NPower gas 'sculpting'

Sterling

DirectDebacle wrote: »

For those wishing for a bit more accuracy on the prevailing prices in 2004, it will come as no surprise that on 1st Oct, 2004 there was a price increase at the same time as the increased and unannounced 'sculpt'. The standard tariff was increased to 2.98p/1.55p (high/low) from 2.65p/1.38p.

Thanks for that, DD.

As you know, one of the two central defences of npower to the Energywatch complaint was the allegation by npower that its reduction of the price of its low tier gas units 1st May 2007 operated as compensation for customers as regards the ‘sculpt’ change to flat rate on the same day. The fact that both changes were made on the same day gives some support (on the face of it) to that allegation – though there is plenty of evidence to refute it.

However, I see from what you say that on 1st October 2004, we had a similar twin occurrence on the same day, namely a ‘sculpt’ switch from flat to biased months together with a price increase. Since a price increase can hardly be said to constitute compensation, these two occurrences have nothing whatever in common; other than the fact they were introduced on the same day.

So here we have a situation of a price change and a ‘sculpt’ change occurring on the same day that are totally unconnected. Well then, the fact that the above two changes of 1st May 2007 occurred on the same day means absolutely nothing. That’s very interesting – and fundamentally important. Although my complaint has already been delivered to Ofgem, I think at some point in the future I will use this to maximum effect.

Thanks for the prices on 1st October 2004. From those I see that the price difference following the change on that date was 1.44 pence. Assuming this to be closer to the average than my guess of 2 pence, I felt I should refine my answer accordingly.

Now, since my figure of £21.75 million including VAT is arrived at by simple multiplication, it is a simple matter to obtain a revised figure by dividing by 2 and multiplying by 1.44, which gives £15.66 million including VAT. While that figure seems small compared with the 2007 figure, it is still a great deal of money…money that should never have been taken from npower’s affected customers. Put my two estimates together and it looks as though npower have come away with roughly an extra £124 million less VAT.

DirectDebacle

On 16 th March,2009, I submitted the below to the SFO. Unfortunately they declined to investigate. However (IMO) it summarises the whole sorry affair and is along the lines of the approach I was expecting Ofgem to adopt in their investigation.

ALLEGATION OF FRAUD AGAINST Npower plc.

I wish to make a complaint against npower plc (a subsidiary of Rwe Npower plc) of obtaining property by deception. This was by means of a systematic fraud upon their domestic gas customers. This allegation revolves around the charging for gas over and above their published prices, breaching the terms and conditions of the contract and manipulating their tariff in a secretive and dishonest way in order to obtain money from their customers by deception. This was committed on more than one occasion between October, 2004 and November, 2007. A practice, which npower deny.

Background
I was a customer of npower from January, 1997 to August, 2008. Up until 1st April, 2003 npower charged for their domestic gas by means of a single price for all gas used and in addition applied a daily standing charge.
On 1st April, 2003, they changed this simple method of charging, to a ‘two tier’, pricing system. Gas was now charged at two rates (priced in pence per kWh). The first 4572kWh per year (or per annum) were charged at one rate, known as the Primary Block rate. The remainder of gas used over this amount was charged at a cheaper rate. This is referred to as the Follow-On rate. This change of charging was notified to customers and the price in pence per kWh for the Primary Block units and the Follow-On units were published in the tariff section of their terms and conditions. The methodology for calculating Primary Block units over a year and determining the length of a year were not disclosed to customers by npower or published in the terms and conditions. The details of this and how it was used to deceive customers, in a multi-million pound fraud, will be detailed below.

