Sudden Crippling Power Charges

[chrissa1]

I moved into my rented house in April 2011. NPower set up a Direct Debit for £59 per month for my Dual Fuel.
They told me that this amount would be reviewed in a year. April 2012 came and went and I thought great, I’m paying
the right amount. There is only me here for the majority of the year and the house is well insulated.
I received a letter from them last week telling me that my payments had to go up to £150 per month. This extra
£91 per month is a killer and I didn’t know how I would manage it. I rang NPower and somehow, they changed my Tariff which got the payment required down to £128 per month. This is slightly better but will be still be a struggle.
If you multiply 59 by 18, I have paid them £1,062 yet they are saying I still owe them £606. That means they say, I am using £92 worth of power per month.
My son’s power bill is much less than mine and there are 3 of them in their home.

What am I doing wrong and should I get my meters checked? TIA

[EcclesCake]

Have you had a look at your bills or annual statement if use? I have found that the utility companies randomly generate your monthly payment and pay no heed to what your actual consumption is, i.e. increasing monthly payment even when you are in credit.

Your bill does sound high, I have a 4 bed house and pay £88 per month.

[chrissa1]

That's what I thought Eccles. I would have liked to have been told in April, after all, last winter was included in the estimate.

[mojay]

I'm in a one bedroomed flat and signed up with EDF last December for £33 pcm and I have no heating costs as it is included in the rent.

July and August I found they'd taken £260 pcm and were intent on continuing this amount.

I took meter readings daily for 10 days and after very lengthy phone calls they eventually admitted they'd made mistakes with their meter readings etc.

A hard battle and I pointed out that my previous address was a 5 bed detached house and certainly didn't cost that much for gas and electricity - but I fought and won.

[Wak]

I am with Scottish Hydro at the moment but tried the Energy-help line to search for another, cheaper company.
They came up with NPower which would save me £200 p.a.
However, my last bill from S.H. suggested I should ring S.H. before changing companies to see if they could help, so I did.
S.H. told me that NPower charging rates could alter even though they say that the discount will not.
That made me wait and have a think about it.
The following day, I watched "Rip-off-Britain" and Npower were on it for changing a man's rate without telling him, and when confronted about it, somehow found another excuse to charge more.
If I remember correctly, the man ended up with a bill for over £5000 which
R-O-B had to sort out for him.
From what I saw, I would escape from that company a.s.a.p.

[chrissa1]

As it's a rented house, I don't think I can do that Wak.

Are you saying I should query the bill mojay?

[EcclesCake]

I'd look at what your actual consumption has been since you've been in the house.

It may be that you were underpaying and are in debt to NPower, they have upped you monthly payment to recoup the debt. It is a big leap though.

[ladybirder]

Chrissa, have you checked your meter readings with what is on the bill? Make sure it is an Actual reading and not an estimate.

[chrissa1]

Yes, I realise that Eccles but it seems a lot for one person to have used sparingly. I only heat the rooms I use and haven't had the heating on at all since the Spring.

The bill are written in gobbledegook.

[sherrardk]

Chrissy, we rent and the bill is in our name so I changed supplier. As long as the bill is paid I don't suppose your landlord would care

[chrissa1]

Good point sherr but I'd still owe NPower all this money.

[ladybirder]

The question of a tenant changing utility supplier cropped up on here recently and I'm sure the outcome was that you (the tenant) pay the bill, you, the tenant can choose the supplier.

[daffy654]

chrissa, I think it would be advisable to make an appointment at the Citizens Advice Bureau, take all paperwork with you to the appointment and hopefully they will be able to help you sort it all out.

[EcclesCake]

I completely agree about the gobbledegook!

I know with my bills they tell me how much I'm in credit or debit. Just looking at that tells me if I'm paying too much or too little, do NPower not give that kind of top level info?

[sherrardk]

Re the actual bill, drag your feet, change supplier and complain and complain! The power companies are gits and don't seem to have a compassionate bone between them. Not any sort of practical help, but don't let them grind you down.

[chrissa1]

That's a good idea daffy.

[chrissa1]

I know how many whatsits I've used. It's the cost I'm querying. How can they suddenly change my tariff at the drop of a hat and change the amount they've asked me for? First £150 then poof,,,,,,,, £128???

[SlackAlice]

I'm with Npower and my monthly payments have gone down. However, I do keep a rigorous check on them and only once did they change my tariff. Told them it wasn't on and changed to a better tariff.
As with all bills, you have to do your research and challenge them.

[Memore]

I pay £100 per month gas and electric with Southern Electric - i always keep a check on the bills and put a reading through the website every month - that sounds extremely high - I used to have a flat and it was NPower who said I owed them over £900 and that I used £335 ish of energy in one month - even though I work full time! I got them out to look at it the meters were fine but they couldnt work out why the bill generated so high and looked at previous usage to see that my pattern over the previous year was much lower - so they wrote it off - that is why I document every reading so I can work out the usage in my new house - you cannot trust them at all - £1600 per year sound ridiculous to me - I don't think you will be able to change supplier why you owe money can you? I think I might have tried that one!

[chrissa1]

Thanks Memore. I've just noticed your post. As it's just me living in the house, I seem to be paying the same as a 4 person household.
I think I will get them to check the meter.