NPower gas 'sculpting'

backfoot

Damn good first post. Superb.

jmcdyre

I've just done a price comparison on uswitch, does anyone know if their figures are given based on the fact that the tariff year is reset now that the prices have increased?

Npower have never been beaten since I've been checking, but now Eon are coming up as cheaper for us (in Leicestershire), and my own workings confirm it before I factor in that the tariff year has been reset. I'm on SOL10 at the moment.

Also, do Eon do the same when they put up prices?

brysiewysie

jmcdyre wrote: »

............ Also, do Eon do the same when they put up prices?

If you're asking if Eon do the same sort of sculpting the answer is no. Their primary units are worked out on a daily basis, the same all the way through the year. They may sometimes change the tariff construction at a price change so a product may have more or less primary units

meggsy

meggsy wrote: »

Just a quick update on my claim submitted to npower way back in April.
Letter and cheque received (without any admission of liability) for an amount which was only just short of the amount I was claiming.
I'll be back later ...... keep at 'em ....;)

Thought I would come back to this and type up the 'sculpting' explanation in the letter I received, going slightly bonkers now

These were the units in question, also posted earlier on this thread
...
First bill - 14th March - 8th June 2007
754 and 480

Second bill - 8th June - 5th September 2007
1104

Third bill - 5th September - 30th November 2007
317 and 1405

Fourth bill - 30th November - 13th March 2008
854 and 1695 (price rise)

Total : 6609 which is 2037 kWh over the 4572 and all based on actual (my) readings

Extract from letter dated 15th August ...


"In the previous year, after operating on a seasonally weighted profile for the 6 months from 1st November 2006 (during which you were charged no more that 3,389 units at the primary block rate) we changed to a flat or equal monthly basis (381 units each month) for the 6 month period from 1st May to 31st October 2007 at a time that we carried out work to move all customers billing records to a single billing system. At the same time we reduced the price of our follow-on units (and increased our direct debit dual fuel discount from £60 to £80) So the increase in units at the primary block rate needs to be balanced against the benefit of our follow-on unit price decreases and where appropriate an increased discount.

Going back even further gas customers with us for the previous 12 months, 1st November 2005 to 31st October 2006, would not have been billed for any more than 4,572 units at the primary block rate. The same applied for the 12 months before then.

However, I recognise the delays that you have experienced and very much hope that I can restore npowers reputation with you. I regret and apologise for the inconvenience that you have been caused. On a goodwill basis I am proposing that npower, without any admission of liability, makes an immediate payment to you of £75.00. I enclose our cheque for this amount"

First of all I wasn't a customer in November 2006 and I am puzzled at the explanation of 381 units each month 1 May - October 2007

Sterling

Well done, Meggsie. Judging from the extract from Npower’s letter it is clear that company no longer believes (or has any confidence) in the phoney defences upon which it has relied in fending off other claims or you would never have got your money. The cracks are appearing ever deeper in Npower’s plasterwork. The game is clearly up for its management on this one. I wonder what they’ll tell their shareholders. The time is right for all other claims to be lodged without delay.
However, it has taken Npower since April to pay up here. I hope other people claiming don’t have to wait so long; and the only way to be sure things happen at a more reasonable pace is (I believe) to send a letter before action giving the company a fixed (but reasonable) time limit of say 28 days to settle the claim, as mentioned in my previous post (#621). That also makes it more risky for Npower to send a cheque for a lesser amount, since you would be within your rights to reject the cheque and sue for the full amount without further notice.
It is interesting that the letter did not use the words “in full and final settlement” when enclosing the cheque. I have always understood that unless such words were used (so as to indicate that the recipient by banking the cheque had accepted the offer to settle at that lesser amount) one could treat the cheque as part payment, bank it, and then go gunning for the balance.

Cardew

Excellent points made by Sterling, but the real scandal is, as he points out in paragraph 1b, that Ofgem etc have done nothing about this situation.

I would love to know just how many people NPower have paid off with a 'Goodwill' payment. However it is a racing certainty that it is a tiny percentage of the millions of people they have overcharged.

notbritishgas

Meggsy, The 381 units you refer to is for the period in summer 2007 when they suspended sculpting and reverted to the flat rate, ie 4572 divided by 12 equals 381. This is the reason we were overcharged because under sculpting during that period we should have been charged much less than 381 units at the higher rate.

meggsy

notbritishgas wrote: »

Meggsy, The 381 units you refer to is for the period in summer 2007 when they suspended sculpting and reverted to the flat rate, ie 4572 divided by 12 equals 381. This is the reason we were overcharged because under sculpting during that period we should have been charged much less than 381 units at the higher rate.

Many thanks for jogging my memory, yesterday I couldn't see the wood for the trees

alleycat`

Just did the numbers on this (meant to do it for a while now) and it works out that between November 2006 and November 2007 we were charged 5,125 units at the higher rate rather than the 4,572 the letter i received on november the 6th said i should be charged (over a year).

Quick maths suggests that it's going to be around £30 or so i guess.

I've raised it with Npower and expect to get the usual flannel excuses before they finally agree to give me it back.

thanks for bringing this to my attention (yet again) guys!

--
Richard

(i assume that is the right time frame to work this out over?)

Sterling

Alleycat,

You mention a start-of-year date of 6 November (2006), and working to that date Npower would theoretically owe you for around another 539 high tier units over and above the excess of 553 units you mention. (This of course assumes you have used above say 5664 KWhs of gas in that year which seems likely since you already mention being charged for 5125 high tier units alone).

In any event, you may care to double check your gas bills and re-total your high tier units for that year to be sure. Good luck. Oh – and you may want to choose a different start-of-year date in the light of what follows.

What about people who haven’t been with Npower an exact number of years – 18 months say? With total clarity Cardew made the fundamental point earlier in this thread (#620), that a year here means any 12 month period – regardless of start date.

So presumably you can in fact choose any start-of-year date that most adequately compensates you. That is to say a year in which the excess high tier units billed are greatest. This (for example) would be useful for someone who took their gas from Npower for more than one year beginning in 2006 but not long enough to claim for two years (and which included some or all of the period May 07 – October 07) so as to get the most favourable (and fairest) compensation.

Moving on from there, it then occurred to me that all Npower’s affected customers could do the same, and need not be restricted to just one start-of-year date (based on their first day of supply), but can also choose any start-of-year date that most adequately compensates them, limited only by how long they were, or are, with Npower. If (for example) they are able to choose a start-of-year date of 1 March 2007 they could be looking at the theoretical maximum number of excess high tier units overcharged of 2249 and therefore the maximum claim.

And what date in all this does a year start on, that includes the whole of the said period May 07 – October 07, and yet gives the minimum claim? Surprise, surprise – it’s 1 November 2006 at 1023 units. Can it be that’s why Npower tried to steer people in that direction?

I should add that I (along with every other Npower customer) have recently received a standard letter from Npower confirming Cardew’s above point exactly, in which the blurb says, “The primary rate applies to a maximum of 4572 KWhs of gas and 728 KWhs of electricity that you may use throughout any continuous period of 12 months”. To me that means - any year you care to choose. So why not choose the one that fits best and compensates you the most adequately?