Details of Offence
First it is important to understand the terms and conditions which applied at the time (they are in the main still current).
Their terms and conditions are generally Standard Terms and Conditions which most utility companies use. There are two separate conditions which set out the rules and procedure to follow when:
1. Increasing prices or reducing discounts.
2. Changing the way gas is charged for.
If either or both of the above, known as unilateral variations, are made by the supplier, then the supplier must notify the customer of such a change within 65 working days. This is a requirement contained in the Gas Act, 1986 and also in the terms and conditions (contract) of the domestic supply of gas to consumers. If the customer does not accept the change then the customer must change suppliers within a certain time period. The supplier must not implement the change and continue to charge the customer as if the change had not been made until such time as the customer leaves and is supplied by a new supplier.
Full details of the above can be found in the Standard Licence Conditions of the Gas Act, 1986. These conditions are also form a major condition of the Terms and Conditions of the contract between the supplier and consumer.
I accept that on 1st April, 2003, I was notified of the introduction of the two tier pricing system. I was not informed of the methodology of calculating the way in which the Primary Block rate was applied. I was no longer able to check or calculate my bill from the information supplied by npower
I received a bill on or about the 22nd March, 2008, dated 14th March, 2008. This bill covered the period from 22nd November, 2007-14th March, 2008. There appeared to be an extraordinary amount of Primary Block units applied to this bill. I checked my previous bills and did a rough calculation. From 1st April, 2007 to 14th March, 2008, I had been charged for over 6000 Primary Block units. The contract was for 4572 per annum.
I made several telephone enquiries to npower but received no satisfactory explanation other than that my bills had been correctly calculated. Recorded delivery letters were sent requesting an explanation but were unanswered.
I continued my enquiries and eventually received, in piecemeal fashion, an explanation from npower. Over the months following my initial complaint the following facts have emerged and taken together amount to a systematic and premeditated fraud practised upon the majority of their gas customers.

Modus Operandi.
As previously stated a two tier pricing system was introduced on 1st April, 2003. Although this was notified to customers the mechanics of how it operated were not. There were two separate ‘cycles’ introduced. A ‘Flat Rate’, where the 4572kWh Primary Block units were charged evenly over a year and a ‘seasonally adjusted’ ‘Cycle’, in which a different percentage of the Primary Block was charged each month over the year. This ensured that a higher proportion of the 4572kWh were charged over the winter months, in order that npower could charge their customers as much of the 4572kWh Primary Block as possible over a year.
Two tier pricing was introduced on 1st April, 2003 using the Flat Rate cycle. Npower did not inform customers of the method of calculation at this time. This Flat rate continued until the end of the Primary Block year on 31st March, 2004, and continued with the new Primary Block year starting on 1st April, 2004 until 30th September, 2004.
On 1st October, 2004 Npower increased the price of gas. Under statute and the terms and conditions they were obliged to notify customers in writing of any price increase or any changes to the way they charge for gas which would significantly disadvantage customers. They complied with the notification of the price change but did not notify the change of the way they charged for gas. They changed the charging of the Primary Block from the Flat Rate to the seasonally adjusted rate. This increased the amount of Primary Block units they would charge customers over the remaining six months of the Primary Block year, over and above what they had already charged for the first six months. As they had already charged 50% of the Primary Block (381kwh per month x 6 = 2286kWh) for the first six months they knew by changing the ‘cycle’ that they would charge customers more than the agreed and contracted 4572kWh. This change was unannounced and would be hidden by the price increase and also the coming higher winter gas bills, to all but the most astute customers. I never noticed it. Although it would amount in terms of money to around £10-20 per customer it would apply to perhaps 2 million or more customers.
I contend that this money was obtained from me (and other customers) by deception. Unilateral changes were made to the way I was charged for gas without my knowledge or consent. They were deliberately withheld. Npower had decided that their year for the purposes of the 4572kWh Primary Block units was going to be six months in length from 1/4/2005 2004-30/9/2004. They then started a new Primary Block year on 1/10/2004. These changes were not notified to customers. The tariff published in their Terms and Conditions stated that up to the first 4572kWh per annum would be charged at the Primary Block rate. The contract I had with npower had been broken by them in order to practice this deceit.
Npower continued to apply a seasonally weighted cycle until the end of April, 2007.
On or around 12th February, 2007, British Gas launched an advertising campaign announcing that from March, 2007 they were reducing their prices. About a week later Npower launched a similar campaign that they were lowering their prices from 30th April and would still be cheaper than British Gas.
Nnpower failed to state that they were only lowering the lower tier price of their two tier prices. At the same time they changed from the seasonally adjusted cycle to the Flat Rate cycle. This meant they would be charging more Primary Block kWh per month than if they had continued with the seasonally adjusted cycle. The net effect of this was a price increase for most npower gas customers. It also meant that their claim of being cheaper than British gas was untrue and was a false public statement. This appears to be anti-competitive behaviour. It was also false and mis-leading information to the public at large, in order to gain customers.
This would no doubt deceive existing British Gas customers (or any other gas consumers) that Npower would be cheaper. It was also a repeat of the deception carried out in October, 2004 of existing npower customers being deceived into paying more than the contracted 4572kWh per annum Primary Block units. It is worth remembering that at this point Npower have still kept their Flat Rate and seasonally adjusted weighting methods of charging a secret. This being the case, British Gas was not aware that they were the victims of anti-competitive behaviour from Npower and suffering a loss by some of their customers being lured into switching to Npower, under the false pretence of Npower being cheaper.
A further benefit to Npower was the price reduction of the Follow-On rate. This was done at the time of year where most gas customers would be reducing their consumption over the summer period. There would be a higher proportion of Primary Block units applied to bills over this period. Therefore reducing the lower tier price at a time when fewer lower tier units would be used would not negatively impact Npowers income as much as at another time of year. This was lessened even further by the unannounced increase in the number of Primary Block units that were to be charged. This led to lower users of gas also being overcharged. This last point was investigated by Ofgem who, in February, 2008, ruled npower to be in breach of contract
In short, the price reduction announced by npower was untruthful. It was in actual fact a cleverly disguised means of increasing income by deceiving customers into believing they were having a price reduction which was in actual fact a price increase.
As a side issue British Gas did complain to the A.S.A. regarding the wording of Npowers advertisement. This complaint was upheld in the A.S.A’s adjudication in September, 2007.
Npower continued to charge for the Primary Block units at the Flat Rate until the end of October, 2007. On 1st November they changed back to a seasonally adjusted cycle. This cycle was even more aggressive in its’ winter weighting and provided for 3528of the annual 4572kWh to be charged for over the months of November to February inclusive. This meant for the majority of Npower customers (including some of those switching in the spring from other suppliers as a result of the advertisement) to be charged up to 6285kWh primary Block units for the year 1st April, 2007 to 31st March, 2008. I estimate this would average out at an overcharge of around £50 per customer for 2 million or more customers.

