My parents moved over to nPower from their previous supplier in August 2008. They had been paying their previous supplier £100 per month for electricity only. They said that she should be paying more and decided to increase her bills accordingly. My mother then came across an nPower sales team when she was out shopping. They 'agreed' that under their current circumstances they were paying far too much and that their bill with nPower would be no more than £60 per month.
On the basis of this, she agreed to switch and her monthly payments went down to £50 per month. Great, they thought. Until June this year when nPower decided they had been undercharging and decided to hit them for £260 per month (up until December) to cover what they say they should have been paying. By my calculations, nPower are therefore saying that my parents should have been paying between £140 and £160 per month when they switched (I don't have exact dates, so can't give an exact figure).
It seems to me that even £140 is too much. We, as a family of four, are paying around £80 - £90 per month in electricity on a prepayment meter. This is the same as when we were living in Cardiff with Swalec as our provider. We're struggling to work out how on earth nPower are saying that my parents, who both work and live on their own (no kids at home), are paying up to twice as much.
To give an example, this is what we typically have on at home:
CRT 21" TV - 12 hours per day
Desktop PC - 24 hours per day
Monitor - 12 hours per day
2nd Desktop PC - 4 hours per day
Laptop plugged into the power socket - 2 hours per day
Netbook plugged into the power socket - half hour per day
Fridge Freezer & Chest Freezer - 24 hours per day
Electric cooker (Oven & at least 1 hob) - 1 hour per day
Kettle - 15 times a day
Washing Machine - 3 hours a day
Tumble Dryer - 1 hour a day
Electric Iron & Hair straighteners combines - half hour a day
Water heater - 24 hours per day
Electric Shower - 20 minutes per day
Vacuum Cleaner - what's one of those?
This is what my parents have on:
Desktop PC & Monitor - 3 hours per day
Fridge Freezer & Chest Freezer - 24 hours per day
42" LCD TV - 5 hours per day
32" LCD TV - 2 hours per day
Power tools - 2 hours PER WEEK!
Electric Cooker - half hour per day
Microwave - half hour per day
Kettle - 5 times a day
Washing Machine - 2 hours PER WEEK!
Tumble Dryer - 2 hours PER WEEK!
Electric Iron - 2 hours PER WEEK!
Power shower - 10 minutes per day
Water heater - never on.
Vacuum Cleaner - 1 hour per day
These are maximum limits.
There are also other little things both households have, including Sky+, Sky Multiroom, broadband router, energy saving lights, etc. At the minute they're also using portable electric heaters but only for one room since they tend to live in the dining room ... the rest of the house is usually unused and all lights in the house, apart from the dining room and hallway are off virtually all day.
All in all, the amount requested by nPower seems excessive considering that they're hardly in. Someone's home at our house virtually all the time.
My mother has asked nPower to investigate but they've just flatly refused. She's obviously wondering if they're paying for the electricity of their only neighbours across the road (the house is a detached dormer bungalow in the middle of nowhere down a narrow back road with just one much older house opposite).
How can we investigate what's going on here?