Billed by two different electricity companies

jim444

I switched gas and electricity from Scottish Power to npower last May using energyhelpline.com

According to npower, who say they have checked the national supplier database, they took over my gas and electricity supplies in August. The gas has been transferred fine, but today I received a call from Scottish Power claiming that I owe them £130 for electricity for Oct-Jan.

When I spoke to Scottish Power they claimed that they were still supplying my electricity, despite what was in the supplier database. They claimed this was because npower had tried to supply the wrong meter. Scottish Power gave me the serial number of the meter they had on file, however when I got home this evening and checked my meter, the serial number they gave me doesn’t match.

Npower do not have my meter serial number, and when I asked how they could be sure they were actually supplying me electricity they claimed it was because they had my NPAN number. I have no idea what an NPAN number is, nor whether what npower have said is true.

I don’t yet have an electricity account set up with npower. They said that this was because they don’t have the meter serial number and up to date readings. However, if they need these details in order to bill me, I don’t want to give them and be charged for the same electricity Scottish Power are trying to bill me for until this has been resolved. My gas account has been set up fine and npower have been taking direct debits for it.

I don’t mind paying Scottish Power if they have actually still been supplying my electricity, but I’m not paying for it again to npower. The fact that Scottish Power have the wrong meter serial number to me suggests they’re not (and possibly never were) supplying my electricity and that I don’t owe them anything.

Scottish Power have said they will pass this onto a debt collection agency in a week and won’t put a hold on the account. How can I get them to stop hassling me? Somehow I don’t think phoning them up tomorrow and telling them they have the wrong serial number will be enough. What can I do if two companies are both claiming to have supplied my electricity?

elektra

1. Find your previous bill from Scottish Power (before you initiated switch) and note down meter serial number and MPAN number (Meter Point Administration number - see http://www.energylinx.co.uk/questions.htm#43 )

Does this serial number match your meter ? Does it match the one on recent bill from Scottish Power.

2. Ring up MPAS yourself and find out who they think supply your electricity. If they think Scottish Power, then you need to ring them again and query meter serial number. see this link
http://cfe.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/cfe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5534&p_created=1210081598&p_sid=VFPMz7ij&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NTg1LDU4NSZwX3Byb2RzPTAmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9wYWdlPTE*&p_li=&p_topview=1

It sounds to me as if the switch never happened. In which case you will have to pay Scottish Power for what you have used up till now and agree reading and meter serial numbers to allow change to happen.