NPower dipping bikkies in coffee?

Dear , Is Npower the new Starbucks? At the same time as hiking our energy bills, Npower are using accounting tricks to dodge paying their fair share of tax in the UK. Yesterday it was revealed that they haven't paid a single penny in corporation tax for the last three years! [1] But now this is out in the open, Npower are vulnerable. Just look what a PR disaster it was for Starbucks when their tax affairs were exposed last year. Tax dodging scandals can ruin a company's reputation. And that can cost them their customers. [2] Npower rely on their customer loyalty. If they realise that their tax scams are damaging their reputation, they'll have to back down. So let’s make them feel the strength of public opposition by building a HUGE petition warning them that their customers are ready to leave them. Please click here to sign: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/npower-tax A huge petition can help turn this tax dodge into a full-on PR crisis for Npower. It'll help spread the word and raise awareness of what they're up to. And it'll encourage the media to keep reporting on this scam. That's exactly what Npower's PR team don't want to happen! After Starbucks' tax scams came out, customers crossed the street to buy coffee from another cafe. Npower will already know that they’re at risk from customers switching gas and electricity providers. It’s not like it’s that difficult to switch - we proved that last year, when thousands of us switched together to get a better deal. [3] The news of yet another huge company like Npower dodging tax stinks, and not just because it comes at a time when our gas and electricity bills are going through the roof. By dodging tax, Npower are actively contributing to the UK’s deficit - and to the stinging impact of government cuts. Let’s force Npower to stop using accounting tricks to dodge their fair share of tax . Sign the petition to Npower now: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/npower-tax Thanks for being involved, James, Becky, Susannah and the 38 Degrees team PS: NPower’s accounting scam works like this: they are turning UK operating profits into accounting and tax losses by making large "interest payments" to other parts of their own business, based overseas. This is currently legal - and in the longer term, we need to push the government to close this blatant loophole. But right now we have a chance to force Npower to drop this scam - so please sign the petition now: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/npower-tax NOTES [1] The Sun - Energy giant pays zero tax: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4891267/Energy-giant-Npower-pays-zero-corporation-tax.html [2] The Economist: Wake up and smell the coffee: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21568432-starbuckss-tax-troubles-are-sign-things-come-multinationals-wake-up-and-smell [3] Read more about the Big Switch on the 38 Degrees website here: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2012/05/11/bigswitchresult/ For all electricity users.  Npower charge 14.85p p/kWh plus 5% VAT.  For Super 7 users they charge 5.94p p/kWh plus 5% VAT. PLUS a new charge of £64 97 pa just for buying your electricity from them.  It's like paying for Sky just because your near neighbour has a satellite dish on their outside wall.  Get punters to pay up front and everything else is profit!?!?  This is going back to the horrendous nationalisation days where the only option a customer really gets is NONE.  The industry has stitched up being able to move by imposing dubious clauses in the contracts that cannot be legally equitable, hence not contractible.