npower billing chaos.

MrSpudders

You might have to bear with me through this one, it gets pretty complicated in parts. I'm writing this half to vent and half to seek advice about what, if anything, to do about it now.

I live in flat above two other flats, the meters are all together in a cupboard in communal area on the ground floor. I moved into this flat in April 2009, unfortunately I only have bills from December 2009 to go through for the details, but here goes:

April 2009-June 2010, all is going fine, bills arrive, all estimates, but amounts around what I expect, pay bills, don't think about it.

4th June 2010, meter reading is taken. All hell breaks loose. Get a bill through my door cancelling all previous bills, with an updated amount of £1,073. Less what I'd paid previous they say I owe them £768, an astronomical amount for my tiny flat.

I call up and ask what the hell is going on, and I'm told to send in a reading, which I do, receive another bill, cancelling the previous one, and now saying I owe them £526.

Several phonecalls over the next few months to try and work out what the hell is going on, over which time I (perhaps foolishly) refuse to pay it until I get an adequate explanation. A few nasty letters and threat of court action later I just pay it and try to move on with my life.

Fast forward to May this year, and I get a bill, I'm waiting until pay day to pay it (obviously by this point I absolutely refuse to have a direct debit set up), when suddenly this week I get a bill through my door, which is odd because I'm on paperless billing, it's an amended statement for the entire account, saying my account is now £611.37 in credit. No explanation.

So, I go through my online bills, getting copies of every bill I can in preparation for another phonecall that frustrates the hell out of me and gets me no answers, when I notice something. On the bill from this May the serial number they have for my meter is different.

So, what the **** happened?

It turns out that whoever did the initial reading or transferred the meter to be in my name used the wrong one, they gave the serial number from a different flat's meter (definitely, I've checked), but the reading from mine (I think). Who this was and how it happened I haven't worked out yet, but I'm assuming my letting agency as is says 'customer reading' on the bill.

So, when the man did the actual reading in June 2010 he went by the serial number, and the reading from that one (much higher reading) was used for my account. That's when the huge bill came in, and I sent in my own reading from the correct meter, and they sent an amended bill. Of course at the time I didn't know they had the wrong serial number.

February this year someone comes to do a reading, who must have realised that the meter with the serial number he's looking for is quite clearly marked as belonging to a different flat (I wasn't in at the time but the evidence points to that). Not sure what happened at npower after that, but my amended statement has some very odd things on it:

• The 'actual reading' for when my account started has changed (how can that even be possible without a time machine?)

• I've been charged from then until February 2011 with another 'actual reading' which seems to be just made up (very round number)

• Another row below that, with the correct serial number, which appears to be starting from scratch based on a real reading.

It's worth noting that they were made aware of the mistake in February, and at no point thought to contact me and tell me.

Apologies if this post is a bit of a mess, still trying to get my head around exactly what happened.

MrSpudders

kjsmith7 wrote: »

Hmmm... can I check, is it gas or electricity?

Can I also check, is the 'final' meter reading for the incorrect serial number exactly the same as the 'opening' meter reading for the correct serial number?

Sorry should have specified that, electricity.

The final reading for the incorrect serial number doesn't match the opening for the correct.

Is the most up-to-date statement showing the correct serial number and an accurate meter reading?

Yes, accurate reading with the correct serial number now.

Three rows on the amended statement, the first serial number is the previous (incorrect) serial number, but the X used to be an L (starts I06X), split over two rows due to a price change. Third row is the correct serial and reading.

The very first reading seems to have come out of nowhere, and the final reading on the 'incorrect' meter is 2600, which seems a suspisciously round number. Am I right in thinking then that for the 'uninstalled' meter they've estimated a final amount? Where will they have got the original reading from in that case?

MrSpudders

It looks as if they have cancelled the first serial number being associated with my account, and recalculated that period using a stand-in number (that's what I think the I06X instead of I06L at the start of the five numbers in the serial probably means, thanks for helping me get my head around that). What I still can't figure out is where they have got the readings for that period from, they don't seem to match anything else.

Everything from February is correct though, thank goodness. Amazing that it went unnoticed for so long, I'm kicking myself for not thinking to check the serial when that first big bill came through.

Needless to say once I've got my money back from them and my account is at £0.00 I'll be changing suppliers, and writing a letter asking for a full explanation.

Edit: A bit of research backs up my theory about it being a stand-in serial, from wikipedia:

meter serial numbers take the form A##A ##### (e.g. J01K 02614). The first letter indicates the manufacturer, the first two digits indicate the year the meter was calibrated and certified, and the second letter indicates the company to have purchased the meter.

undaunted

Personally I'd grab the £611.37 credit as soon as you can & switch to a supplier who offers better customer service. Waiting / loooking for explanatioons, apologies etc from Npower is like looking for rocking horse s**t, even Ofgem has criticised them as having the worst record in the industry on resolving disputes etc in the past!

That way should they "change their mind again" at some future date at least they don't have control over your supply whilst you argue the toss.