Npower say i use approx 15 units a day and instead of paying £55,00 a month they now want £110.00,i have 3 readings monday 81110 tues81123 wed 81134 do i use 15 units a day ,maybe i do ,anyway i told them a can't afford this as i have other bills to pay and they suggest that electric comes before my mortgage, so i should put them first, but i would rather eat and have a roof over my head, i am also in debt with them with my electric i owe them £140 they have been kind enough to refare me to there spreading warmth tarriff for people on low incomes i will get £125 credit to my electric account and £125 to my gas account but this will not happen until jan and they will not lower my payments so i am opting to switch users british gas come up cheapest with click energy 6 and then it is eon with online saver energy 9, but am i doing the right thing ,are they going to put there prices up ,eon only want £51 electric and £21 gas ,and i have heard bad things about british gas that's why i never chose them, anyway the switch is in progress and will take a few weeks and i am sitting here freezing to death with my 2 children any advice would be great. Thanks.

Hi, I hope you have managed to switch now and that you have some heat for you and your children. I have just switched from npower to BG, I have always been with them and never had a problem, but npower have been an absolute nightmare, their customer service is the most awful ever on earth and they couldn't care less about people. I hope for your sake you are rid of them, I am, and I couldn't be more please, I will never again go anywhere near them.

We just found out that NPower made us overdrawn.

The gas came out of a Halifax account and the electric from Yorkshire bank.

NPower decided just to take the lot from ther Halifax causing us to go overdrawn, we did not know until Halifax called and told us.

We phoned NPower who told us they have been doing this for three months!! and we should have got a letter.

We have checked and we did get a letter checking our bank account which was the Halifax details for duel fuel payment, but not saying they would be taking both payments from this account, and the letter was sent out on 4th November?? and not 3 months ago.

Surely they cant just start taking payment for a service from a totaly diferent account without your permission?

I hope you have got things sorted out now and that you and your kids are now warm again. I'm with British Gas who can just as easily double monthly payments. However, if I disagree with the amount, and can show them, by referring to my usage over the past 12 months that they have got their calculations wrong, they will reduce the payments.

I would recommend that everyone keep a close eye on their usage, month by month, and consider whether what they are paying is sufficient to cover it. If you think that you are likely to be in debt over a 12 month period then contact your supplier and ask them to increase the monthly amount NOW, rather than wait until their 12 month review (some companies review user accounts every 6 months). Taking this action should ensure that what you will pay for the remainder of the review period will cover your annual costs and there should be no nasty shocks for you with massive increases. Remember that if you are in debt to them at the review period this amount will be added to what they consider your costs will be for the next 12 months, so that they can recover that debt over your next 12 months. In fairness to the companies there are no added interest payments for the debt accrued.

Personally, I have been advised that my electricity payments will REDUCE from £42pm to £20pm. Having looked at my annual usage I could see that this would result in me being in debt to BG over that period so I phoned them and arranged to pay £25pm which is much more realistic and should ensure that, barring massive increases in fuel costs, I will not accrue any debt so my payments should remain pretty much when they next review my payments in Dec 2009.

Finally, can I just say that no one should have blind faith in the companies to look after your interests. That is your responsibility and if exercised with due care and attention then you should not be faced with huge increases. You should be particularly vigilant if you see news of increases in fuel prices. Contact your supplier and ask if their prices will be going up and if so, how will this affect your costs, and should you consider increasing your monthly payments accordingly. Of course, some suppliers will put of increases for as long as possible, so find when your supplier intends increasing their prices, and check at that time if you require to increase your payments. Or perhaps change supplier, something which is always less painful if you have avoided going into debt with your current company, as all debts will have to be cleared at the time of the change over.