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

shreky2511

Gareth56 wrote: »

I've just heard that the price hikes that nPower have introduced are to take effect from tomorrow. Now I don't know if nPower's Terms & Conditions are the same as those of EDF's but I can't see them being to dissimilar. When EDF introduce a price rise they are supposed to inform their customers in writing within 10 working days. So if nPower are supposed to inform you in writing within 10 working days and haven't then they are breaking their own rules.

Incidentally there isn't much point in complaining to Energywatch if your energy company breaks their own Terms & Conditions as EDF did once [with me] because according to Energywatch the answer to my question "why can EDF break it's own rules" the answer from Energywatch was that "Rules are meant to be broken!!!!!"

i think you will find that is for the direct debit t&c's and that under the dd gaurantee they have to give you 10 days notice before any variation to your amounts paid.

shreky2511

wornoutmumoftwo wrote: »

I definately think the Government should do something, I pay £40 a week (£15 towards a debt and £25 for usage), and that's without wasting any electric. I have two young children and scrape through week to week.

if you are on any financial support i.e. income support, child tax credit.
you can

a- inform your supplier about you financial situation and they should reduce your debt repayment or

b- have the payments direct out of your benefits and the meters will be changed to quarerly meters this is known as a direct payment.

p.s. no offence if i assumed your on benefits but i think this info can help anyone who is on them and needs help.

shreky2511

The_Economist wrote: »

I would i be correct in saying that its not just a 17% increase because off the VAT element so it is actually more.

Could someone explain why and how the wholesale prices keep going up? :mad:

How much off the profit these companys make stays in this country.

Are all utility companies now owned by other countries.

There are only 2 britsh owned utility companies.

1 - british gas (centrica on stock exchange)
2 - Scottish and southern energy ( scottish hydro in scotland, southern electric in england and Swalec in wales)

the others are as follows

1- Scottish power now owned by ibedrola (spanish) bought in 2007 for 17.2 BILLION EUROS
2- npower owned by RWE a german company
3- Eon another german company
4- Edf stands for Electricite de france a publically owned company(in other words the french government)

magyar

Interestingly enough, it's widely thought that Iberdrola overpaid for Scottish Power.

When you buy a company, you're basically paying for the present value of the future revenues, so in effect you could argue that all the profit DOES stay in the country, it just gets paid in a lump sum.

shreky2511

Richh wrote: »

I can tell you that Npower will still be one of the cheapest as has been pointed out in more than one articles, Npower is one of the cheapest in the Country now Npower has increased its prices all the others will do so to because (and it's very simple why) all the Gas and all the Electricity come from the same place and if it goes up for one it goes up for all and the best way to prove this is if Npower has 7.4 million customers and Southern has 1.5 million customers then its pretty clear that Southern will be increasing their prices too and its the same with all the other energy suppliers.

One other thing, all Scottish, Swalec and Southern customers should look out for what is known as a standing or service charge on their bills. Expect someone from energy suppliers to claim to be able to remove it, only Npower can remove it.

Npower has 2 current offers going to make sure it is cheaper than it's competitors:

1) Price cap 2011, what this means is that you won't have anymore price rise's untill 2011 plus all new customers get £120 back after the first year then £80 every year after that (Dual Direct Debit only) through Npower's reps or £80 through the website.

2) Promise to beat the competitors Plus £120 in the first year (Dual Direct Debit only (and only through Npower's reps)) what this means is as it sounds, Npower promises to beat the competition and if it cant it'll refund the difference up to £100.

So it doesn't look that bad and if people start doing like they should and turning DOWN the thermostat, buy energy efficient light bulbs and wash your clothes at 30c (because most washing powders work at that temp.) then you could be reducing your bills by your self.

regarding your figures of customers i think you will find that the companies are as follows:
1- british gas still has the majority of uk customers (about 15 million)
2- SSE energy (over 8 million customers)
3- Eon formerly powergen (around 6 million)
4- Npower (around 5.5 million)
5- scottish poer
6- edf

regarding the standing charge statement you have said i would totally dismiss it as
1- british gas removed the standing charge on all of its products in april 2000

2- SSE energy, scottish power and powergen offer its credit customers a choice of standing charge or no standing charge.

3- npower have the highest standing charge for prepayment customers in the country in south wales a customer on a prepayment electric meter will HAVE TO PAY £35.52 per 1/4 standing charge

ands when npower reduced its prices last year it was only on the second tir of gas whereas the first tier remained at 4.39 p/kwh making it more expensive than britsh gas on thier first tier.

ChumpusRex

The_Economist wrote: »

I would i be correct in saying that its not just a 17% increase because off the VAT element so it is actually more.

Could someone explain why and how the wholesale prices keep going up? :mad:

How much off the profit these companys make stays in this country.

Are all utility companies now owned by other countries.

As it's a percentage increase, it doesn't matter that there's a 5% (or 17.5%) boost due to VAT. It's still a 17% increase.

