npower gas and electricity bill

[suzi70]

Hi, i am wondering if anyone can help me. I joined Npower in november of last year (2009) setting up a direct debit of £90 a month for my gas and electricity. On saturday i received a bill from them telling me that my monthly payments would go up to £272.00 a month as of the end of august. I have rang them and explained there is no way i can pay this amount, they have said that they could come to an agreement with me whereby i pay what i owe off over 3 years and pay £160.00 a month, again, i told them i could not afford to pay this, . I really do not know what to do. I do not work as i am a full time carer for my husband and have 3 children. I explained this to them and they said i couldnt have the prepayment meters installed because of my husbands illnesses's .

 

In the bill they have sent me they have included £934.60 for estimated charges over the next six months. surely this cant be right. Is there any possibility my meters could be wrong???? It is a private rented property so i am not sure how long the meters have been here, the property was modernised a few years ago so am wondering if new meters could have been installed then,

 

I would be grateful for any advice whatsoever. Its worrying us all.

 

Thanks

[notareargunner]

One of the weapons that all the Service Providers use is ignorance. As a carer you are probably entitled to Social Tariff but beware. All providers will avoid you like the plague the instance you mention this tariff and I have not found one who will fulfill their legal obligation under contract and give you a written quote. The reason, it is down to their technique of interogating the customer or potential customer.

Note Well. Their first, last and intermediate question is ..."Who is your present supplier?" The reason being is that they will then offer you a fraction off the tariff as an incentive to entice you to their make believe pricing system. They have about 10,000 tariff on theirdodgy computing systems.

Go to Welfare Rights and demand that they help. If you have any association with the Forces then RBL and Ssafa ought to help, but their level of comptence is questionable.

Be frugal. Switch off devices not in use and switch off as much as you have to before going to bed. Not to do this is stupid and lazy.

NB. Let someone else have a look at your bill, CAB or a free agent but please, make certain they are competent. Not all CAB officials are, as they are not money provider charities and are not legally held for the advice they give.

Edited August 8, 2010 by notareargunner
spelling mistakes

[lordcrocket]

wheres welfare rights ?????

[notareargunner]

Welfare Right should be attached to every council in the land. They are greatly under financed but are better than CAB if operative as they will represent you at tribunals.

Just enter welfare rights and your location in google. Good hunting

[lordcrocket]

thank you

[notareargunner]

You have to be very wary with NP. They tried to hit me with a £335 monthly bill, but I ws on the phone to them like a shot and threatened them with Small Claims Court if they did not recify matters over the phone. It appears their computer had added all the values on the meter together and issued me with an estimated bill, and this is in mid smmer when about the only appliance that was working was the fridge freezer. Like a lot of people I build up monies with them, ie I pay a monthly sum on a recorded yearly average. Last year I was £4 in credit at the end of the financial year despite their insistance that I increased my donations by 40%.

If customers would just publish their tariffs the companies would not be able to get away with this. That fraction of a penny per unit makes an enormous difference on the bill at the end of each year.

EG. Scottish Power have an initial hig tariff for the first 850 Kwh of about 30 pence, but the subsequent charges for over that amount drops to about 13p with the night tarff again considerably cheaper at about 3.8 pence per unit. The figures to look at are your average annual usage, the first amount, whether the company offer you 850 or 725 at the highest rate, then the other rates. Get a 50 pence calculator and do the sums and you'll see enormous disparities in the annual final figures and make you wonder why you allow them to get away with such falsehoods. Don't listen to those who say they don't have the time or the know-how. If you are really unsure, find someone who is literate and numerate and is willing to spend a little time helping. If you are unable to figure all this out, swallow the bullet and go and get professional help. It pays in the long run.