NPOWER with a 17% hike in prices - Here we go

welshwales

Do I stand alone here in feeling that the price hikes are not really that bad depending on what tarriff your on with NPower.

I am on the dual fuel standard package and after getting off the phone yesterday I feel I havent really been that badly affected.

Prior to the rise I was paying 18.2 and 9.80 for the higher and lower unit bands.
The rise has dropped the higher units to 13.4 and 12.64 for the second units.

Ive been advised based on 1000 units the higher units are worked out on 182 units so anything over that is charged at 12.64.

So whack a few energy saving bulbs in and turn everything off when not in use and things really dont seem that bad.

However I have noticed ather tarrifs on their site that are almost double the standard, a quick question how come you guys are on those? Can you not move to the standard tarrif?

notbritishgas

welshwales wrote: »

Do I stand alone here in feeling that the price hikes are not really that bad depending on what tarriff your on with NPower.

I am on the dual fuel standard package and after getting off the phone yesterday I feel I havent really been that badly affected.

Prior to the rise I was paying 18.2 and 9.80 for the higher and lower unit bands.
The rise has dropped the higher units to 13.4 and 12.64 for the second units.

Ive been advised based on 1000 units the higher units are worked out on 182 units so anything over that is charged at 12.64.

So whack a few energy saving bulbs in and turn everything off when not in use and things really dont seem that bad.


However I have noticed ather tarrifs on their site that are almost double the standard, a quick question how come you guys are on those? Can you not move to the standard tarrif?

The advertised price rises of 17% and 12% were averages, some people, eg eastmidlands have rises of 27% and 23%, so it stands to reason that some have smaller rises than the 17 and 12. I seem to remember that when the small print was analysed it appeared that some people in Scotland and Wales actually had a price reduction, another blow to the English!
I presume you can guess I live in the eastmids.

Brummie_Money

welshwales wrote: »

Do I stand alone here in feeling that the price hikes are not really that bad depending on what tarriff your on with NPower.

I am on the dual fuel standard package and after getting off the phone yesterday I feel I havent really been that badly affected.

Prior to the rise I was paying 18.2 and 9.80 for the higher and lower unit bands.
The rise has dropped the higher units to 13.4 and 12.64 for the second units.

Ive been advised based on 1000 units the higher units are worked out on 182 units so anything over that is charged at 12.64.

So whack a few energy saving bulbs in and turn everything off when not in use and things really dont seem that bad.

However I have noticed ather tarrifs on their site that are almost double the standard, a quick question how come you guys are on those? Can you not move to the standard tarrif?

welshwales,
I also am on the dual-fuel standard tariff. However, increases in the West Midlands differ from yours.

Tier 1 electricity has dropped from 15.03p to 14.00p, a decrease of 7%.
Tier 2 electricity has risen from 11.11p to 12.99p, an increase of 14%.

Tier 1 gas has risen from 4.412p to 6.127p, an increase of 38%!!
Tier 2 gas has risen from 1.915p to 1.990p, an increase of 3%.

With regard to the electricity tariff, it also has to be borne in mind that there was no price decrease in the West Midlands last year, even though I received a leaflet in my bill, telling me nPower were dropping their prices.

To add insult to injury, nPower are now applying seasonal weighting to their gas tariffs, which means that for a low user like myself, who uses little in summer, the 38% increase is effectively even greater.

crk81

Lievesleys wrote: »

:mad: I rang NPOWER to switch to the fixed price 2011 (BIG MISTAKE)!!!:mad:
Recieved letters to confirm the change and prices for both Gas & Electric higher than the price rise I was going to be on previous SOL 7 tarrif!!!:mad:
Rang again to query this and was fobbed of with "well the price rise is fixed blah blah blah and your previous tarrif had gone up anyway"
Having heard today that British Gas are the next to increase their prices, surely then all other suppliers will follow suit.Where does that leave all us consumers I ask myself?
I too will be waiting for my yearly bonus from NPOWER then its of to the next best supplier - Well thats if there is one out there !!!:mad:

Yeah the fixed price tariff has a premium of 7%, you would then be protected by any further price rises in the future, but its if your willing to pay the premium now..

crk81

Lezanne26 wrote: »

Just received our latest electricity bill from npower and although we were £132 in credit (which they are giving us back without us having to ask!) they have informed us that they will be increasing our direct debit payment from £39 to £61 a month. Also we only received £75 cashback rather than the expected £80 - wonder if they'll give us the £5 off our gas bill?!

If you only recieved £75 discount its because you havnt been on the £80 discount for a full year since the increase, so they pro rata it.

crk81

magyar wrote: »

I don't believe so. The principle is that it gives you a chance to switch suppliers without being affected by the price rises, but only if you switch immediately.

Your right m8, wiht Npower you need to contact them within 10days of recieving the price increase letter, which are being issued out over the next 4weeks to all the customers. they can then hold the prices for 28/30 days until you switch, but you need to contact a new supplier within 15 days as it can take 28days normally to leave to another supplier.

Lievesleys

crk81 wrote: »

Yeah the fixed price tariff has a premium of 7%, you would then be protected by any further price rises in the future, but its if your willing to pay the premium now..

Have just phoned NPOWER and requested to be put back on the previous tariff we were first on !!!
Have already got the ball rolling to switch to another supplier today as NPOWER are not competitive in the West or East Midlands !!!:mad:

crk81

No they are not in the midlands, northern, yorkshire area as they already have a large customer base with Npower owning the old companys in that area & the metering companys, although i've been advised its been regulated and they can't be too competitive in them areas.

Terrylw1

crk81 wrote: »

No they are not in the midlands, northern, yorkshire area as they already have a large customer base with Npower owning the old companys in that area & the metering companys, although i've been advised its been regulated and they can't be too competitive in them areas.

It used to be a regulation issue but not thesedays. The trouble is that they have a large volume of customers and they are pro-actively always trying to gain them from other regions as new business. Thats always been the strategy for many years and they achieved a lot of it by just buying other utilities.

They only own 1 agent - A&ED (Meterplus), who are the traditional agents for YE/NE regions (since they merged a few years back from 2 agents) but Suppliers can appoint whoever they want thesedays so they don't have to use the local agents anymore.

HenrysCat_3

We just changed to Npower not that long ago on a promise of a cheaper tariff and taking away some charge that SSE charge us even tho there is no need for it.
Sods law, we started the change a week before they annouce the price hike. Now we get a letter in stating that they cannot give us the requested tariff "due to the type of meter we have" so we have to go on the standard one.
Where do we stand? Should we call em and tell em to forget it? Can we even do that?