Should I get Energywatch involved? Npower

Premier_2

smokingchills wrote: »

Iv missed some of this out but I would reiterate what has previously been advised - not all economy 7 meters switch to the night rate for all appliances depending on how your house was wired will depend on what comes onto the EC7 at night - in some cases this is for the storage heating only and anything else used will be charged on the day rate. ...

That's incorrect.

For Economy 7, the property requires a dual rate electricity meter. At the set times, the meter switches from peak to off peak rates and vice versa. It is this switch that appears to have failed on the OP's meter. However, if it did work, all electricity consumed during the off peak period would be charged at the off peak rate.

It is the case that some properties are wired so that some circuits only become live during the off peak period (e.g. the circuit that has storage heaters on), but all electricity that passes through the meter at any given time can only be recorded at the rate the meter is recording at i.e either peak or off peak.

anniecave

Heather - d86 is the meter reading used for change of supplier.

npower are probably trying to work out what meter reading to use - its should be quite simple, but because of the faulty timeswitch, it isn't. Well actually they should just use what the meter reading actually was, and both suppliers should manually recalculate for the timeswitch error. But that's the logical way to do it. Sometimes people don't use logic!

They should be able to send you copy invoices though. Even for the period including when you had prepayment meter. Even if someone has to write down what the figures on the computer screen says and put them onto a template and produce a copy bill that way.

I agree I think it's possible they've tried to recalculate your meter readings prior to when the problem was, and as a result ended up with something that is incorrect. Or maybe they have done something with tariffs or something. But unless they send you the paperwork how are you to know?

HeatherH

I just rang up and requested for everything from the previous complaints to be put in writing. I was told I'd either have to send a letter in or email. So I've just emailed a request for everything to be in writing. Hopefully it wont take long.

The 10 working day deadline is nearly up, then I can go and speak to consumer focus again

smokingchills

Premier wrote: »

That's incorrect.

For Economy 7, the property requires a dual rate electricity meter. At the set times, the meter switches from peak to off peak rates and vice versa. It is this switch that appears to have failed on the OP's meter. However, if it did work, all electricity consumed during the off peak period would be charged at the off peak rate.

It is the case that some properties are wired so that some circuits only become live during the off peak period (e.g. the circuit that has storage heaters on), but all electricity that passes through the meter at any given time can only be recorded at the rate the meter is recording at i.e either peak or off peak.

Not in my experience allough what you have stated does happen most of the time!

Premier_2

smokingchills wrote: »

Not in my experience allough what you have stated does happen most of the time!

How can it possibly happen any other way, unless you have two independent metered supplies?

HeatherH

Just to update

Grr, I rang consumer direct today, and was told that I have to do another stage of complaint with npower and it has to be done in writing.

Every time I ring them up (this was the 4th) I'm told there's one last thing and then I can be taken on with my case. So I've got to write a very long letter to the head of relationships department at npower. Do I have to write everything I've complained about, or are they going to be aware of this already?

Magentasue

With this sort of dispute, I put everything in writing, even if it's just to confirm what was said on the phone. And every time, I send copies of previous correspondence.

But if I recall this thread correctly, you weren't really sure what the dispute was, because you hadn't received a bill and didn't know how much you were being overcharged.

EnglishMohican

Premier wrote: »

How can it possibly happen any other way, unless you have two independent metered supplies?

That is precisely what my mother does have, two separate meters. One meter is for the storage heaters and has a timeswitch which switches the storage heater circuits on and off. When the timeswitch is off, that meter does not turn. It is charged as Economy 7. The other meter measures all the electricity used by all the other circuits in the house whether it be night or day and is charged at the "standard" rate. That includes the immersion heater and any radiators plugged in to a normal 13A socket.

I'm not saying that the OP has that, just that it is possible.

HeatherH

I do have a eco 7 meter, but it's just the one meter

HeatherH

Anyway.... get ready for a screaming rant! *AARRRRGGGGG!!!!*

I am furious to put it bluntely...

I have finally recieved this "revised" bill and I'm not happy to say the least.

They have lowered the kw readings from my previous meter (no idea why) and they've put up not just the night readings, but the day readings too!

Get this.

My bill generated in Jan says that I used 1366 kw between the 9th May and 4th Jan (added the two tiers together). This is supposed to include my supposed night units too.

The bill printed on 2nd March says I used 732kw for night units and my day units were 3510kw! Thats 4242kw altogether!!!! I know this was between 1st June 08 and 31st Jan 09, so the dates have shifted, but a difference of 2876kw (added the day and night together then subtracted the previous combined kw usage) they've got to be having a laugh.

I'm currently writing out another letter to the head of the relations department, wondering if this will ever end.

Rant over