Npower - token meter and final outstanding balance - court summons being issued

hanspans

Can anyone help me with this - it sounds very odd to me. I moved into my old flat in November 2006, I had a token meter and was fine for a long time. I had a new key meter fitted about 6 months before I left, but heard nothing bad or stange from npower (my supplier) in all that time. I just topped up the meter, rarely on emergency, just always tickety-boo. Then, I call them, say I am moving out just for information, give them my forwarding address and say I am ok for electricity in my new home as I am moving in with my family for a while. To my shock they say I owe them some money, over £100, and that they are not sure its exactly correct but will write to me when they know. The woman seemed confused and was almost certain that the figure was out. I said why I am owing money when it's a pre-pay meter! I left it, and carried about my business. So, very strange then that last month - nearly 6 months after I have moved out I have received a letter from npower saying I had owed them £150(ish) however, since they were kindly souls they would knock it down to £84! I've since received another letter, and yesterday I received a 'Collections Direct' letter saying pay or a court summons will be issued. Wihtout meaning to sound a complete idiot through bad personal circumstances I declared bankruptcy in November 07 anwyay, so Court Summons aren't going to damage a brilliant credit score, however, I would like to sort this out as I have been top-dollar since BK and have paid upfront on everything. My instinct is to write and tell them they can stuff it, or have £1 a month from me, but what does everyone else think? What get's me is that npower are so thick that one person would probably agree and say they will get it wiped off and the next person that comes on would tell me they were wrong and put it back on - no point calling them!

Any ideas?
Thanks Hanspans xx

KimYeovil

There is a voluntary geegaw whereby any outstanding debt on prepayment meters is usually limited to about £70. So their £84 is about right.

Why are you not wanting to pay your debt? (I know you got away with it before with your bankruptcy, so have you developed an addiction? Do you never intend to pay any of your bills ever again?)

hanspans

I first wanted to ignore your comments, but now you have really upset me. You have no idea what I went through, and its laughable to think they were ever really 'my' debts. My ex took everything from me, and I ended up homeless and mentally ill living in a women's refuge. Previous to that I had worked endlessly in a job I loved and commuted to London every day. My home life was awful and I stayed in my bedroom every moment, as my ex was vile to me. I left the relationship after he went and drank the rent money and stole from bank a/c before trying to strangle me and thretening to put me in the car boot. I paid nearly £500 a month in tax and ni before this happened, and get £50 a week on incapacity for three months before returning to work. I moved to an area of high unemployment because I could get in a refuge there and consequently pay isnt high, therefore, I went bankrupt. You really should mind you opinions.

WhistleBlower

Collections direct and NPower are the same company. However since your account is closed with them now cos you moved out you have about 6-12 weeks before it goes to external collections.

Beware of external collections, they buy the debt from NPower and then chase you, they can get CCJ's and so on against you.

Regarding the debt itself. Npower still charge standing charge, so taking into consideration the £70 from the token meter plus any accrued standing charge from when you were in emergency credit, £85 sounds about right i'm afraid. (Anything over £70 from a mis-calibrated token meter has to be written off)

Call the collections department, they can split it over up to 6 months for you. £15 a month is far better than £85 as a lump sum if you're in a bind.

Also kindly don't describe me or my colleagues as thick. We do what we can with what we're given. Unfortunately what we're given is often rubbish or downright contradictory.

They won't write it off as it's a genuine debt.