Can I Request NPOWER to reimburse me?

cosmicangel1984

Hi,

Im new to the boards, but would like to get your thoughts on my situation. I have recently moved house and have been attempting to transfer my existing gas and elec accounts over to my new house. Including an outstanding balance to ensure everything gets paid.

I have had a great deal of problems since Nov when i notified NPower of my change of address. All my new address details were taken and I was advised everything would be submitted to start the process. I received the forms to fill in with my meter ref numbers etc which I returned straight away.

I called a month later as I still had not receive a bill and to find out the status of the application as i had some financial difficulty after my wages were paid over the xmas period. I was told that the application was still going through and no payments were due on my account.

2 weeks later i got a letter from my bank saying Npower had tried to take money from my account and that I was to be charged as the funds werent available.

I called Npower straight away to find out what this was - apparently it was the final bill for my old address which I had asked to be transferred to my new address.

Question 1. Do I have the right to request npower to reimburse the bank charge as I was not informed of this and if I had been told I could have done something about it before getting the charge?

Also on this call I was told my application for my gas account hadnt gone through as they didnt have my meter reference number and I needed to call back so they could complete the application.

In the meantime I have received a bill from Eon (the previous tennants energy supplier) saying I owe £250 for 3 months worth of gas. This sounds steep to me? This is the 2nd home Ive rented independantly so am naive when it comes to household stuff. But I was paying £40 a month gas with npower...

Question 2. Would I also be able to claim back the £130 MORE I'm paying to eon due to npower messing me around with my account transfer?

I took the afternoon off work (silly 9-5 phonelines, i have to work hard to afford to pay their bills!) to call npower today and hopefully have sorted everything now. Fingers Crossed.

Would like to hear your thoughts! Thanks! :rolleyes:

Fire_Fox

Were you paying NPower by variable direct debit? I think they can take the full amount when you close an account, unless you cancel the DD with your bank. You can't simply transfer over to the new property, as you have a 'deemed' contract with Eon as they already supply it. Therefore I suspect you have one account with NPower which must be cleared when you move to Eon, then another account with Eon which must be cleared when you move back to NPower. If that makes sense?

Is the Eon bill an estimated or actual bill? Did you give them meter readings when you moved in? Have you used a price comparison site to check Eon/ NPower are your cheapest option?

cosmicangel1984

I was paying a set dd - but the payments stopped when i moved out temporarily. when i realised on my return i arranged a payment plan - increasing my monthly dd which i had asked to continue when i moved and the debt transferred to my new address which they said was fine.

the bill from eon says the meter was read first of all on 1 nov, then read again on 22 dec they've then estimated up until 14 jan - charging £148.89

then apparently they've added the a/c balance from my last bill on 8 jan - which is news to me...never had another bill from them! making the total £237.25. i've only been living here since 1 nov so shouldnt that be covered in the 1st breakdown of £148.89?

Magentasue

cosmicangel1984 wrote: »

Question 1. Do I have the right to request npower to reimburse the bank charge as I was not informed of this and if I had been told I could have done something about it before getting the charge?

Question 2. Would I also be able to claim back the £130 MORE I'm paying to eon due to npower messing me around with my account transfer?

1. No. You would have been liable for the final bill.
2. No. You have to go with the flow when you switch - the suppliers aren't liable to pay your bills if it takes longer than expected. You have to allow for this. As said you have to start off with existing supplier and switch, thus starting again with nPower. They're not messing you about, they're going through the process.

Good idea to read your meters regularly so that you can get an idea of what you're using.

cosmicangel1984

i understand i was liable and had made arrangements to pay this with a payment plan, but the part thats upset me is i called them to find out if i had any payments due to come out which they told me i hadn't. If there had been some pre-warning i may have been able to do something? I didnt even receive a paper bill...

Magentasue

cosmicangel1984 wrote: »

i understand i was liable and had made arrangements to pay this with a payment plan, but the part thats upset me is i called them to find out if i had any payments due to come out which they told me i hadn't. If there had been some pre-warning i may have been able to do something? I didnt even receive a paper bill...

I understand that. Unfortunately, when you ring them, it's hit and miss how thorough and competent the person on the other end is. Also, they may genuinely misunderstand what you're asking. If you closed the account - which it seems you did as you advised them you were moving out, you become liable for the final bill and it would have just been debited automatically.

No harm in putting your question in writing and asking for the bank charges to be reimbursed, but I think it is a matter of goodwill rather than them being obliged to do so.

cosmicangel1984

thanks for your help!

Vestra

Yes you can get the bank charges back, if you never received any communication from nPower about the amount being taken out by DD then you can fill out a bank indemnity claim form, which will just send the money back to nPower and you CAN claim back the bank charges too.

Once the money is sent back to nPower you can then request them to transfer this to the new address (which they should have done if you asked them too).

As for the other supplier, make sure they have the correct readings for the date you moved in and the correct date too, you do have to pay them from the day you moved in until the date nPower takes over the supply. However you could try and complain to nPower as due to them taking a while to register the supply (3 months???) you could try and get a small goodwill on your account.

Cardew

cosmicangel1984 wrote: »

I was paying a set dd -

I doubt you were paying a set(fixed) DD.

I think all Utility companies have a variable DD(note not a Standing Order)

In signing that DD mandate you authorise them to take variable sums from your account.

Under the DD guarantee they must notify you in advance of any increase. However it worth mentioning that the notification can be in small print on a bill and easily missed. Also all the utility company have to prove is that they sent notification, not that you received it.

That said, if you notify your bank that you had not received advance notice they will refund you without any questions and leave you to sort out any dispute with NPower.