Npower-econ7-huge bill

davidgmmafan

NPower's policy is to change the meter, but if they're doing this then its all the more reason to have some kind of re-billing done either on the single rate or the day/night split. I've just identified a minor problem. If they say they'll bill it 70% night 30% day then its all good. If on the other hand you end up saying well I want to be on a single rate, and thus need a meter exchange, it might be a little difficult then to justify the 70/30 split.

Either way the bill will come out lower than it was. BTW whether you decide to stay with NPower or change online tariffs usually trump all!

Terrylw1

Npower don't have to change the meter or add 2 rates of usage together but it depends on the meter & where you live.

In the elec industry there are E7 meters (very commonly) that can be billed as a 2 rate on 1 unit price or 2 and Npower do have tariffs that work for this. They have a lot of customers on these tariffs.

The problem you have here is that they know about it and are attempting to fix the faulty timeswitch scenario. This "should" trigger a bill reassessment from when they can gather it went wrong. It's important to note that if through this period you used day rates mostly, a reassessment at the 70/30 split is not best for you. Also, such practices like these splits are no longer formality, they are case by case.

If you consumption would have been dayrate through this period argue this and see if they will bill at day rate.

You also have to remember that they have a licence obligation to reflect the true pattern of usage on your properties meter. So, if you are in a region with E7 that supports your meter on Profille Class 1 & 2, you have be billed at 1 or 2 unit prices. There is no such or adding of units per previous posts if this is the case because 1 rate unit charge on E7 has been around for many years and it's supportable. If your meter supports it but they say they don't have a tariff, complain because they can create one.

dollydolittle_2

davidgmmafan wrote: »

I've just identified a minor problem. If they say they'll bill it 70% night 30% day then its all good. If on the other hand you end up saying well I want to be on a single rate, and thus need a meter exchange, it might be a little difficult then to justify the 70/30 split.

We might be able to justify it as our current and future usage doesn't reflect our usage for Feb to May this year, which will make up the bulk of the bill. The house was virtually uninsulated during that period, we had an X rated boiler that only heated the cupboard it was sat in (although I did sit in there with it on occasion!) and a small but incredibly inefficient chest freezer. The house was so cold that we had electic oil heaters on overnight. So E7 for this period might have been OK, but certainly won't be in the future now the house is insulated, freezer removed and central heating sorted.

I don't really see why they need to change the meter either, it appears to be recording our entire usage on the 'normal' rate. I suspect that the previous occupants were not on an E7 tariff when they moved out. I don't completely understand everything that has been posted so far, but is it possible that many years ago when the underfloor and storage heating were removed and replaced with rads and gch (we have microbore so we aren't talking recent work here) that the timeswitch on the meter was altered to take the house off E7? Then whoever came to read our meter for the intital reading assumed it was still E7 and that's where is all went wrong?

Also, I'll be very annoyed if they charge us for a new meter when the current one is recording perfectly well. Especially as I've seen figures of over £100 mentioned.

Terrylw1

Hi,

If someone did that to the timeswitch it would be seen as a timeswitch fault and would need replacing by the Supplier because the timeswitch has to operate in the way expected for the meter.

Npower don't currently charge to change meters in these situations.

They will do one of 2 things here:

1 - if you have one set of tails active from your fusebox, they will think it has been rewired and will change the meter to a one rate type.
2 - if you still have a live off peak tail, they will ensure the E7 remains.

Just be careful with the rebilling. You could ask them to check whether the previous customer had E7 billing or a 2 rate meter on 1 unit charge. They may have altered you to E7 when you moved in but youn could have stayed on the 1 unit charge rate. Sadly, this is the part that goes wrong if the meter hasn't been changed.

Are you in the old MEB region? If so, for many years they have just been changing a customers billing from 2 rates on the bill at 2 different unit prices, to 2 rates but at 1 unit price. This is acceptable if this meter tariff set up in the region will allow it. This differs from region to region but the old MEB region supports this if you have a certain type of common E7 meter. They may have done this as it gets around you being overcharged on E7 rates when your consumption is all really in the day. You would then see your night rate as having a small level of consumption since it's only for what you use in the 7 hours overnight, hence it will be low.

This is a common occurance with people moving from E7 elec to E7 with gch. Suppliers have to either change the meter to 1 rate or tariff change it if the meter will allow it.

You would be surprised how many people have this as they would often object to taking time off work to be in for the agent if the rates could just be changed on the bill. As long as no heating is connected to the off peak circuit, this method will work.

dollydolittle_2

Terrylw1 wrote: »

2 - if you still have a live off peak tail, they will ensure the E7 remains.