Npowers Response
Throughout my dealings with Npower over this matter they have consistently denied any wrongdoing. They have claimed that they were not legally obliged to notify the changes as they were not price increases. They have stated that no more than 4572 Primary Block units were charged for in a year as a year is not necessarily 12 months. According to them a year is a ‘tariff year’. They state that,’ A new ‘tariff year’ starts whenever we change the way we charge for gas’. Npower have continuously denied wrongdoing and attempted to justify their behaviour with feeble excuses and in statements to the press. They have given a very confused and unconvincing account of explaining their actions in their Statement of Defence.
I refused to believe their explanations and, after exhausting all means of resolving the matter with them, summonsed them to appear before Torquay County Court. A date was fixed for October, 2008. They made attempts to settle my claim by means of offering lesser sums (than I was claiming) and calling them ‘goodwill’ payments with no admission of liability. I refused these offers. Forty eight hours before the hearing they unconditionally settled my claim in full, a total of £1375.23.

Ofgem Enquiry.
In June, 2008, Energywatch (as was) lodged a complaint with Ofgem over alleged billing irregularities concerning Npowers’ gas bills. However the Ofgem investigation was narrow and limited to looking at only Npowers policy of notifying customers of changes to the way gas was charged for. Not the changes themselves. This investigation was confined to the period from May 2007-October, 2007 and the effect of the changes made on 1st May, 2007. Ofgem ruled that Npower were in breach of the notification conditions, as set out in the Terms and Conditions, and should have notified the changes they made in May 2007. They estimated that approximately 200,000 gas customers had been made worse off as a result of them. Ofgem ordered Npower to recompense these customers
In part this ruling confirmed my allegation and the basis of my court claim. At least Ofgem had ruled that changes must be notified. Unfortunately Ofgem did not investigate the broader aspect which would have shown that the exact same breach had led to millions of other customers being equally deceived and losing much more money. As far as I can tell the changes occurred on 1st April,2003, 1st October, 2004, 1st May, 2007, (investigated by Ofgem) and on 1st November, 2007.
I understand Ofgem do not have the power or authority to investigate complaints such as mine. I was advised to report this matter to the police by the Office of Fair Trading.
Much of the above has been reported in articles by The Times. A search of thetimesonline will reveal some useful information and statements made by npower, some of which are an admission of overcharging.

