I feel I have been 'conned'

Snowedunder

My latest bill from Southern Electricity showed I was £300 in credit, at the end of 12 months.
However, they informed me they were upping my direct debit amount from £90 to £121.00!
So as advised, I decided to switch as recomended on this site, and indeed I did it through this site.

With 12 months' summary in hand I filled in the forms and back came Npower with a sum of £74 per months, so I signed up sent a final reading to Southern, which was just for 2 weeks since my bill, and thinking I would get most of my £300 credit back.

Fast forward to the actual day of the switch meter reading sent to both sides, all went well and I assumed I would get my refund within a few days. Imagine my shock when Southern sent their final bill - I owed them £50!!!. So I swallowed and thought well good riddance.

A week later I get an e-mail from N power requesting my latest meter reading, and shock of shocks I have just opened an email telling me that they were increasing my monthly payment from £74 to £119 per month! and I am stuck with them for 2 years!!

This surely is not the way it should work, Martin is forever telling us how much they could save by switching, well, to get me to sign up they tempted by saying my payments would be one figure, and one month in, up that figure by £45 a month!!!

Am I trapped now, or can I use this as a get out from Npower.

CashStrapped

You are making a common mistake by basing your annual cost on a direct debit amount.

This is the wrong way of monitoring your energy use and monthly cost.

A direct debit is only a guess, a prediction of your annual use spread over 12 months. If you underestimate your annual use your DD will be set too low. If you over estimate your annual use your DD will be set too high.

A direct debit is not an actual bill amount.

You need to start giving meter readings every month, preferably the day after the DD has credit the energy account. This will create a bill of exact use for the month.

This will enable you to see monthly, what you actually use. It will ensure your account is up-to-date. It will also ensure your DD is more accurate.

A DD is designed to be the same amount for 12 months. In summer it should overpay and build up a credit (as use is at it's lowest in summer). In winter the DD will underpay but should use up all the credit accumulated during summer. You should never take credit amounts out during the autumn/winter months as it will mess up how the DD system is designed to work.

But, this only works if you give accurate meter readings. The more often you give a meter reading the more accurate a DD will be.

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In your instance it seems apparent you have not given a meter reading often enough and your DD has been set far too low. When a meter reading was finally given a catch up bill was required.

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The same thing has happend with our new supplier.

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Furthermore, you should compare using accurate annual use figures in KWH. You should not compare using DD figures as this may give an incorrect results based on how much gas/electric you use.

Hope that helps.

Good luck

footyguy

Snowedunder wrote: »

My latest bill from Southern Electricity showed I was £300 in credit, at the end of 12 months.
However, they informed me they were upping my direct debit amount from £90 to £121.00!
So as advised, I decided to switch as recomended on this site, and indeed I did it through this site.

With 12 months' summary in hand I filled in the forms and back came Npower with a sum of £74 per months, so I signed up sent a final reading to Southern, which was just for 2 weeks since my bill, and thinking I would get most of my £300 credit back.

Fast forward to the actual day of the switch meter reading sent to both sides, all went well and I assumed I would get my refund within a few days. Imagine my shock when Southern sent their final bill - I owed them £50!!!. So I swallowed and thought well good riddance.

A week later I get an e-mail from N power requesting my latest meter reading, and shock of shocks I have just opened an email telling me that they were increasing my monthly payment from £74 to £119 per month! and I am stuck with them for 2 years!!

This surely is not the way it should work, Martin is forever telling us how much they could save by switching, well, to get me to sign up they tempted by saying my payments would be one figure, and one month in, up that figure by £45 a month!!!

Am I trapped now, or can I use this as a get out from Npower.

Does the final bill you received from the old supplier represent the blance owed to them based on the energy you used according to the meter readings used and the tariffs effective at the appropriatre times?

Has the new supplier rejected your anticipated annual consumption you provided when you moved to them? (in which case it may be them that feels conned by you )
Most suppliers simply calculate the annual cost of the energy it is anticipated you will use in 12 months according to the tariff selected, divide that by 12 and collect that amount each month by DD.
Check the terms of the deal you agreed to to see that is the method used.

This MSE article may also be useful for you
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

You are able to switch from nPower tariff to any other presumably more expensive option whenever you want ... or perhaps you agree you made a significant error in your anticipated annual consumption estimate and a revised higher usage now indicates an alternative supplier/tariff would be more beneficial.

Remember to include the effects of any early exit fee that may apply to your existing contract before deciding if switching now makes any sense.

nPower

Snowedunder wrote: »

My latest bill from Southern Electricity showed I was £300 in credit, at the end of 12 months.
However, they informed me they were upping my direct debit amount from £90 to £121.00!
So as advised, I decided to switch as recomended on this site, and indeed I did it through this site.

With 12 months' summary in hand I filled in the forms and back came Npower with a sum of £74 per months, so I signed up sent a final reading to Southern, which was just for 2 weeks since my bill, and thinking I would get most of my £300 credit back.

Fast forward to the actual day of the switch meter reading sent to both sides, all went well and I assumed I would get my refund within a few days. Imagine my shock when Southern sent their final bill - I owed them £50!!!. So I swallowed and thought well good riddance.

A week later I get an e-mail from N power requesting my latest meter reading, and shock of shocks I have just opened an email telling me that they were increasing my monthly payment from £74 to £119 per month! and I am stuck with them for 2 years!!

This surely is not the way it should work, Martin is forever telling us how much they could save by switching, well, to get me to sign up they tempted by saying my payments would be one figure, and one month in, up that figure by £45 a month!!!

Am I trapped now, or can I use this as a get out from Npower.

Hi Snowedunder,

Thanks for your message. Please contact us using the details on our profile page so we can help with your payment query.

Thanks

Jen