May - 10 June 2013. Another at £540 for 11 June - 27 November and finally 28 November 2013 - 22 May 2014 a demand for £1415. And that after deducting my credit balance I still owe £652 and my monthly payments will increase to £266. I
now realise that every previous bill has been based on estimated readings and that the usage MAY be right, although unlikely given its two full time employed adults in a 3 bed semi. The account balances though are all over the place and definitely wrong. However my fear is if our credit balance is found to be inflated exactly how much money will they want as I can't prove usage. :mad:

matelodave

It's not hard. You don't need sophisticated apps or a degree in maths although a calculator helps if you've forgotten how to add, subtract and multiply - you don't even need to know how to divide.

Just read your meter to work out how much you've used since you swapped (you did take note of the original meter reading, didn't you?), multiply it by the cost per kwh and add on the cost of the standing charge (multiply the rate by the number of days since you swapped) and that's what you should pay for. Take away what you've already paid (add up all the direct debits) and the difference will be either what you owe them or what they owe you. Simples.


Heres a worked example for an electricity meter
Original meter reading = 43629
New meter reading = 47503
Total used 47503 - 43629 = 3874kwh
Tariff = 12.23p kwh x 3874 = £473,79
Number of days since the swap - 263
Standing charge = 23.37p/day x 263 = £61.46
Total cost = £473.79 + 61.46 = £535.25
Direct debit = £60 per month and you've paid 9 payments = 9x60 = £540


Take £535.25 from £540 = £4.75 that you've overpaid


Just put your own figures into the calculations and you'll know how much you owe or they owe you.


Do the same for the gas meter although it's a bit more complicated with gas as the meter reads in cubic metres so you'll have as you'll have to multiply the meter reading by the volume conversion and calorific value and divide (sorry) by 3.6 to get the kwh. (some older meters read in cu.ftx100 so you'll have to check your meter)

Example:- !!! gas used = 174 x calorific value (39.1) x Volume conversion (1.02264) / 3.6 = 1932kwh. The actual calorific value and volume conversion number for your supplier will be on your bill.

dogshome

I'm afraid matelodave absolutely right - This is n'power and nothing should be accepted on trust - It's up to you to do the homework to check every move they make, (or often don't make).

Check your total consumption from the Start Reading to the present reading.
(If you don't know the Start Reading, it will be the same as the one on SP's Final Bill), and calculate the Billing costs for yourself

From this point forward, keep a log of your meter reads monthly and calculate
your bill every Quarter ( Why shouldn't that first bill show a healthy credit when most of it was for Summer months -You needed that credit to pay for the higher use over the Winter - What you didn't need was for n'power to slash your D/Debit payments in November so that you quickly built up debt )