Wholesale gas prices are rising for the simple reason, that the North Sea gas fields are running dry. Since North Sea gas was discovered, there has been very rapid pressure to extract it as quickly as possible. This meant that there was plenty of gas in the UK, and it was dirt cheap because it could be sold virtually for cost price. A small pipe connected the UK to continental Europe, and could sell moderate amounts of gas.

Because of cheap gas, there has been pressure to build gas fired power stations. These could use much cheaper fuel than the previous coal and oil power stations, so producing cheaper electricity. To illustrate this, I found an electricity bill from 2005 and one from 1985, and I the price (in p/kWh) was less in 2005 than it had been in 1985 (when coal was the primary fuel) - and that's before taking inflation into account!

Now that British fields in the North sea are exhausting, we are no longer able to get enough gas to go around. This means it has to be imported from continental Europe (by and large, there isn't that much gas in Western Europe, so in fact it means the gas has to travel down many thousands of miles of pipe from Russia). Or we have to get it from Norwegian fields in the North Sea, down thousand mile underwater pipelines. As you might guess, these pipes are not cheap. But that's not the only problem. When Britain was a 'gas island', we got first dibs on the gas, so could use it locally almost at cost price (with a small profit for the producer) - now we have to compete at auction with the rest of Europe and Russia. If we want the gas, we have to outbid them.

The other problem is that the UK has very little gas storage. Because up until 2004, the UK produced far more gas than it could use - there was no need for storage. Even if a major pipeline shut down, there was plenty to go around. Now, in Winter, even with all the gas rigs maxed out, and the pipeline sucking gas from Europe at full blast, it's nowhere near enough to go around - so gas has to be pulled from storage, but there's only really enough for 1 month or so of arctic Winter. Prices rise drastically as the storage starts to empty, because no company wants to be left without gas (be it a gas supplier, a power station or steel works).

The next stage, once the Norwegian fields run dry is to use liquefied gas (LNG). This involves freezing the gas down to about -160 C and shipping it from the Middle East and Africa in massive refrigerated tankers. Then storing it in refrigerated tanks, and then rewarming it for use using special warming plants. This is fiendishly expensive (To deliver 2 tons of gas, you actually have to start with 3, as the cooling and tanker will use up 1 ton).

--

The key point to be aware of with the profits, is that it is the producers that make the big profits, not the suppliers. Most major suppliers also act as producers, but not all suppliers are producers, and not all producers are suppliers.

In the case of gas, the big producers are Centrica, ConocoPhillips and BHP, but lots others (mainly oil producers) also produce some: Chevron, Shell, Total, etc. Centrica is british, but most of the rest are foreign: BHP and ConocoPhillips american, Total French, Shell is part British part Dutch.

In the case of electricity, the profits for the producers aren't quite as fat. This is because electricity generation, needs fuel. And most of the time, the fuel is the biggest cost. Gas power stations are having to pay more for their fuel, so need to offer higher prices when they try to sell their electricity. Coal power stations are getting big business, as they are undercutting the gas - but even so, profits aren't that massive, because there's now so much demand for coal, that it's price has doubled! And it's the mining companies that are really getting rich (UK coal, BHP, etc.)

However, electricity producers that don't have significant fuel costs: Renewables and nuclear are also getting rich. In the case of nuclear, British Energy and Hydro, Scottish and Southern).

Plushchris

shreky2511 wrote: »

There are only 2 britsh owned utility companies.

1 - british gas (centrica on stock exchange)
2 - Scottish and southern energy ( scottish hydro in scotland, southern electric in england and Swalec in wales)

You seem to have forgotten about Utilita, so that would be three.

magyar

Plushchris wrote: »

You seem to have forgotten about Utilita, so that would be three.

Only because they're so widdly. There are quite a few small independent producers.

In the industry, you normally talk about the 'big six' companies, which are the ones shreky described.

Cardew

ChumpusRex wrote: »

Wholesale gas prices are rising for the simple reason, that the North Sea gas fields are running dry. etc etc

That post should be read and re-read as it accurately paints the picture of the energy market in UK.

We are paying the price for successive Governments finding it expedient to use up cheap gas as fast as we could extract it from the North Sea.

Also Maggie Thatcher destroying the UK coal industry as a political objective, in order to crush the miner’s Trade Union; who having brought about the downfall of her predecessor(Ted Heath)decided to take on the Iron Lady.

It is very easy to blame the distribution companies, but they are not the culprits and the Regulator simply will not allow them to make excess profits. Which is the reason why the host of companies who came into the market after deregulation got out - it simply doesn't generate sufficient profits.

Even a non-profit making company like Ebico are not competitive on price for the majority of consumers.

Anon

I am still trying to get over the irony of NPower publishing adverts the day after the announced price rises under a headline grabbing "Price fix for 3 years" they go on "in a topsy-turvy world isn't it nice to know you could have fixed energy prices for 3 years. Another bright little thought from npower." It then has "Mortgage Rate Uncertainty" Petrol Price Rise" and Insurance Cost Hike" as pictures. As they were clearly planning scare tactics in the advert, it seems ironic that that they would draw attention to this just as they do exactly the same ... or when they say "you could have" are they just rubbing it in that if you had, you would have missed their price rise ...

Anon