NPower - About to apply for a Warrant;

undaunted

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

Dont think consumer focus can force npower over a commercial decision, eg payment methods

License conditions, set by Ofgem (not Consumer Focus) are supposed to control payment methods & affordability of payment plans for vulnerable customers.

Consumer Focus have a statutory duty to assist customers such as the poster and should therefore have no diffculty in putting forward a case for Fuel Direct

KimYeovil

But, undaunted, you are missing a crucial advantage (for the consumer) of a prepayment meter to fuel direct - with a credit meter and fuel direct there is little direct feedback to the consumer to lead them to resolve their ways. They have not behaved before - they will not behave in the future and will continue to mount up arrears. Or, if they have reformed their behaviour, they will still be paying the old contribution with little flexibility for adjustment.

With a prepayment meter there is only the debt arrears that is uncontrolled - the customer has all their income bar £3 to pay towards what they want. This is, of course, in many cases a bad thing and I am partly arguing against myself but it is not automatic that a prepayment meter is bad for the customer.

I've a sneaking suspicion the OP will have little desire for fuel direct once they realise it is not just the arrears that are removed at source and they will have no respite over summer.

KimYeovil

Some numbers to clarify what I was trying to get at in my previous post:

the OP is using £30 to £50 per week. Be generous, call it £30. Add on £3.05 arrears. Of their £128 per fortnight dole £66 will be going directly to nPower fortnight-in fortnight-out for a long time. So paying by Fuel Direct means more than half their income is being handed over to nPower.

On a prepayment meter only £6 goes direct to nPower.

It seems that the 'whim' of nPower is far more greatly served with Fuel Direct. (Not that that is a bad thing - it forces the customer to pay up.)

davidgmmafan

I believe companies have to take account of a customers ability to pay but ultimately it is a commercial decision. I believe this is the the position of the energy ombudsmen to but I'm not an expert on this.

I have to say that, generally speaking, I don't agree with the harsher posters on this section of the forum but here they do have a valid point. KimYeovil's post is very true, as the payment would be reomved before the OP even gets thier. The point is well made particularly if the usage does change.

I might've missed this detail, apologies if its already been covered, but why is the OP using thirty to fifty pounds per week? We must be talking about an all electric property surely?

The main objection I would have to prepayment is that it stops you getting the cheapest rates, but you usually need DD to get them anyway and it doesn't sound like the OP if going to be able to do that anytime soon. Plus with NPower's legendary reassessment process it'd probably be much worse for the finances than the options being quoted here.

If nothing else prepayment forces you to monitor and regulate your usage, though I agree it is not practical for some people.

The OP was on prepayment, went onto a credit meter, and ended up with a large debit balance. I understands the limitations of prepayment meters but, in this case, I can't really see the objection. If you were to look at it from the other side would you trust you to sort this out?

If the OP is still intend on playing for time the only thing I can come up with is sending in a fincancial statement from CAB or similar. With companies this often carries more weight than a customer just giving the info. It shouldn't, but it does.

SwanJon

undaunted wrote: »

The poster has not said that they don't want to pay, they have said they are in difficulty.

And I made no comment on their intent to pay, merely that paying is more expensive than not paying.

undaunted wrote: »

Yes they will, of course, still have to pay for future consumption but without threats of the power going out should they run out of money, future costs or difficutlies getting the pre payment meter removed again etc & with the debt recovered at a controlled amount, not merely at Npowers whim!

And I'm sure all this has been explained to the OP during the follow up process - well before a visit to court for a warrant - indeed if it hasn't been it would be grounds for blocking the warrant.
However, npower are a commercial organisation, they are entitled to make decisions about who to extend credit to, and from the history posted the OP doesn't sound like the best bet. And Fuel Direct doesn't stop you building up a debt, so even if the warrant is blocked and they get on FD, they could end up in the same place this time next year, but with a bigger debt.

undaunted

Despite the thanks the above arguments are not necessarily accurate.

