Can anyone help problem with Npower

mads1800

Hi to all,

I am new to the forum just found some wicked tips etc!! Wow cannot believe I have not found this site sooner as I am a bit of a cyber geek I'm always online lol. Anyway I digress my problem is with the electric supplier Npower.


I moved into my rented property may 07 and shortly after decided npower was the cheapest electricity supplier in my area (Exeter, Devon) and switched from British gas.
I signed up to an online tariff and Direct debit payments. After about a month I got a letter saying that they had changed my tariff from the one I had requested due to the meter I had in the property. They changed it to economy 7.

At the time I did not realise that this was meant for customers with night storage heating and that I would pay more for electric use during the day.


I agreed the D.D. sum of £35 per month. This payment was never taken. I contacted the company a couple of times and got told it was a pc error and the DD would start.

It did not.

Nearly a year to the day later I got a bill for over £1200 I have been paying £89 a month D.D. and when I questioned them they said it was not there responsibility.
I have since been notified that the meter had to be changed as it was over 10 years old. This happened in May.
I chased Npower and asked them to change the tariff they had selected for me because this was not/ is not suitable for me as I do not have night storage heaters.
They eventually agreed to change the meter again and I am now on a better tariff.
However I still owe all that money and they are asking my D.D. to be £248 per month I have obviously said I cannot afford that and agreed to pay £130 as I want to clear the debt, and pay my electricity.

My questions are

1. They did not produce a bill for a year. Are they legally allowed to do this?
2. They changed my tariff without asking (but they did inform me) are they allowed to do that without discussing it with me?
3. The meter in the property was over 10 years old and was changed by them to ensure accuracy. Was the meter likely to be over reading the electricity and if so is this a bargaining chip I can use to have a discount applied to the debt?
4. I have recently read somewhere that electricity debts of 1 year or more can be written off, would this apply to my case?
5. Do I have any ground to make a complaint or suck it up to the fact I got away for not paying for 12 months [IMG]file:///C:/Users/Mads/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]

The property I rent is a very small basement flat with One living room/ kitchen, 1small bedroom, I small bathroom that’s it. I have no gas I use electricity for everything. I use my washer x5 per week. I have a power shower used twice daily. I have usual home entertainment equipment and fridge and freezer that’s about it. I share with my partner but we both turn lights off etc. The one thing we do use is a portable electrical heater. Could this alone have racked up such a high bill we both work full time 5 days a week, so I struggle to see how we could have racked up such a high electricity bill or am I being unrealistic. This is the 1st property I have rented with my partner before this it has been student accommodation and shared houses etc where I am use to paying a share of the bill so my view may be slightly obscured.
Sorry its long winded
I hope I have posted in the right place! I hope someone can give me a few pieces of info

cheers
Mads

Premier_2

Hi mads1800 and welcome to MSE :hello:

In response to your numbered questions:

1. There is a 12 month back billing rule that applies to domestic energy supplies. There are some basic rules (e.g. that a customer must inform the supplier who they are, that the customer generally co-operated in trying to pay the amounts they would owe, etc) but you appear to have done all this so the 12 month back billing rule should apply
More details in this thread.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1684407
See in particular the ERA Code of tractise linked to in that thread.
However, be aware of the dates. The 12 month backbilling applies from when they first billed you.
Am I correct that you first used energy in May 2007 and then they billed you in May 2008 (so within 12 months)? If so you still owe this money.

2. Some suppliers will only allow you to be on a tariff that suits your meter. So if you have a dual rate, E7 meter you need to be on an E7 tariff.
(some suppliers will allow single rate tariff even though you have a dual rate meter but I'm not sure if npower is one of them)
So it could be you were switched from a tariff you requested to one that suited the meter you had. As you say, they did inform you of this.

3. It's difficult to say. However, usually the meter is not actually faulty at all - its changed before a fault develops. If you had thought the meter was faulty, you should have demanded it was checked (for which a charge would apply and would only be refunded if you were right)

4. See 1 above

5. If they try to charge for longer than 12 months back, I would complain.
Regarding the debt for the past 12 months, then the supplier will normally allow a repayment plan equivilent to the period the debt arose...so in this case 12 months.
Obviously your monthly payment would need to cover the debt plus your ongoing current consumption.
But if this is a debt from May 2007-May 2008 and they've already been waiting you to settle the debt for a year, they are unlikely to offer you a further 12 months to do so.

kippen_noedel

Were you on an economy 7 meter with BG ?

mads1800

Hi Premier and Kippen noedel,

Thanks for the swift responses. I'm not sure what we were on with BG as we only had one bill off them and was not ours to pay (related to the previous tenant) Npower supply started the day we moved in. Yes we did have a dual thingy meter ( we did not realise that meant the E7 rate). So looks like I will have to rack this on up to experience and pay it then. I just figured they should have a responsiblity to actually take the money (instead of letting me spend it lol) when I had instructed them to and supply me with a bill within a reasonable period.
Ok well expensive mistake to learn (in future if they do not take it I will save it lol)
Thanks for your help though guys.

Cheers
Mads

an1179

Hi.

I've been having trouble with n power and the E7 meter I have written a formal complaint as I kept asking to be taken off E7 I was told I was being and I never was then after 2 years I was told that I needed my meter changed. I get so frustrated with these utility companies they don't have very good customer services at all

Cardew

an1179 wrote: »

Hi.

I've been having trouble with n power and the E7 meter I have written a formal complaint as I kept asking to be taken off E7 I was told I was being and I never was then after 2 years I was told that I needed my meter changed. I get so frustrated with these utility companies they don't have very good customer services at all

Presumably you phoned with your requests?

You really must put such requests in writing as the call center staff often can't be bothered to deal with such requests.

When changing from E7 to a standard tariff some companies will allow you to keep the old meter(you simply add together the totals or off-peak and normal) whilst others insist on a new meter.

Some make you pay for the new meter, others don't.

Bluefish_2

an1179 wrote: »

Hi.

I've been having trouble with n power and the E7 meter I have written a formal complaint as I kept asking to be taken off E7 I was told I was being and I never was then after 2 years I was told that I needed my meter changed. I get so frustrated with these utility companies they don't have very good customer services at all

I'm surprised to hear this - a few years ago I was with Npower and switched from Economy 7 with no issues. They certainly didn't need to change my meter, they just added the units together and put me on a standard tariff. Are you on a prepayment meter?

squidge60

all i would say be wary it seems like npower like to put everyone on e7, we moved and had the meter changed ,when the guy came he said you are on e7 do you want to be ,theres no reason for us to be so i said no,he rang npower and told them,to which they said if the ladys fine with that ,thats ok :rolleyes:(why would we be when theres no reason to have it)today we have changed to dd (so another meter change)and the guys said we were on e7:mad: How ignorant is that!!!!one of many many issues with npower,it just gets worse.!!