Summary
Much of the evidence is already in the public domain. It is unlikely that npower will dispute the facts. What they will do is attempt to interpret the facts in a favourable way to them. This is what they did with Ofgem. Ofgem found them to be in breach of their licence conditions but were persuaded by npower that in the main they had done customers a good turn. Their ruling was that npower merely re-imburse the adversely affected minority of 200,000 customers. A thorough investigation would have shown millions of customers similarly affected by changes made before and after May, 2007. No sanctions were imposed.
My only observation on the Ofgem ruling is that a professional and unbiased investigator would more than likely have interpreted the actions of npower as much less benign.
I attach a copy of my Statement of Claim, npowers’ Statement of Defence and a copy of their first letter of explanation.
This first letter of 30th April, 2007 explains that ‘seasonal weighting’ was not introduced before April, 2006. At the time I believed this statement and subsequently filed a claim with the county court on this basis. Further investigation by me revealed that this was not the case. ‘Seasonally adjusted’ weighting was in fact introduced on 1st October, 2004. This substantially affected my claim and I had to apply to the court for the claim to be amended. After doing this and notifying npower of the amendment, I later received from them their Statement of Defence. This statement and subsequent correspondence acknowledged that 1st October, 2004, was indeed the date it was first introduced. The Statement of Defence further says that the Flat Rate and ‘seasonally adjusted’ charging methods were introduced on 1st April, 2003. A far cry from their initial assertion of sometime in 2006.
This inconsistency suggests a cover up and guilty knowledge. At the time I applied for my summons I am sure npower thought that the original date of introducing ‘seasonal weighting’ had remained undetected. They withheld this information from me as they knew it would increase the amount of my claim against them, if it became known.
I have other documentary evidence supporting my allegation which I have retained. Copies are available should you wish to see them.

In order to be able to calculate npower gas bills the ‘seasonal weighting’ percentages applied per month to the 4572 Primary Block units per annum, are required. They are shown below.


TABLE A TABLE B


From APRIL 03 From Nov 07
% of 4572 Per Month Per Day % of 4572 Per Month Per Day
Jan 13.8 630.936 20.352774 Nov 19.3 882.396 29.413
Feb 13.6 621.792 22.206857 Dec 19.3 882.396 28.464
Mar 12.2 557.784 17.993032 Jan 19.3 882.396 28.464
Apr 9.8 448.056 14.9352 Feb 19.3 882.396 30.427
May 7.1 324.612 10.471355 Mar 5.94 271.577 8.761
Jun 4.2 192.024 6.4008 Apr 5.93 271.120 9.037
Jul 2.4 109.728 3.5396129 May 1 45.720 1.475
Aug 2.4 109.728 3.5396129 Jun 1 45.720 1.524
Sep 4.2 192.024 6.4008 Jul 1 45.720 1.475
Oct 7.3 333.756 10.766323 Aug 1 45.720 1.475
Nov 10.3 470.916 15.6972 Sep 1 45.720 1.524
Dec 12.7 580.644 18.730452 Oct 5.93 271.577 8.761
100 4572 100 4572

TABLE C
From 1/4/2003 – 1/9/2004 and from 1/5/2007- 31/10/2007
Per Month Per Day
381 12.290




