Npower customer diservice is driving me mad!

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:16 am

MJA wrote: Sorry big-all, you're not getting my point mate. I'm not disputing that it is more expensive on prepay - it's a well known fact. I'm trying to point out that we use less fuel on the meter as we're less flipent about the usage - hence saving money that way. If we went back to DD we would certainly use more fuel and the bill would be higher.
Our energy bills are lower in this largish 1920's flat roofed semi than they were in a more modern 2 bed flat purely because we never bothered what the bill would be before.

ok mja i hope you dont think i was being at all condecending all information was given to be helpfull and help you to come to your own conclusion

i do understand that some people work better with meters as it gives them more control on what they are using

MJA · Post by **MJA** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:22 am

handyman wrote:in %, how much more does paying by card cost compaired to DD?

According to above, its about 30%

I cant see you 'being flippant' with more than 30% of your usage.

I dont get this logic, in the same way i dont get those christmas saving clubs

That's fair enough, which is why you pay monthly I presume. The logic suits and me is saving my energy bill so that's all that matters, surely?

I'm not sure what the % difference is atm but I'll find out tomorrow when I find new supplier - they're all closed today.

MJA · Post by **MJA** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:23 am

big-all wrote:
ok mja i hope you dont think i was being at all condecending all information was given to be helpfull and help you to come to your own conclusion

No, not at all fella. I just thought I'd not made my point very clear in my ramblings

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:30 am

handyman wrote:in %, how much more does paying by card cost compaired to DD?

According to above, its about 30%

I cant see you 'being flippant' with more than 30% of your usage.

I dont get this logic, in the same way i dont get those christmas saving clubs

you pay between 10 and 20% more for per unit for a pay as you go meter

you get a discount for duel fuel
you get a discount for paying by direct debit
you get a discount for managing your account on line

try an online switching like u switch try several whatever they say you can save halve that as they often dont take into account dicounts you get from you present supplier

scottish power on line discount 4 is a good one at the miniute for me but may not br good for you depends on present supplyer

http://www.uswitch.com/?gclid=CMSA4920h ... 3god0nMyDQ

http://www.totallymoney.com/energy/?m=G ... 3godjQW4DA

http://www.switchwise.com/?referer=1036 ... 3godnR6kDA

http://www.theenergyshop.com/getHomePag ... 3god0nMyDQ

MJA · Post by **MJA** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:10 pm

Cheers mate. I'll have a scan at that when I get in from work. I've got a gas bill here and it says I'm paying a £35.70 quarterly standing charge and gas at a rate of 2.587. Not sure how that compairs to anyone elses though

Little update from the wife relating to the origin of this tread- we've got £1.12 worth of emergency credit left and about 24 hours till we can get any more. Nice one, atleast my predicitions were sort of close, lol.

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:34 pm

MJA wrote:
handyman wrote:in %, how much more does paying by card cost compaired to DD?

According to above, its about 30%

I cant see you 'being flippant' with more than 30% of your usage.

I dont get this logic, in the same way i dont get those christmas saving clubs
That's fair enough, which is why you pay monthly I presume. The logic suits and me is saving my energy bill so that's all that matters, surely?

I'm not sure what the % difference is atm but I'll find out tomorrow when I find new supplier - they're all closed today.

still dont get how you can 'flippantly' use 30% more, ie do as you do now, but save 30%

MJA · Post by **MJA** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:47 pm

handyman wrote:
still dont get how you can 'flippantly' use 30% more, ie do as you do now, but save 30%

WTF? I'm not flippantly using fuel now though - the prepay meter serves as a reminder not to, or have I misunderstood what you meant. I reckon it's nothing like 30% more expensive anyway - I'll eat my words if it is but I doubt it. Any idea what you pay per unit of gas out of interest?