Do you mean that in this case they won't let us come off E7?

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Are you in the old MEB region? .

We're in Worcestershire, so yes, very probably.

Just want to add that I made hubby read this thread so that he understands what is going on (easier than making him listen to me drone on about it) and he has just said that he is amazed at how incredibly helpful you all are and how generous you have been with your time. And I agree wholeheartedly. So a big thank you to everyone :beer:

davidgmmafan

dollydolittle wrote: »

We might be able to justify it as our current and future usage doesn't reflect our usage for Feb to May this year, which will make up the bulk of the bill. The house was virtually uninsulated during that period, we had an X rated boiler that only heated the cupboard it was sat in (although I did sit in there with it on occasion!) and a small but incredibly inefficient chest freezer. The house was so cold that we had electic oil heaters on overnight. So E7 for this period might have been OK, but certainly won't be in the future now the house is insulated, freezer removed and central heating sorted.

I don't really see why they need to change the meter either, it appears to be recording our entire usage on the 'normal' rate. I suspect that the previous occupants were not on an E7 tariff when they moved out. I don't completely understand everything that has been posted so far, but is it possible that many years ago when the underfloor and storage heating were removed and replaced with rads and gch (we have microbore so we aren't talking recent work here) that the timeswitch on the meter was altered to take the house off E7? Then whoever came to read our meter for the intital reading assumed it was still E7 and that's where is all went wrong?

Also, I'll be very annoyed if they charge us for a new meter when the current one is recording perfectly well. Especially as I've seen figures of over £100 mentioned.

Ok its like this. They don't HAVE to change the meter, particularly as only one rate is recording it would be possible to change the tariff to standard without changing the meter. The reason why they generally prefer to change the meter is when a RECERT ( they check its ok and usually replace it) is required the meter exchange is LIKE FOR LIKE. So the person will take out what is down on the system as an E7 meter and fit an E7 meter. Then you'd have to explain the whole thing again and ensure you get put back on standard.

Same might happen if you change supplier, so it depends how long you are staying there, if you intend changing supplier and if you would view the above phonecall as a hassle.

I'm just trying to cover all the bases, it seems a waste of time getting someone out to look at the meter as they will be looking for faulty timeswitch. Better to just change the tariff to standard, by whatever means, then the job is done.

dollydolittle_2

Update for anyone who is interested and those who find themselves in the same situation:

A nice, helpful man from Npower, called Bernard, agrees that we should never have been on E7. Despite NPower supplying the property before we moved in and despite the meter being altered deliberately years ago to only record at one rate, somehow we were mistakenly put on E7. So they will recalculate the bill based on a normal single rate. Which is fair enough and should reduce it by a third.

They have cancelled the engineer, but they suggested that we have the meter changed to a normal single rate meter, at no cost to us, and have arranged a date in October to do that.

Apparently though, things will continue as they are now until 6 weeks after the new meter has been installed. At this point they will recalculate our bill. We will have to continue paying the new direct debit based on the incorrectly high rate until then and presumably, they will lower it after that.


Thank you all for your help

Cardew

dollydolittle wrote: »

Update for anyone who is interested and those who find themselves in the same situation:

A nice, helpful man from Npower, called Bernard, agrees that we should never have been on E7. Despite NPower supplying the property before we moved in and despite the meter being altered deliberately years ago to only record at one rate, somehow we were mistakenly put on E7. So they will recalculate the bill based on a normal single rate. Which is fair enough and should reduce it by a third.

They have cancelled the engineer, but they suggested that we have the meter changed to a normal single rate meter, at no cost to us, and have arranged a date in October to do that.

Apparently though, things will continue as they are now until 6 weeks after the new meter has been installed. At this point they will recalculate our bill. We will have to continue paying the new direct debit based on the incorrectly high rate until then and presumably, they will lower it after that.


Thank you all for your help

Ask for that in writing!!

dollydolittle_2

Cardew wrote: »

Ask for that in writing!!

I know, I know! You'd think that I'd learn after the experience of dealing with BT call centres earlier this year.

Anyway, we should get a letter in a few days confirming that the appt for the engineer has been cancelled and with the details of the appt to have a new meter fitted. And I'll keep a record of calls and times and what was said just in case. I so wish I'd done that with BT.

The good thing about going through all this is that we are even more aware of how much electricity we are using now, as we went round testing everything before we realised the E7 thing was why ithe bill was so high. I'm even trying to work out it if is chepaer to pay for the electricity to run the dishwasher or the gas to heat the water to wash up by hand.

mattcanary

I second that you attempt to get everything in writing. BT's customer service is great compared to NPower's.