As can be seen there are three separate profiles that npower applied.
Table A and Table C were both introduced on 1/4/2003 with the change from a Standing charge and single price for gas to the ‘two tier’ pricing system.
The Flat Rate profile was used for the Primary block rate year 1/4/2003-31/3/2004, charging 381 Primary block units for each month which totalled 4572 Primary Block units for that year. Therefore there was no overcharging for that year.
For the following Primary Block year (1/4/2004-31/3/2005) the flat rate was continued up to and including 30/9/2004. On 1/10/2004, together with an increase in prices, the seasonal weighting profile as shown in Table A was used. It can be seen from the tables that the first 6 months of this Primary Block year 2286kWh (381*6) would have been charged at the Primary Block rate. The remaining six months of the year (October 2004-March 2005) using the monthly allocation in Table A, 3197kWh would have been charged. The annual total of Primary Block units for the year 1/4/2004 – 31/3/2005 could have totalled 5483kWh. That is 911kWh Primary Block units which should have been charged at the lower, Follow On rate.
From 1/4/2005-31/3/2007 the Table A profile was continued and the correct amounts of Primary Block units for each of those years were charged.
April 2007 was charged at the Table A rate (448) and then on 1st May, 2007 npower again changed the weighting profile. This time it was changed to the Flat Rate (Table C) profile. This was used until 1st November, 2007 when the profile was again changed to the profile shown in Table B.
These changes meant that for the Primary Block year 1/4/2007 – 31/3/2008 a total of 6534 Primary Block units could have been charged for. An excess of 1962kWh.
At no stage did npower notify customers of these changes, as required. On 29/8/2008 they published and sent to each customer a document explaining their charges. This is the first occasion since 1/4/2003 that they have correctly complied with their obligations required by the Gas Act, 1986 or their binding agreement (the contract) with the customer as laid out in their Terms and Conditions.
None of these changes could be described as accidents. They would be a quite deliberately calculated commercial decision. Withholding the necessary information from customers in order that they could accurately calculate their gas charges would be part and parcel of that decision. It was a prerequisite of deceiving customers into believing they were being charged a published and agreed price for their gas whereas they were being charged considerably more.
It is not as if the information were available but hidden in the ‘small print’. It was deliberately and dishonestly withheld.



The above information is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Upwind

DD. I have done quite a bit of calculating over the weekend and (think) I have got my figures sorted. I have also written my letter, which (if you agree)I would like to PM to you.

I would be extremely grateful if you could cast your educated eye over this and see if there are any areas that need more work or that may endorse my case.

Additionally, I am currently holding out for my dual fuel discount to kick in before I search for another provider. Taking this into consideration, would I be better to hold fire on sending my letter until I have received the next bill and arranged to move on, or should I just fire it off to them now.

Would really appreciate your comments help......

Thanks

DirectDebacle

Mick_Steel wrote: »

DD. I have done quite a bit of calculating over the weekend and (think) I have got my figures sorted. I have also written my letter, which (if you agree)I would like to PM to you.

I would be extremely grateful if you could cast your educated eye over this and see if there are any areas that need more work or that may endorse my case.

Additionally, I am currently holding out for my dual fuel discount to kick in before I search for another provider. Taking this into consideration, would I be better to hold fire on sending my letter until I have received the next bill and arranged to move on, or should I just fire it off to them now.

Would really appreciate your comments help......

Thanks

Hi Mick,

By all means PM me if you want to. I wouldn't have thought your claim would make any difference to your dual fuel discount. They are entirely separate and as long as you meet the qualifying requirements for the discount then you should receive it.

Meggsy is the expert on these discounts having recently had a run in with npower over it. There is a separate thread on it which is linked maybe 2-3 pages back on this thread. Might be worth you having a read before you decide on when to send the claim.

LINK: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=20669155&highlight=#post20669155

shannonr

Hello...hopefully not to off topic here, but I have just stumbled into the nPower hall of mirrors and I'm a bit disorientated...

Briefly, my situation is this. I have been a happy customer of nPower for 4-5 years, paying about £90/month for pretty much that whole time. So far so good. Then, in Feb this year the DD failed, and I received a letter about it. I transferred the money online and thought nothing more about it, not realising that a few days later they tried to get the money again and were again declined - even though I had just paid. This meant the DD was canceled.

