Npower - wrong rate charged

Tats_2

Hello,

I've been tooing and froing with Npower recently as they called up about a month ago saying that we've been charge the night rate for the day time and Day time rate for the night time. So the meter readings were mixed up when we had a new meter fitted (about 4 years ago).

As it wasn't our fault we were'nt too worried. However, another phone call from them this morning they said that we owe them £500! They have written off anything over 12 months but will bill us for the last £12 months even though they messed up the reading in the first place! Apparently its going for a final review before it gets signed off? Then we'll get the bill!

Where do we stand with this? Has anyone else been in the same situation?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks Tats.

HappyMJ

You have a choice. Switch suppliers today. Don't delay. You aren't yet in arrears so the switch should go through. Anyway, as it was a mistake they usually allow it anyway. Once switched you can then arrange to pay the outstanding amount in small instalments. If you are on benefits this could be £3.40 per week or if you are on a really low income they usually set it at a percentage of your take home income of around 5%.

Or, if you wish to stay with them you can arrange to pay the outstanding £500 over the next 12 months including whatever usage that the bill should normally be. At £500 extra it could be quite large. Just a little short of an extra £10 per week.

Tats_2

Thanks for the reply. So basically we will still have to pay even though its not our fault? I understand that we have to pay for what we have used, but we have always paid by direct debit and not worried about it. Now we have an unexpected potential £500 quid bill land on the door mat!

HappyMJ

Tats wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. So basically we will still have to pay even though its not our fault? I understand that we have to pay for what we have used, but we have always paid by direct debit and not worried about it. Now we have an unexpected potential £500 quid bill land on the door mat!

Yes. Sorry. If you wanted to you could choose not to pay and defend the reasons why in court. If you lose you then only have 14 days to pay to avoid a CCJ. If you win it's written off. Are you up for a gamble?

Joyful

Yes you will have to pay. The good news is you are only paying 25 % of the extra you have not been billed for due to industry regulations. If you move suppliers they will normally request payment within 3 months. Make sure it is spread over a reasonable payment so call them and discuss.

yoda011087

Hello there,

As Npower can use the "billing code" - a rule that allows energy suppliers to back-bill an incorrectly billed account for no more than 12 months, the money will be owing to them. As it's ultimately their mistake, they will allow you to pay it off in installments.

One thing I advise is to check and double-check your bill when it comes through; it would probably have been picked up by you a lot earlier.

lemoncurd76_2

Hi Tats,
This has just happened to us too. N Power phoned us on Friday to tell us they had incorrectly been billing us since 2008 because they had got the day and night rate mixed up.
They now want payment of nearly £700 for something that we feel is not our fault as we had no idea they had made the mistake.
They haven't offered to write off anything before 12 months though, they want us to pay for the full 4 years of their mistake.
Can I ask if you have had your situation resolved and what was the outcome?
Did they offer to write off anything older than 12 months straight away or was this after negotiations?
Thanks

Terrylw1

lemoncurd76 wrote: »

Hi Tats,
This has just happened to us too. N Power phoned us on Friday to tell us they had incorrectly been billing us since 2008 because they had got the day and night rate mixed up.
They now want payment of nearly £700 for something that we feel is not our fault as we had no idea they had made the mistake.
They haven't offered to write off anything before 12 months though, they want us to pay for the full 4 years of their mistake.
Can I ask if you have had your situation resolved and what was the outcome?
Did they offer to write off anything older than 12 months straight away or was this after negotiations?
Thanks

You should raise a complaint against this. They can only attempt to do this if they can prove that you have deliberately prente their resolution.

A good way to back a supplier off in a transposition case is to start by asking them just how readings they have had of their Data Collector during this period and how many times something rejected to be looked at by a member of staff.

Suppliers in my opinion are using transposition as a route to new revenue with a complex scenario knowing customers won't be very sure if it all.

The more complaints raised the better.

undaunted

Are you sure that they are now right? Have a look at this case

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/09/customer-to-get-3000-damages-from-npower-230343/