Help with my over-estimated prepayment statement.

johanne

hiya,

I have just recieved a statement from Npower for my electric.. im on prepayment meters so didnt think i could go into debt with them.. but they have overestimated my usuage HUGELY!

The last estimated reading they have is 47790 units.. i read my meter just now and its only 45124! So a difference of 2666 Units! :eek:

They are asking for £39.72 to be paid and theres a giro slip on the attached sheet for me to pay it with.... as my charges this quarter (till 6th dec) where £234.72 and i only put £195 on the meter. BUT because they have so over estimated it shall i ignore paying them this and wait for an amended bill as i have just submitted an accurate reading on their website?

Just i dont have that kind of money at the moment anyway.. and i thought the whole point of pre-payment was so you dont get bills like that

irnbru_2

johanne wrote:

BUT because they have so over estimated it shall i ignore paying them this and wait for an amended bill as i have just submitted an accurate reading on their website?

You should be ok to wait for the amended bill.

Why do they send you one if your on prepayment?

Bri_2205

It's an annual statement of usage and should not have included a giroslip.

Ignore it, as you are on a prepayment meter, you cannot (normally) accrue a debit, so it's nothing to worry about.

You will receive no follow up for the balance.

kerryallc71

hello im having the same problem but with powergen. i owe well i don't owe because im prepayment over £600.00. you see we have been buying electrcity tokens £30.00 a fortnight. but the last recorded date they last got was 18th september 2005 ive got the reicepts for the electric tokens so i had to get them all photocopied. but for some reason the meter token card we have been using is incorrect. so they are sending us a new one? well i think ,well thats what i got told. i did send a nasty letter with the photocopies of the reciepts. and i stated why do i owe money im pre-payment and if i dont but my electric tokens i don't get electric.
i phoned up on tuesday or wednesday and they have got my letter and photocopies and they are hopefully going to sort it all out. well they better or im going to do some big complaining well thats what i told them on my letter to them.

from kerry.

chas1937

I had same problem with Powergen Staywarm and because of erroneous transfer they had to refund all i had paid them.They came away with story that they could only go back too 2003 as they didnt have records kept before that so I said,is that so, well i can go back further and you will get copy of receipts back too 2001,Give them their due they did refund all the money but what if I hadnt kept the receipts as going back nearly 5 years is a bit much to keep receipts for

QBD

They do this to us from time to time aswell, I think they just send these bills out hoping that some people will just pay!

BexTech

Some people think you can't go into debt with a pre-payment meter when in fact it is quite common, to either be in debt or in credit, simply because the tariff set on the meter doesn't match the actual tariff you are on. Up until a year or two ago when the cost of fuel wasn't increasing all the time it was more common to be in credit, however with the constant changing in rates, it is more likely you will be in debt.

To have the correct rate on the meter your card should be updated with the correct rates and inserted into the meter to update the charges, most people never bother and just insert the paper/card tokens which just adds the credit, so your meter will be ticking down at the rate on the meter and not the actual rate.

I hate pre-payment meters, and always get them taken straight out when we move into a house with them, don't see the point in paying a much higher price for fuel and have to go out and get tokens / top-ups.

BexTech

kerryallc71 wrote:

hello im having the same problem but with powergen. i owe well i don't owe because im prepayment over £600.00. you see we have been buying electrcity tokens £30.00 a fortnight. but the last recorded date they last got was 18th september 2005 ive got the reicepts for the electric tokens so i had to get them all photocopied. but for some reason the meter token card we have been using is incorrect. so they are sending us a new one? well i think ,well thats what i got told. i did send a nasty letter with the photocopies of the reciepts. and i stated why do i owe money im pre-payment and if i dont but my electric tokens i don't get electric.
i phoned up on tuesday or wednesday and they have got my letter and photocopies and they are hopefully going to sort it all out. well they better or im going to do some big complaining well thats what i told them on my letter to them.

from kerry.

Yes you have been buying tokens for £30 a time, that doesn't mean you won't owe money. Are you 100% sure the rate set on the meter is the rate you are actually on?

The meter could say you are being charged 7p/KwH and will be deducting this the from credit, when in reality the tariff you are on is 10p/KwH. So if you were to use 1000Kw of energy you will have only paid £70 when in fact you should be paying £100.

Are you use the paper/card tokens to credit the meter with? If so have you been getting the plastic card that carries the tariff details updated and inserting that into the meter, so that the meter is set to the correct rate?