n-powers mistake cost me £725

z-lister

6 months ago I switched gas and electric from scottish power to n power and was sent cheques of over £600 for over payments. This morning an electric bill for £725 arrived from scottish power (6 months late). After many calls to both companies it looks as though n-power supplied scottish power with estimated readings after i had supplied them with the correct readings over the phone. neither company are admitting any wrongdoing and are blaming each other for mistakes. It looks correct and I do owe the money but I will struggle to pay all at once any advice would be most welcome.

markharding557

they should allow installments

DVardysShadow

If nPower's mistake cost you £725, you can console yourself that at least you got your electricity free. Or you could look at it as nPower's mistake costing you very little and you paying £725 for the electricity used.

z-lister

thats true, but why didn't n-power give the correct readings until 23/12/09 when they had them on the 20/06/09. the gas readings were correct and both meters are next to each other, according to scottish power the estimates had been rejected 5 times it all feels a bit cloak & dagger.

spiro

The Change of Supply process for elec is complex, involves numerous parties and data flows. Basic outline:
You new supplier sends the meter reading to their data collector who then validates it based on the reading history from you old suppliers data collector. Once the new DC has validated the reading or rejected and calculated an estimate, he sends the reading to your new supplier and the old suppliers DC. The old suppiers DC then sends it to your old supplier who produces the final bill. The bottom line is that the final and first bill will use the same reading. The result is that you only pay for the fuel once and nothing fails between the two suppliers.
If the customer disagrees with the reading used they can dispute it for up to 12 months after the change of supply date.

Kickstart68

Hi

Have npower based their first bill on the estimated reading that Scottish power first used for their final bill, or had npower used the reading that Scottish power are now using to try and recoup the money? If the first then I would hope that you will now find yourself greatly in credit with npower.

All the best

Keith