Switching between NPower tariffs

Hawkings_Boots

Currently with Npower on their standard tariff and it looks like an internet one with them would be a cheaper option (so says energy helpline)

Can you just go through the energy helpline website and get the cashback or does it have to be through NPower direct as i'm already with them?

gillybean129

Unfortunately this is a case of 'new customers only' I phoned npower yesterday and much to my annoyance I'd have to leave them then rejoin, which would mean losing my £80 discount I'd built up. Very sneaky of them!

huttonc

Hi ya,

I started with NPOWER some years ago on the Gas Guardian tariff. It eventually went on to their standard tariff which is far more expensive.

I was told the same years ago that it couldn't be done :mad:

'BUT' at the time I sent an email to customer services saying change it or I leave and go to another provider and will not return as there notion of leaving and later returning was nonsense!! They answered within days and placed me on the sign on line tariff.

Since from speaking to the retentions dept you can change from the standard to online tariff and change between tariffs at any time. So give it a go and asked to speak to Retentions ... don't be fobbed off its easy :rotfl:

Thanks,

Chris

kevin.nicholls

Be warned ... I only found out how many different tarriffs npower now have when I ran a price comparison check.

Turned out I was on sign online v5 with paperless billing. If I was on sign online v10 I would have been paying £120 a year LESS. With v8 and v9 it would also have been considerably cheaper, too, about £50 and £90.

Customer services told me they were "in the process of updating" all online accounts to v10 but hadn't quite got round to mine yet.

The chap I spoke to was also a bit vague as to how long these other tarrifs have been around for and how much npower had been fleecing me for than I really needed to.

They insist that because the v5 tarriff was cheapest when I switched to npower that was the one I was on and the only way to get on to a cheaper tarriff would be to leave and come back.

So I'm leaving .. and not coming back.

ps -- Interestingly, he also said there's no minimum commitment when you switch energy suppliers any more. Sounds like a licence to print money using Quidco !!

accountnurse

I have duel fuel on tariff SOL 4 with N Power, after signing up for 'paperless billing' (paperless for them-I still print out the bills!) I enquired through the website about changing tariff to SOL 10 as this theoretically saves me £150 pa.....I have separate account numbers for each supply so I enquired twice.

Enquiry to electricity account got this reply-
"Thank you for your recent email.
I am able to change your tariff onto our sol 10 tariff however; I would appreciate it if you could forward up to date meter readings firstly."

Enquiry to gas account got this reply-(15 mins later)
"Thank you for your recent email.
After carefully checking your details, I can confirm the tariff you are currently subscribing to is SOL gas 4.
The new on line tariffs are only available for new customers changing from their exsisting suppliers.
Should you wish to take advantage of our £80.00 per year discount by having dual fuel, please complete an on line application form."

Presumably my electricity account shows I'm dual fuel due to the discount billing practice but apparently my gas account doesn't have this information. They don't appear to cross reference either so I'd suggest anyone who's been refused and still wants to switch tariff tries using their electricity account as a start point.

I am waiting for them to tell me what my exact anniversary date is to get the annual dual fuel discount before I switch-last year they shifted my bill dates around so that the 'final' electricity bill of the first year-the one with the annual discount on it-arrived some 455 days after supply had switched to them.

So far I find emailing them much less stressful, time consuming and expensive than phoning. I'm working online alot anyway so I've been getting into the habit of entering my meter readings every Monday...it'll be interesting to see what they do with this much information...

And a big thank you to the members who unravelled the billing/price rise/seasonal adjustment nightmare then posted brilliantly clear explanations on the forum.

Big_Col

I was with Npower's standard tariff for both gas & electricity & wasn't aware they had different tariffs until I did a price comparison online.
I discovered that the Sign Online 10 tariff is a lot cheaper then their standard tariff so rang them to see if I could change tariffs.
They said it might take upto 5 weeks (God knows why?) but just this week I have received confirmation that both gas & electricity have now been changed to the new tariff.
One simple, quick phone call was all it took (no hassle or arguments) but I'm just so annoyed that if I hadn't spotted the other options I would still be being ripped off, how can you pay different amounts for the same product from the same supplier ?
If they hadn't agreed to change my tariff I would have just told them to stuff it as I could have gone to E-on but for the sake of a few pence I stuck with Npower.

MoneyMiser

gillybean129 wrote: »

Unfortunately this is a case of 'new customers only' I phoned npower yesterday and much to my annoyance I'd have to leave them then rejoin, which would mean losing my £80 discount I'd built up. Very sneaky of them!

Its a shame you did this as you could've switched via a comparrison site to their Sign Online 10 tariff, got cashback, saved money and still got your £80 discount.

They are sneaky though :rolleyes:

briskly_2

Money Miser - am I reading this right? Is it true I can call up, say the energy helpline, and switch with them from SOL4 to SOL10 and get cashback? Do you know if you lose the annual bonus - ie the 12 month clock resets to zero?

Briskly

poundsaver

Phoned the people at Moneysupermarket.com to check on availability of cashback, given that I was only changing tariff from nPower sign online 5 to sign online 10. She confirmed that cashback was available but only if you came through moneysavingexpert website.

Hope it all works out!

I've read elsewhere in another forum that savings are only applicable when taking the £80 dual fuel discount into account. Oh well - let's see what happens.

briskly_2

Poundsaver - does this mean you lose the annual discount you have built up when you switch?

MoneyMiser

briskly wrote: »

Money Miser - am I reading this right? Is it true I can call up, say the energy helpline, and switch with them from SOL4 to SOL10 and get cashback? Do you know if you lose the annual bonus - ie the 12 month clock resets to zero?

Briskly

Hi,

As confirmed by poundsaver you can switch via moneysupermarket.com from your current nPower tariff to their Sign Online 10 tariff and get £30 cash back. As to whether you lose your annual discount I would contact nPower and ask them to confirm this for you. I wouldn't of thought so though as you are not leaving the company, however they may decide to pay the annual bonus on the anniversary of the new tariff!!

MM