Understanding energy bills is about to get easier for npower’s 6.6 million customers as the company will this week introduce new, plain English bills. 

The new bill, based on extensive research and feedback from customers, call centre staff and consumer groups, has received the Plain English Campaign’s Crystal Mark for clarity for its information page.

The front page of the new bill has been designed with a ‘less is more’ approach. It is extremely clear and easy to read, with the front page summary now simply showing:
• The customer’s account details
• npower’s customer service number
• Exactly how much the customer owes or is owed
• Whether the bill is estimated or based on a meter reading
• Emergency contact details

On the second page, there is a ‘jargon buster’ section, which clearly explains the unavoidable technical terms that have to be included on any energy bill, such as ‘calorific value’ and ‘correction factor’.  It also talks customers through ‘what’s a watt?’ and explains exactly ‘How we work out your bill’.

The third page, detailing how the customer’s account balance has been calculated, has been amended to make the calculations clearer and also includes an energy usage graph so that customers can compare their usage over a set period of time to the corresponding period the previous year.

“Our discussions with customers and stakeholders have told us that people want their energy bills to be clearer and simpler: they want to know how much they have to pay and how that amount has been calculated,” explained Chris Johnson, managing director of npower’s retail operations. 

“This is just one of the ways in which we’re working hard to improve our service to customers: we’re committed to listening to our customers, understanding what they want, and delivering products and services that meet their needs.”