npower estimates!!!

I pay my electric bill monthly by direct debit to npower. The figure I
paid from April 2005 to April 2006 was £36 per month and at the end of March
I was a total of £42 in the red. So my annual amount for electricity used

Jackie...

Good job you checked on it FN, waiting to hear how much they want to
increase ours to from Southern Electric.
We don't have gas here.

Smokey...

Wow that's a lot for a monthly payment, i pay that for a full household !!

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Ah! But what do you pay for gas? I pay £16-50 per month.
So total annual amount for both was £630

Ali...

I pay £17 per month for gas, but only £10 for electric. That would be £324
for the year. Less actually as they owed me about £30 at the last billing
point.
They'll both be going up soon :^(

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

So you still have a coal fire in every room then? :)

Ali...

No, only one room has any type of fire (gas). The others are centrally
heated (also gas), but only for about 4 hours a day (2 hrs before bedtime,
2hrs before rising), and only in cold weather.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

So you have shares in a wooly jumper company then? :)

Ali...

No. I do have an ancient parka.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

They don't make 'em like they used to then. LOL

Smokey...

Do you have electric heating by any chance ?????

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Only the water, but I have a couple of pond pumps which are on 24/7 and a
couple of pooters. Oh I forgot the TVs are overused as well. I think it's

Rabbit...

You don't say !!!! :-)

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

You goin' deaf then? LOL

the immersion heater which uses the most though, although it is on an
electronic timer.

Saxman...

Have you tried getting an estimate from Atlantic Power?

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

much better then. I will be checking again soon.

was £474-30. This is the time of year that they recalculate the direct
debit amounts they reckon they need to charge for the next 12 months. I
anticipated that I was probably due an increase from £36 to around £44 to
cover the outstanding amount plus the price increase from March. Just
received their letter. Yes they have upped the payment by £4 to cover the
£42-30 I owe them, but they also estimate my next annual total payment will
need to be £842-61 and so are making my monthly DD payments £74 which by my
estimate is a rise of 105.5% They give an 0845 'phone number for
queries. Of course I immediately 'phoned them. The girl the at other
end of the line listened to my tale of woe, and said she didn't see how the
estimate had been arrived at. She also implied that they always seem to err
on the high side (she can say that again) and immediately changed the amount
to £44 for me and will send a letter of confirmation. I reckon that they
are hoping that no-one will query these re-estimates so that they are always
well within the black and this excess can also be making money for them.
Nice to have got it sorted so quickly though.