I heard nothing more, until this week I got a letter asking for £364, the outstanding amount. I thought this was a bit high so I called. They asked me to do a gas reading, and when I gave that to them over the phone they said the amount was higher, and setting up a new DD would entail a £120 charge for 6 months to cover the outstanding amount. When I asked how so much could be owed from just a couple of months usage (elec read in December, gas in Feb) the lady said something about "Sculpting" - UNITS COSTING MORE IN THE WINTER! (Sorry accidental caps there - honest) so the outstanding amount reflected a larger winter cost. I was a bit surprised at this news - obviously not paying close attention to their terms or whatever...in any case the lady said the system was giving some high figures as to what I should actually be paying and I should call back the next day to set up a new DD.

So I called again today, to find the outstanding amount is now £417! OK, so the gas reading I just gave them is partly the reason here, but bear in mind I have been paying £90/month for years, so I'm wondering how in hell does 2 months of missed payments equate to over £400 in debt. When I queried this, the bloke said I should have been paying more for a while. He also said that if I was to set up a DD they would now want £153 a month to cover the debt and the higher charges we should be paying anyway. So I asked how was it that we had been underpaying for so long, to which he replied that our account was assessed in Sept 08, AFTER the 20% gas price hike, and we should have been told then that we were'nt paying enough. In fact, there was another hike in Feb 08 of 14% and even the 2 increases were not enough for them to register that we were'nt paying enough when our account was reviewed. This just doesn't make sense to me...as I write this my brain is starting to ache with trying to make sense of it. The man I was speaking to admitted that he couldn't see why we hadn't been told and said he was now treating my call as a formal complaint.

To summarise, from paying £83 per month as of Feb this year I am now being asked for £153 - this includes the mysterious £417 which we suddenly racked up in a couple of months (sculpting?) - ignoring this debt we are supposed to be paying £119 month, so thats nearly £40 more than before?

Like I said, I don't really get it. It just doesn't make sense - the question is, since they failed to tell us in Sept that we were being undercharged and have now landed us with this bombshell, have they breached contract or in any way acted improperly, or is it just tough luck and move on?

Upwind

DD - PM sent with letter - appreciate your comments or advice.

I did see the post by Meggsy regarding the dual fuel discounts. Yet again Npower seem to be a law unto themselves. I 'hope' to see the discount applied when I receive my next bill; however, if not (which is more probable) it was my intention to do an reading myself and phone it through, which would then automatically initiate a further bill which would hopefully incorporate the discount. I await the bill........................

DirectDebacle

shannonr wrote: »

Like I said, I don't really get it. It just doesn't make sense - the question is, since they failed to tell us in Sept that we were being undercharged and have now landed us with this bombshell, have they breached contract or in any way acted improperly, or is it just tough luck and move on?

Hi,

You have put several issues into one here and they need to be separated out to understand them.

The 'sculpting' you refer to applies to gas only and to particular types of gas tariffs. In broad terms if your tariff for gas charges at two rates, ie. a high rate for the first 4572kWh per annum and a lower rate for the remainder then it is quite likely that you were charged more than the maximum 4572kWh per annum for the higher rate rate units for the year 1/4/2007-31/3/2008. Without knowing the type of tariff you are on and the amount of gas (kWh) used it is impossible to say for definite.

Direct Debits. It is a mutual responsibility of you and your supplier to ensure the DD is correct to cover your usage. There are countless posts on this forum complaining of DD being set too high, few complain that they are too low, which as you have found out is probably worse. Debt can accrue quickly. Unless you are on a fixed rate then it makes sense to check that when prices change (up or down) the DD is going to be correct.

If, as you say, you have been paying £90 per month for years (for both fuels?) then it would seem that the price change in early 2008 should have been increased by around £12.00 per month (£102.00) and later on that year increased by another 20% to around £123.00.

The amount you owe will have built up over these periods. Around £84.00 Feb-Sept and £231.00 Oct-April. The winter bills with npower tend to be inflated over other suppliers because of the 'sculpting'. More of the expensive higher rate units are charged for over this period than in the summer.