Where did the poster say they use £30 p/w? All they gave was the debt.

On what basis do you conclude the poster has "misbehaved" rather than had genuine difficulties?

The debt is unlikely to have accrued in a short period - even using Kymms £30 p/w we'd be looking at two or three quarters if nothing at all had been paid. Aren't Npower complicit in allowing matters to get to this stage? Suppliers are after all supposed to be proactive in identifying vulnerable customers, looking at solutions aren't they?

Even if it were true that the poster used £30 p/w I maintain that Fuel Direct offers a better option than the pre payment meter as the power isn't going to go off. If the customer has a pre payment meter they ultimately either put the £30 in or the power goes off. Suggestions that taking money out of benefits is worse for the customer are at best therefore erroneous & at worst utterly spurious.

The pre payment meter may also limit access to other tarrifs as has been said several times by several people above.

Swanjon I can only say that put in the context of your entire earlier post the tone did not seem one of either compassion, sympathy or empathy in my opinion.

You and davidgmmafan appear to believe that Npower do or should consider customers position and have considered the posters ability to pay. Their first post, other recent posters, Ofgem & Energywatch reports and other examples I am aware of suggest your faith in them is sadly unjustfied by their actual actions.

Perhaps Simisontheup will let us know what Consumer Focus have been able to arrange in due course.

SwanJon

undaunted wrote: »

Where did the poster say they use £30 p/w? All they gave was the debt.

SimIsOnTheUp wrote: »

On average, just over a year ago, I was having to top up the previous prepayment meter by £30 - 50 per week,

The debt is unlikely to have accrued in a short period - even using Kymms £30 p/w we'd be looking at two or three quarters if nothing at all had been paid. Aren't Npower complicit in allowing matters to get to this stage? Suppliers are after all supposed to be proactive in identifying vulnerable customers, looking at solutions aren't they?

If the OP has made a previous agreement to pay off the balance (weekly card, DD etc) and then for what ever reason failed to keep up to date with it the follow up process tends to restart from the most recent default. Or are you recommending that npower should have gone to court 6 months ago?

undaunted wrote: »

Even if it were true that the poster used £30 p/w I maintain that Fuel Direct offers a better option than the pre payment meter as the power isn't going to go off. If the customer has a pre payment meter they ultimately either put the £30 in or the power goes off. Suggestions that taking money out of benefits is worse for the customer are at best therefore erroneous & at worst utterly spurious.

I accept that this may be seen as a better option, but unless the OP makes changes to consumption patterns it is at best only a short term solution.
By accepting the PP meter the OP would have been in control of their cash flow - if they were short of cash they can adjust their usage in line with this - something you can't do on FD as the component for ongoing consumption is estimated in advance (like a DD)

mattcanary

The OP has said that the meter is in his neighbour's flat & that often his neighbour is out. Therefore, a prepayment meter is a totally unsuitable type of meter for him. NPower should not be fighting for the customer to fit a totally unsuitable type of meter for his/her circumstances.

I would add though that you should be careful with Fuel Direct. It would be best if the OP keeps a running total of their consumption as ongoing usage still has to be paid for (as already stated in this thread)

spiro

mattcanary wrote: »

The OP has said that the meter is in his neighbour's flat & that often his neighbour is out. Therefore, a prepayment meter is a totally unsuitable type of meter for him. NPower should not be fighting for the customer to fit a totally unsuitable type of meter for his/her circumstances.

Thats an issue the LL needs to resolve in terms of meter location. Sounds like a conversion job (house to flats) that was done on the cheap.

mattcanary

The l/lord does not have to do anything to make things easier for the supplier.

As things stand, a prepayment meter is unsuitable for the OP and so other posters saying he should just agree to what the supplier is demanding, are giving bad advice. What happens if the OP's neighbour's flat becomes empty after a prepayment meter has been fitted, or if his neighbour refuses him access in future? Plus it is very hard to get a prepayment meter taken out when the debt has been repaid through it.