NPower. Pulling a fast one?

Jonny_Kronenburg

I've got gas with NPower, and their latest bill has confused me no end.

NPower raised their gas prices on the 4th Jan 2008, so as a result the bill for the quarter is split into usage before / after that date. They've titted up in several ways, all perhaps relevant to current gas customers..

1. The number of days at the lower rate (ie pre 4th Jan) is less than it should be, and therefore the number of days at the higher rate is higher than it should be. Resulting in a higher bill. Requires calculation, but adds to the lack of confidence in these jokers.

2. This is the biggie. The last time NPower changed their tariff was April 2007, and at this point the 4572 units per year you pay at the primary rate of 4.412p was reset. The secondary rate is 1.915p. Unfortunately, as they've raised the price just 9 months later, the 4572 units per year has been reset (according to a customer service adviser). This means that on my current bill I'm paying a whopping 3207 units at the primary rate - in one quarter I'm paying two-thirds of the primary units for the year. Just cos they've upped their prices.

3. To add to this, you might expect the 4572 units per "year" is split into 4 quarters, ie 1143 units per quarter? Negative. The number of primary units is higher in the winter months, when you may be unlucky enough to have NPower as your gas supplier. So if you use loads of gas in the winter, and !!!! all in the summer, like most people, your overall yearly bill will be higher.

Am I making any sense here, or have I gone mad?

:huh:

Jonny K.

Possetjohn

Hi Jonny,

nPower have been messing about with the way they charge the base 4572 units for a while. I got so mad I complained to energy watch and ended up getting £40 back from npower as a gesture. With their new system you pay 77% of the 4572 units from November to February. Trouble is they don't always spell it out so clearly to customers.

Not sure about the date thing, but maybe their new "state of the art" billing system cannot count days so well

Some more detailed info is in this post
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=7024025#post7024025

I still switched away to Southern Electric (Price Fix 2008), forfeiting the £80 "loyalty discount" which was an amazingly clever (lucky actually) move!

Jonny_Kronenburg

Yep, I've already decided to leave their sorry a$$e$, I'm just going to ensure I'm not paying over the odds for my existing bill.

Eon, with a quidco £70 cashback seems to suit me.

gt94sss2

When we received notification in early February that npower were increasing our gas bills we decided to move from them.

The transfer hasn't been completed yet but we did email npower and as per our T&C rejected this price increase and informed them we planned to move. This means that all our bills with npower should be at the 'old rates' until the move finishes.. - which should hopefully make it easier to check the final bills and avoid npowers odd billing system!

I just hope eon get on and actually process the transfer asap! (our electricity was already with them)

Regards
Sunil

JohnG

As mentioned in an earlier thread, NP have basically rebalanced their ratesin their favour. They've reduced their primary rate substantially but increased their secondary rate by a fair bit too and because the secondary rate accounts for the majority of usage the overall effect is a massive increase to the consumer!

What I think needs to be addressed by the powers that (might) be, is the misleading announcement that NP have put up rates by "X" percentage when in fact this turns out to be an 'Average' - Our monthly Gas & Elec costs went up by 24% & 34% respectively! :mad:

Needles to say, we have now switched and hopefully will be saving £280+ per annum on what we were being asked to pay by NP.

I just hope NPs underhand behaviour will trigger more customers to look elsewhere so that a clear message is sent out?

John

remotecontrol

Thanks for pointing this out. I've been with N-Power almost exactly a year. Just checked all my bills and I've been charged 6421 units at the higher rate. In the last two months since the last price rise they've charged me 1499 units at the base rate. This might sort itself out over the year if I was planning on staying with them for that long.

Jonny_Kronenburg

Just had a call from BBC Watchdog, who I emailed a few weeks ago. They've said they're investigating NPower on Monday's show (BBC1 7.30pm), about the primary / secondary rate thing.

fossman

I've recently had my gas bill and all my kwh's (2,246) are at the higher rate.

I've been with N Power for almost a year and I've only ever had 165kwh billed at the lower rate.