In order for you to understand how npower have arrived at their figures and to know if they are correct, or not you need to do your own calculations from Feb 2008. factoring in the price changes to your £90 DD and not forgetting any DD/dual fuel discounts that may apply.

I do not think you will find any breach of contract re the Direct Debit (but I am no expert). However with further details of your account and tariff with npower you may well have a claim for overcharging and/or breach of contract as detailed in this thread. To determine this, first have a read of the How To thread linked in my signature.

Precious_Thing

1carminestocky wrote: »

Precious Thing, I'm assuming you are signed up to SOL15? If so, I hope you carefully read the T&Cs that are somewhat 'unique' to npower, specifically this one:



Of course, the 'savings' shown on the switching sites include this £105 discount, even though if you leave within 12 months (or, God forbid, miss a monthly payment for any reason) you won't get so much as a glimpse of it.

No, I signed up to Juice. It came up as cheaper and also claims to be environmentally friendly.

Precious Thing.

notbritishgas

oompahloompah wrote: »

Hi everyone
I switched to npower in December 2008 for both fuels, which was apparently going to be cheaper even though I kept my DD payments (£82 electricity, £62 gas per month) the same as they were with my previous supplier (Atlantic), supposedly saving £271 per year.

Anyway, I received a statement from them in February which seemed excessively high (owed over £200 despite only being with them for 2 months!) and I called to try to sort it out; long story short they stuck to their guns and I decided to switch again (this time to Eon).

Yesterday I received my final bills of £195 outstanding for gas, plus £96 outstanding for electricity. I called (again) to see why it should be so much when I have been paying each month and supposedly overpaying (if it was supposed to be cheaper yet I was paying the same amount). After half an hour on the phone I am still none the wiser (despite having an IQ of 141 I find their system of working out bills to be impossible to fathom!), still owe this money and am extremely frustrated at the whole thing :mad:

Another frustrating thing is that the introductory letters I received from npower clearly state that I will be charged a "primary rate" of 3p per unit for the first so many units per month (varies each month) with a lower secondary rate per unit thereafter - however I was told this was incorrect and have been charged 3p for the full amount as I am not on the correct tariff, although nowhere does it say that the tariff I am on (Web 14) is excluded, and why tell me about the two different rates if it doesn't apply anyway?

Anyway, I am so mad at npower for giving consistently false impressions, especially at this time when money is tight for a lot of people and every penny counts. Now I need to find an additonal £300 to pay the gas and electricity I thought were already covered!

Thanks for listening :beer:

Hi oompah, several points here. Firstly Web 14 does not have primary and secondary units, there is an annual standing charge so all the units are charged at the same rate.
Now to the savings, part of the £271 saving would have been the annual bonus of £105 which is paid after 12 months of direct debit payments. So yopu missed out on that.
The direct debits are set to balance out over 12 months so in winter the payments do not cover the energy used so you can build up a debt, in the summer the payments more than cover the energy so the debt is reduced to hopefully zero. In your case you joined them in winter so that is why the remainder of the savings were not acheived.

Sterling

DirectDebacle wrote: »

On or around 12th February, 2007, British Gas launched an advertising campaign announcing that from March, 2007 they were reducing their prices. About a week later Npower launched a similar campaign that they were lowering their prices from 30th April and would still be cheaper than British Gas.

Now remember - npower told Energywatch and Ofgem that the above price reduction was compensation for the two ‘sculpt’ changes in 2007 for affected customers. But as can plainly be seen in the above quote from DD’s submission to the SFO, at the time the reduction was announced it was clearly a marketing aid to compete with British Gas.

Furthermore, surely any genuine compensation scheme would have been targeted to those customers who required it – in order to bring them into line with customers who were not affected. But as can be seen here – this price reduction was for everyone. So it could never be classed as compensation by any sensible definition. Npower can’t have it both ways.

As we know, in its complaint to Ofgem, Energywatch considered that npower’s defence of compensation was “spurious” - and I think that’s just a polite way of saying its total rubbish. Yet Ofgem accepted such an obviously phoney excuse at face value. Some regulator – eh?