NPower gas 'sculpting'

prn6243

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Existing sculpt profile March 2008 should be maximum of 271 high units.

Last bill from them: 11/03/08-1/04/08 High units charged 281.
Should have been 184

So much for the new improved billing system.

Flower Petal what is your secret. I think you were looking at an old Powergen bill and got confused lol.

I was told that the current method is that in use at 1st November 2007 and that it would not change.
Your bill sugggests otherwise & it is very important that we get this sorted otherwise it may well be that they are continueing to overcharge as before.

Anne3333

Well I am definitely being sculpted, last year Jan to Jan I paid 137% of higher rate units. This year in just over 3 months I have already been charged 46% of my annual 4572 units. That is in fact even higher than the sculpting pattern I have shown in my post #326.
Should we all be ringing our readings through on the 1st of every month to generate a bill and therefore see how the units are being allocated?

Anne3333

Ah, have just had a thought! Perhaps they are only sculpting those that have a very low gas usage in the summer months and therefore they would not use their full 4572 higher rate units if it was evenly spread thoughout the year?

Anne3333

Hmmm, just rang to have a little chat with the Customer Service Team
"Due to the high volume of calls, there is currently a 25 minute wait to speak to an adviser"
I wonder why???
As it is 5p per minute from a BT line, that is £1.25 before you even get to speak. However, fortunately for them I was going to advise them, as is legally required, that I was recording them for legal and training purposes, so perhaps they had a lucky escape THIS time!

DirectDebacle

Go here, have a read and when you next speak to npower ask 'em if they are aware of them.http://www.npower.com/web/At_home/customer_service/important_information/WCMS_003398

DirectDebacle

Was wondering how this would affect those on a fixed price. If your price is fixed for 3 years then you have no price changes for that time so I assume a tariff year will be 3 years long. 4572 units over 3 years seems ok to me.

prn6243

On 30th April 2007 Npower announced to the world a gas price reduction of 16%.
What they actually did was to increase the higher unit price by 10.3% and reduce the lower rate by 20.2%.So everyone using at least 4572 units/year paid the increase on those units and gained the reduction on the remainder of their usage.
I have calculated that, in order to receive their quoted reduction of 16%, you would need to use around 40,000kwh per annum.I understand a medium user consumes 20,000 per year.So, how many people actually received a 16% reduction?
The day after the price reduction the sculpting criteria was changed so that customers were charged many more units at the higher rate and, therefore,at the increased higher price.
What an absolute scandal!

prn6243

Mistake in my last post-price increase on higher rate units was 3.4% not 10.3% but the rest of my post is correct.

DirectDebacle

prn6243 wrote: »

Mistake in my last post-price increase on higher rate units was 3.4% not 10.3% but the rest of my post is correct.

From 1st Oct 06 to 4th Jan 08 my high rates were 4.412p

1st April 07 my low rates were reduced from 2.492 to 1.915 where they stayed until Jan 08.

Nevetheless this resulted in an overcharge from 25/05/07-30/08/07 because of the sculpt/price change. So to me npower achieved the impossible, lowered prices to create a price increase. Only in npowerland can such anomalies occur. Am seriously considering having a sample of my gas laboratory tested just to make sure it is gas and not fairy breath.

prn6243

DirectDebacle wrote: »

From 1st Oct 06 to 4th Jan 08 my high rates were 4.412p

1st April 07 my low rates were reduced from 2.492 to 1.915 where they stayed until Jan 08.

Nevetheless this resulted in an overcharge from 25/05/07-30/08/07 because of the sculpt/price change. So to me npower achieved the impossible, lowered prices to create a price increase. Only in npowerland can such anomalies occur. Am seriously considering having a sample of my gas laboratory tested just to make sure it is gas and not fairy breath.

On 1st October 2006 my higher rate increased to 4.265 (excl VAT).
On 30th April 2007 increased again to 4.412 and lower rate reduced from 2.399 to 1.915.