Npower Investigation Update

A._Badger

glider3560 wrote: »

do you really need to post this on every topic that relates to npower?

People need to be warned how rotten to the core npower is. It can't be said enough.

icefall

DirectDebacle wrote: »

npower have not yet escaped the sculpting scam. Consumer Focus have completed their investigation and done a proper job which Ofgem failed to do.

Article here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6989946.ece

Great news and well done The Times for sticking with us.

Heat is on Npower eh, took long enough for that heat to build, but it does look it might turn into a bit of a bonfire at long last. Unbelieveable what they have got away with for so long.

Dave_save

Excellent article. I've just printed this off ready for when the next suited nPower rep with a clipboard knocks on my door.

notbritishgas

DirectDebacle wrote: »

npower have not yet escaped the sculpting scam. Consumer Focus have completed their investigation and done a proper job which Ofgem failed to do.

Article here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6989946.ece

Great news and well done The Times for sticking with us.

Also well done to DD for sticking with this one.

DirectDebacle

As Icefall puts it the kindling has now been lit. The Energy Minister is now going to have a face to face with Consumer Focus. With an election on the horizon a Govt announcement that a greedy power company together with greedy bonus bonanza banks are going to be reigned in might be seen as a vote catcher. A proposed overhaul of Ofgem would not go amiss either.

I have just received from Ofgem their latest answer to several enquiries I have been making of them. I requested copies of the records of their investigation. Below is part of the letter I received from them. Seems a 10 month investigaton costing who knows what, maybe several £100k, doesn't have much, if anything, in the way of meaningful records.

I have not been able to find any specific minutes or notes of discussions with npower during this period. I am sorry to say that the member of staff who was the lead officer during the investigation left Ofgem in November 2008 and did not hand over any file notes (beyond those which you have already seen) to his colleagues. I therefore have to conclude that in this instance no formal notes were made of meetings (whether with npower or internal meetings within Ofgem) or telephone conversations except for those which I enclose with this letter

Next step is to get Consumer Focus to raise the issue of the almost identical npower scam which occurred in August, 2004. That overcharging will soon be out of time under the 6 year rule. Not as dramatic as the 2007 scam but much less complicated and easier to prove. It still netted npower around £20m more than they should have had. Be nice to get that back for consumers, plus interest.

DirectDebacle

Not directly related to the npower investigation but yet another article criticising Ofgems apparent inability to protect consumers.

Only with some serious root and branch work and changes in legislation will this quango be able to regulate the 'market'.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6998771.ece

There may be more (good) news on the 'sculpting scam' in the next week or two.

MatTX7

Every time I read NPower on forums or in newspapers its nearly always very bad? So how do they manage to get new customers or even retain the old ones, this is a complete mystery to me…

glider3560

MatTX7 wrote: »

Every time I read NPower on forums or in newspapers its nearly always very bad? So how do they manage to get new customers or even retain the old ones, this is a complete mystery to me…

New customers: cheap prices
Existing customers: have to stay for one year to get your £100 annual discount (keeps you with them for at least a year)

KimYeovil

MatTX7 wrote: »

Every time I read NPower on forums or in newspapers its nearly always very bad? So how do they manage to get new customers or even retain the old ones, this is a complete mystery to me…

You read good news about Southern and Electric and Scottish Power door knockers? You read good spins on EDF increasing prices in the middle of a cold snap? What good stories have you read about other suppliers?

DirectDebacle

The Times are keeping on with this. Here is a 'filler' that an MP has complained to the Parliamentary Ombudsman re the shambolic investigation of npower by Ofgem.

Still waiting on more important news but this keeps it ticking over.

Link to article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article7013424.ece