Demand for pre-pay electricity balance 18months after switching supplier. HELP?

christian78

Yesterday i had a bill of £250.00 land on my door mat from N-Power. They claim this was the outstanding balance from my pre-pay Economy7 electricity meter on the date i switched from them to British Gas, which was way back in June 2008.

The problems i have with this is that i have had no contact from them in the last 18months which led me to believe i had no debt, I no longer have the same meter installed so cannot estimate or verify the validity of the meter readings they are claiming and i am almost certain that the night usage estimate is way off.

Also, how long must you have left a provider before they no longer have any claim on ALLEGED debts owed to them?

I am happy to pay if i owe but i just dont trust utility companies. What can i do?

dogshome

Hi christian 78 - You may not have the meter readings from the day you switched to BG, but BG do and they will tell what they were if you ask, but I'm afraid that N-Power can go back as far as that, and even longer

kjsmith7

Check the meter reading from your first British Gas bill, or telephone and ask them for it. Check it against the new demand from nPower - give them a call and ask for the final reading if it isn't printed.

They should be the same - if not, ask British Gas to raise what is called a Disputed Read Document (basically, an electronic memo where both suppliers try to agree the reading where the previous suppliers liability stops and the new suppliers begins). As it's over 12 months, British Gas may have problems raising said document with nPower but will most likely still raise it for you.

If they are the same, I would have a polite chat with nPower about the fact that it has been 18 months with no contact whatsoever and see if you can come to an arrangement with the balance. Sadly, I'm not sure about the length of time that they can ENFORCE payment.

christian78

Thanks very much people for your replies. i shall get onto BG tomorrow and get to the bottom of this. But it does stink how they can lay claim to you as far back as they wish. I wonder if they would mind if i took 18 months to respond.

DVardysShadow

christian78 wrote: »

Thanks very much people for your replies. i shall get onto BG tomorrow and get to the bottom of this. But it does stink how they can lay claim to you as far back as they wish. I wonder if they would mind if i took 18 months to respond.

They can go back 6 years. This is the case for most debts, even for companies which owe you. So what ever the stink, you smell the same

kjsmith7

DVardysShadow wrote: »

They can go back 6 years. This is the case for most debts, even for companies which owe you. So what ever the stink, you smell the same

SIX YEARS? Goodness me... That's a very long time. As a student, I lived in a different place every year - good that I still have my bills!!

mattcanary

Unless NPOwer physically set £250.00 on your prepayment meter because you accrued debts whilst having a normal quarterly meter at the address, then NPower are going against their own policies. (I assume it was a cardmeter and not a keymeter). They state that they will cap such "debts" that arise because the prices were not reset on the cardmeter when they increased, to £75.00. Therefore they should not be trying to collect more than £75.00 from you.
In addition, if you hassle them enough about it, they are likely to write the whole amount off. Many other utility providers' standard practice is to write off such "debts" anyway (including your current supplier, BGas)

clayre6173

I would call them and find out. Technically if you had a debt on the meter over a tenner they shouldn't have let you go. If its because you were not on the correct tariff they shuld write that off but if the debt is yours they can chase you if the debt is as much as 7 years old.

DVardysShadow

kjsmith7 wrote: »

SIX YEARS? Goodness me... That's a very long time. As a student, I lived in a different place every year - good that I still have my bills!!

Yes, you should keep them for 6 years. More so these days when companies seem to be trawling their records for any half excuse to slap a bill on someone for an anomaly.