my npower savings account

emamum · 31-07-2008, 11:49

just got my npower bill and i am £50 in credit!!
wooo......... its a prepayment meter

explains why i'm putting so much on the card every week!

MargaretR · 31-07-2008, 12:20

If the last tenant was in debt, the meter would take more than needed to cover use.
They can't let you clear another person's debt, so that extra is shown as credit
One of my exes worked for BGas for a time - removing meters from people who couldn't pay -he loved it - sadist!

kathleen_firth · 31-07-2008, 15:42

my gas says i owe over 100 pound although my gas is prepayment im soo confused

MargaretR · 31-07-2008, 15:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by kathleen_firth

my gas says i owe over 100 pound although my gas is prepayment im soo confused

If your supplier hasn't been able to get at it to reset it when prices went up, you will have been billed for the difference between the old rate and the new

Neil · 31-07-2008, 15:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by kathleen_firth

my gas says i owe over 100 pound although my gas is prepayment im soo confused

You do not pay for your gas as you use it. They guess at how much you will use and set your meter to go down by what they think will be the right amount. When they read the meter they work out what you owe. They look at how much you have paid on your card. They then work out if you paid too much or too little.

You have been paying too little. You need to get them to change it before you are that far behind you will really notice it when they change you rates.

MargaretR · 31-07-2008, 16:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

You do not pay for your gas as you use it. They guess at how much you will use and set your meter to go down by what they think will be the right amount. When they read the meter they work out what you owe. They look at how much you have paid on your card. They then work out if you paid too much or too little.

You have been paying too little. You need to get them to change it before you are that far behind you will really notice it when they change you rates.

So - they do it differently now - my knowledge dates from the time you had to feed it coins

Neil · 31-07-2008, 16:08

Part of the guess is to do with you paying what is in effect the rent of the meter or the standing charge. Depending on your usage will depend how much they need to take of you for each unit used to pay the standing charge. Because the card meters and the whole way of paying with the cards costs more money the user has to pay either more for the electric/gas used or more standing charge.

I read that the Government don't think people on pre payment meters should pay more than those on direct debit for the same amount of energy. Of course they should, it is a more expensive way to pay for the electric/gas.

flashy · 31-07-2008, 17:04

Emma i doubt you will get it back, unless you have been told by npower that you will, i got a statement from my pre payment meter i rang them up and they say they dont do the 'credit back' thing anymore, ring them and ask them

emamum · 31-07-2008, 17:30

thats friggin ridiculous..... they better give it back!

MargaretR · 31-07-2008, 17:34

I really think the best you can hope for is that they will use it to pay part of you next bill.
Get yourself a proper meter and put the weekly money in a savings account for when the bill comes -at least that way you will get some interest on your money instead of them

flashy · 31-07-2008, 21:42

em its not actually classed as 'credit' anymore, you used to get it back when it was the old paper card meters, but no more

but npower might be different