Do I have any legal standing?

BertyC

Hello,

I am about at the end of my tether here!

I cleared off my balance at the end of last year as I was not prepared to pay the increased monthly charges that I was being asked for to cover my arrears.

I wont go into figures as I dont want to bore anyone but at the time I paid it off I was informed that my account balance was at £0.00 and the new monthly costs would cover my usage based on some calculation that had been performed by them.

However what seems to have happened is that at the time I was told I was not in arrears anymore an nPower supervisor had made a mistake and not accounted for a previous two months usage!

Therefore 3 months down the line I have accrued a further three hundred pounds that i now have adjusted monthly payments for which quite honestly I cannot afford.

I have spent an hour on the phone to nPower and they have told me that they have indeed made a mistake and they are willing to credit my account with £50 which is about a third of what was said to be outstanding. I have told them that this is not good enough but they dont seem to be budging.

I just want to know as I have it in writing that my account balance is zero whether I have any legal grounds to not pay them!

Sorry if this is a bit long winded I just needed to vent my frustration

Thanks

Rob

Magentasue

BertyC wrote: »

I just want to know as I have it in writing that my account balance is zero whether I have any legal grounds to not pay them!

Sorry if this is a bit long winded I just needed to vent my frustration

Thanks

Rob

Was this based on actual or estimated meter readings? Are you disputing that you have used the energy that you are being billed for?

BertyC

No I accept that the energy I have used is what I have been billed for (well according to the meter so I cant really dispute this) so yes, this was based on actual meter readings

What I have a problem with is that I am struggling to make ends meet and when I phoned nPower in December last year and payed off all of what I owed them they assured me that my account was at zero and adjusted my DDs accordingly.

They now say that they forgot to mention two previous months that they had not included in the 'interim settlement' and that I should now have to pay for them even though they say the notes on my account say that I was informed otherwise and I have a bill from that time to prove it!

I just find the whole thing a bit confusing and demoralising

Magentasue

It sounds as if you have been misled by nPower or have misunderstood the arrangement. As you have used the energy and been offered a goodwill discount, I can't see any option other than to negotiate a payment plan.

In future, read your meters yourself. If you read them weekly or monthly and keep a record (sites like https://www.imeasure.org.uk will do this for you), you can budget for winter bills. You need to be building up a credit balance over the next six months to pay for winter heating bills so your DD needs to be a realistic amount. Could you cut back on energy use? And/or on other things while you get this sorted?

BertyC

Thanks, I have escalated this now to their executive complaints department and I will await to see what they say but I am not holding my breath.

I guess there is a few ways we could cut down on our spending to accomodate this recent unexpected cost but I firmly believe we have been misled by nPower and are being asked to pay for their mistakes.

I am just fed up with the fact that you constantly have to battle with these people to get a level of reasonable service that you should be entitled too!

I will update this post when I get a response

SwanJon

Sounds like you settled two months into a three month billing cycle, so your account was at zero until your next quarterly bill.
On the bill that shows you have a zero balance, what date was the read that they used? Even if they sent the bill in December, they could have used a read from October.
Now that you have registered this as a complaint they have at most 8 weeks to resolve it before you can take it to the energy ombudsman to see what they say.
Going forward, as above - read your meters regularly, always challenge estimated bills with accurate readings, and comapre bill dates with read dates.

benhill1984

Out of interest, did you contact them before you made the payment supposedly clearing off your account and say something along the lines of "I am going to make this payment of £x, and I am of the understanding that this will clear my account of any liability up to this date", which they confirmed was the case?

If so then maybe, just maybe, you have a leg to stand on in terms of having made a payment which pays off any liability in full, recognised by them.

If not, then there is almost definitely wiggle room for them, as the T&Cs or bills are usually littered with "estimated"s and "provisional"s or the like.

Magentasue

benhill1984 wrote: »

"I am going to make this payment of £x, and I am of the understanding that this will clear my account of any liability up to this date", which they confirmed was the case?

If so then maybe, just maybe, you have a leg to stand on in terms of having made a payment which pays off any liability in full, recognised by them.

Even if that was the case, the payment would only have settled the account based on the estimated reading. You can't use as much energy as you like, let estimated readings go unchallenged and then refuse to pay for what you've used.

ben37564

There's no argument that nPower have made a mistake when they told you your account was at zero when it wasn't, however, it's not like they've charged you in error as you did in fact use the electricity. I don't think you'll be able to do much in this instance.

littletommytucker

I dont really see nPower as been at fault. At that stage im sure the account balance was at £0. People are aware that they are billed quarterly for energy used arent they???? I cant believe they have given £50 for this! Just shows what kickin your feet can get you!

KimYeovil

BertyC must be a troll. ?!?

You have a meter in your home. Read it. Do some sums. Pay your bills. If you don't want to pay so much, use less.