When I clicked on the DooYoo search bar to see if any body had written about NPower I noticed a large majority of bad reviews, I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about writing my NPower review now as it is a positive review but I'll give it a go as DooYoo is all about your own personal experiences with products and companies.

I had been with my previous energy supplier E.On for my gas and electricity for many years and had owed them a couple of hundred pounds virtually the whole time due to estimated bills and incorrectly collected direct debits and a none existent customer care team. So when I got my bill in July 2009 and noticed that I was in credit I cheered and then shot up the stairs and logged on to Switchwise.com. I popped all my details about my energy usage into the price comparison search engine and sat back to wait for my results.

I can't remember who was the cheapest but I do know NPower was not at the top of the list. I clicked a few links and chose Npowers sign online 16 tariff as it suited my energy needs and I was able to control my account on line i.e. send in meter readings, set up a direct debit and view my bills. So I signed up and sat back while switchwise.com did all the work. I have to admit that I was worried at this point because I realised that I had meant to use Uswitch.com and had never heard of switchwise.com. I phoned NPower in a panic and they said don't worry we have heard of them it'll take about 8 weeks to switch and they will handle everything. So I sat back and relaxed again.

Over the course of the next few weeks I received lots of letters welcoming me to the company and explaining all about my account and tariff and when the switch over would occur. On the 9th of September 2009 NPower took over all my energy needs and I've got to admit I have been very happy with them so far.

I pay £115 a month for my gas and electricity through them which is £13 less than with E.On so I did not make a substantial saving but I just wanted to get away from a company that I had nothing but rising prices and debt with. About mid march I received an e-mail from NPower requesting my meter reading for my six month statement. I followed the instructions sent to me in the e-mail and was able to take my own meter readings with no trouble and send them off. My bill was ready to view through my on line account within a couple of days. I saw that I owed them £221 but this does not bother me as I know I will pay this off through the summer with my monthly direct debit as I use a lot less gas in the summer but about the same amount of electricity. I also had the option to pay this amount as a lump sum but chose not to.

The online aspect of this account gives you the ability to change your direct debit date and amount you pay each month and you can view previous bills and are able to compare your energy usage with previous bills. You can also get in touch with the customer services via an e-mail link on the NPower web site. On the one occasion I needed to contact them I chose this option and they responded on the same day and answered my question about my direct debit date.

NPower have lots of energy saving advice on there web site and give you access to all the government schemes such as the boiler scrappage allowance and the home insulation allowance.

Through NPower I got a home energy monitor for free as I have paperless billing. I've got to admit I do love the little monitor it was very easy to install I just clipped one part onto the main wire into my electricity box and plugged the main unit into a plug socket in my kitchen. If I managed to do this anyone can but if you are unsure do consult a qualified electrician. The monitor has made my whole family more aware of how much electricity we are using and has encouraged us to put less water in the kettle, put lids on pans, run the washing machine on a lower temperature and to turn things off properly instead of leaving them on standby because you can see the amount of kHz we use drop. I know we should have been doing that stuff all along but actually seeing the numbers on the meter go up and down through the day as you use stuff makes you think more about what you are actually doing.

I some times feel with all the energy saving people do now that if energy prices had not risen energy companies would not make any profit as all our bills would be tiny.

To summarise, Yes NPower seems to have a bad press so I can not feel safe giving them a full on 'Yes this company is brilliant everyone should switch' but for me personally NPower is a good company and as long as I don't owe them any money at the end of the summer I will stick with them for the foreseeable future.

If you have had a good experience with NPower leave me a comment as I'm starting to worry.

www.npower.com

Thanks for reading.