NPower Gas Account

dazjam

Help Needed::mad:
This is a fairly long one so bear with me.
We changed our Gas and Electric to Npower approx 4 years ago.In March 2007 NPower changed our gas meter and this is were the problems started.For over 12 months we received bills from them stating we were in credit as we were not using any Gas.We contacted them and told them that as we had gas central heating we must be using some, then in July 2008 they sent us a cheque for £300 due to us being in credit.
We were then contacted by the National Grid who informed us that they would be coming to disconnect the gas as it wasn't being used.We informed them about the gas central heating, they checked and said that NPower had not registered the meter with them.We gave the National Grid the details and they were happy,problem averted,we contacted NPower to tell them what had happened they said they would pass it on,no apologies nothing.
We finally received a bill in January 2009 ,we contacted them to ask to pay by direct debit and set up the details online but for some reason we had to post the mandate in.We heard nothing until the March when we received a phone call from solicitors representing NPower stating i had to pay £400 immediately or the would come and install a Card meter as i didnt have the money available they came 2 weeks later and installed the meter.
We then contacted NPower customer services who said there was nothing they could do.
We then contacted Consumer Direct who told us to write to the Executive Complaints department at NPower we did so but heard nothing.
We then contacted the Energy Ombudsman and gave them all the details.
Within 2 days of contacting the Ombudsman NPower contacted us and said they would rectify the problem just give them time , they would get back to us in September with everything sorted ,
foolishly we contacted the Ombudsman and told them that it was going to be sorted out.
Just before Christmas last year we received a bill for nearly £1500 we immediately contacted them and asked where they had got these figures from.They said as we were disputing the figures the would send us copies of the bills, we received nothing.
In June we received letters to say they had a right to enter our home to disconnect us, we again asked for the bills and we finally received summaries of the payments and charges not the bills.
We still dispute some of these charges so we contacted the Ombudsman but they stated that due to the time elapsed between our first complaint to now they could not help us.
We have just received a bill for £1700.
We were told originally by Consumer Direct that we could not be charged for bills over 12 months old, is this correct ?
Have we anywhere to go with this or do we just pay the bill, we feel we have been harshly treated.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Terrylw1

If they have not been supplying bills, then they will only be able to charge you back 12 months. If the bills are incorrect though, they will most likely ask for 12 months if they are at fault but this is where you have to complain to get it.

If Npower arranged a change of meter, it's their responsibility to pass the meter details to the Distributor (National Grid) in gas cases which it appears they did not hence NG wanting to get rid of a redundant supply. Elec doesn't work like this.

Did you get any bills at all for the guess throughout this? If not, I suspect that they removed your old meter from your bill and then never set the new one up. This would stop the bill being generated. If they haven't passed on the meter details this is likely however it would mean that someone at Npower took an incorrect decision to remove the meter from your gas account knowing that this would all get lost.

If you were not paying by DD though, how did you get into credit? Were you paying another way? Of have Npower removed consumption by backing out bills and put you in credit?

You need to complain about this. Send a letter to their director's office about it all.

Difficult to say anymore without knowing some more about what is shown on the bill.

DirectDebacle

Deal with the last item first. Immediately put the £1700 bill into dispute with npower. Theoretically this should stop them commencing debt recovery action until the dispute has been resolved.

If you are paying them a D/D continue it. If not put an amount away each month to cover your gas/energy usage. Winter is coming so be realistic with this amount.

Of the £1700.00 claimed against you by npower you say you dispute some of these charges. Exactly what are you disputing and why.

The fact is you received a supply of gas from npower at the time you joined them and continued to be so supplied up until now. You are aware that gas is not free and that at some point you would be required to pay for it.

If your version of events is correct then you would be in a good position to negotiate a discount on the amount you owe.

If push comes to shove this should be put back to the Energy Ombudsman. Communication is not one of npowers strong points and this appears to be a prime example. The Ombudsman should be able to deal with this as a new complaint. That being npower agreed with you to rectify the situation after your first contact with the E.O. and then failed to keep that promise.