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:03 pm

i am in the seeboard area on on line energy saver 4 standing order and no standing order work out exactly the same

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/pricing_pdfs/general.pdf

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:39 pm

MJA wrote:
handyman wrote:
still dont get how you can 'flippantly' use 30% more, ie do as you do now, but save 30%
WTF? I'm not flippantly using fuel now though - the prepay meter serves as a reminder not to, or have I misunderstood what you meant. I reckon it's nothing like 30% more expensive anyway - I'll eat my words if it is but I doubt it. Any idea what you pay per unit of gas out of interest?

to put the exact same thing another way..............you need to use at least 30% less gas/leccy to break even on the deal of having prepay.

If you did as you do now, and had monthly payments, then you would save 30%, or am i missing something

Steve the Gas · Post by **Steve the Gas** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:59 pm

Agreed ..... if thats the actual difference?

Stoday · Post by **Stoday** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:07 pm

thescruff wrote: Looking to swop over to Npower early next week.

Over £500.00 cheaper than BG

You have been warned Scruff:

Hitch wrote: N-power, one of the companies on my blacklist... never to be used agin, no matter how much cheaper.

I'm with Hitch on this, Npower's on my black list too. No matter how much cheaper, never to be used.

Npower charges a higher rate for the first 4572 kWh a year. Not a calendar year as you would expect, but a "tariff" year, that restarts when they change the tariff (which they did 3 times last year).

See here: Ncrapower

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:21 pm

The regulator needs to get a grip with the suppliers (they wont as they are toothless, useless t*ats). To be able to compare suppliers the rates need to be the same ie. some charge standing rate, all have different rates for and usage for the first parts of the month so it makes it impossible for anyone to compare - even the comparison sites don't agree who is the cheapest

Pre-pay is a con - fact. However, pre-pay tells you when you have spent too much as it cuts you off which is what the OP is driving at (I think

). But, if you get into the habit of not leaving lights on, not leaving TV's on standby or leaving phone charges plugged in you can save money and of course switching to energy efficient bulbs where appropriate

thescruff · Post by **thescruff** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:05 pm

Makes interesting reading one has to admit.

Doesn't alter the fact that their gross cost works out at £500 a year less than BG.

I should mention I'm talking industrial premises.

On the other hand and reading the above may sway it, Shell Gas are very competitive.

MJA · Post by **MJA** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:32 am

Right peeps, after spending the last four hours in online price comparison sites and on the phone to a number of supliers I think we'll all be very suprised at how the figures work out - even the gas companies were!

We've based our anual usage at 17550KWh which is probable about 10% higher than actual. We first compaired prices for that usage on monthly bill then we did the same for prepayment to find the cheepest supplier for both.

The cheepest via monthly bill worked out at £706.72 per year with EBICo
The cheepest via prepayment worked out at £707.89 per year with EBICo

A massive saving of £1.17 PER YEAR for changing from prepay to credit meter

I knew there wouldn't be a huge difference but I was shocked at how little difference there actually is. I guess some of you might be thinking that's all BS but let me try to explain why it works out like this. On a prepayment meter you have a daily standing charge and a low fixed cost per KWh. On a regular credit meter there are usually 2 rates per KWh, one very high rate upto the first 1000KWh (ish) per quarter and then a lower rate (only slightly lower than prepay) for the remaining usage in that quarter.

Now, even though we'd have no standing charges on monthly billing, our usage is such that we would not spend enough time in the lower rate so there is less of a saving to be had. I hope to god this makes sense to everyone cuz I'm confusing myself now.

But when it all boils down to it, we're no worse off using the prepay meter than we would be on a credit meter - infact as I mentioned before, we are more careful and aware of our usage whilst on prepay so as I was trying to point our we're financially better off this way. The only downside is when the meter f*ck up and we're left with no juice - like now

Hopefully this might slightly dilute the old urban myth about massive savings by ditching prepay.

Matt

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:51 am

in which case.........fair enough.

You'll need to tell Martin about it

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilit ... lectricity

where he says "Those on pre-payment meters sadly pay hugely more than everyone else."

So, it appears to just be an urban myth then