Problem with my electricity meter.

mforcer

I moved into my own flat over a year a go and setup an account with NPOWER, i gave them some readings from the meter, the rep calculated average usage and we agreed on a £35/month direct debit..

I paid this for about a year and got a letter saying prices would be increasing, i noticed mine didn't so i gave them a call just to make sure my account was in order.

They said my account was in credit by £250 and said my electricity usage is unusually low so i gave her some more readings, she said they are exactly the same as they were a year a go, and also 6 months a go when an engineer also took some readings.. so the machine must be broken.

First thoughts: i'm going to be hit with one HUGGEEE bill, it's the first thing i asked and she said it is possible because i've not been paying enough (especially since the prices did go up), however with being in £250 credit that would take a chunk out of the repayment.

I'm just wondering where i stand with this? i don't really want to hand over 100s of pounds for their mistake. Surely when their engineer took the readings 6 months later it's up to them to notice that the reading was exactly the same and realising the machine is broken?

nPower

Hi mforcer,

Something doesn't seem right here? Would you like me to take a look into your account for you and see what we can do? If you email your account details to forumresponse@npower.com, I'll get onto it right away.

Best wishes

Sally

energysavingexp

NPower !! might have guessed.

i spend more time sending EMail and phone calls to them than i care to mention you might as well bang your head against the wall.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

gazjoneswales

energysavingexp wrote: »

NPower !! might have guessed.

i spend more time sending EMail and phone calls to them than i care to mention you might as well bang your head against the wall.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad

I really dont think that npower will go around breaking meters do you? The op is as much to blame as they clearly didnt check their bill which would of shown no usage (or did and did nothing about it).

Im all for companies being slated for their faults but I dont see how they can be blamed for a meter breaking.

ainak

HI
just read first few lines of your post and felt like someone described something that happened to me. I was also told my energy usage is very low etc...but here is my story

I live on my own in one bed apt, from a day one i had a problem with my electricity prowider - the great npower- it took them 10 month to get my meter readings right which at the end acumulated a great amount still, I started comparing with other single occupants (friends) what are they paying etc and it looks like I'm paying twice as much. I;m only at home in the evenings and weekends, my tv is hardly ever on (and I dont leave it on standby) the only appliance that is running 24/7 is my fridge/freezer. I recently went on holiday and was away for over 10day, i turned everything off (including the fridge) and even switched off the main fuseboard so nothing was working. I then requested two meter readings while i was away, it turned out that both reading were different. when I rang the npower a customer service advisor advised me it is only a small difference and had doubts that I actually switched everything off. I did tell her that everything was unploged and main fuseboard switch was off. She then advised it was only 15units and it will only cost me £3 - well but there are 52weeks in a year and it all adds up to over £150/year. She then advised me that they could only send someone out to check if something is wrong with my meter if i agree to pay£90 in case where the meter is actually working properly. I didnt agree. But what else I can do? I'm being charged £125/month and i do watch what I'm using and for how long. any suggestions? please help

energysavingexp

gazjoneswales wrote: »

I really dont think that npower will go around breaking meters do you? The op is as much to blame as they clearly didnt check their bill which would of shown no usage (or did and did nothing about it).

Im all for companies being slated for their faults but I dont see how they can be blamed for a meter breaking.

My piont is its npower again that people are having problems with

why did they not question the meter reading when they got the reading from their meter reader who came out to read it 6 mts ago

gazjoneswales

ainak wrote: »

HI
just read first few lines of your post and felt like someone described something that happened to me. I was also told my energy usage is very low etc...but here is my story

I live on my own in one bed apt, from a day one i had a problem with my electricity prowider - the great npower- it took them 10 month to get my meter readings right which at the end acumulated a great amount still, I started comparing with other single occupants (friends) what are they paying etc and it looks like I'm paying twice as much. I;m only at home in the evenings and weekends, my tv is hardly ever on (and I dont leave it on standby) the only appliance that is running 24/7 is my fridge/freezer. I recently went on holiday and was away for over 10day, i turned everything off (including the fridge) and even switched off the main fuseboard so nothing was working. I then requested two meter readings while i was away, it turned out that both reading were different. when I rang the npower a customer service advisor advised me it is only a small difference and had doubts that I actually switched everything off. I did tell her that everything was unploged and main fuseboard switch was off. She then advised it was only 15units and it will only cost me £3 - well but there are 52weeks in a year and it all adds up to over £150/year. She then advised me that they could only send someone out to check if something is wrong with my meter if i agree to pay£90 in case where the meter is actually working properly. I didnt agree. But what else I can do? I'm being charged £125/month and i do watch what I'm using and for how long. any suggestions? please help

You have a few options here:

1. By an energy monitor and use to see if you can find out what is costing you what. (these arent 100% accurate at low usage)
2. Why dont you try turning everything off and check the meter readings yourself?
3. Post your usage on this page in KwH including dates and allow other people to check how normal they are.
4 If you are so confident that your meter is faulty (only 1 in10000ish are faulty) then go through with the meter accuracy test as you will not be charged if the meter is faulty. (this should be a last resort)

gazjoneswales

energysavingexp wrote: »

My piont is its npower again that people are having problems with

why did they not question the meter reading when they got the reading from their meter reader who came out to read it 6 mts ago

why didnt the OP question the bill for £0 usage. Its alot easier for 1 customer to check 1 bill instead of relying on a company to check millions of bills.

Utility companies have a system in place to check whether a meter reading is plausible or not to make sure that the meter reading is not too high or below what was given previously. In this case the meter reading given would have passed this check. Meter readings are not checked by humans, and in this case a bill would have been sent showing usage for £0 no matter what company you were with. Blaming a utility company in this situation is just passing a buck and shows laziness on the OP part in not checking their bills properly and querying any problems. There is only so much a company can do.

wilkies5

mforcer wrote: »

I moved into my own flat over a year a go and setup an account with NPOWER, i gave them some readings from the meter, the rep calculated average usage and we agreed on a £35/month direct debit..

I paid this for about a year and got a letter saying prices would be increasing, i noticed mine didn't so i gave them a call just to make sure my account was in order.

They said my account was in credit by £250 and said my electricity usage is unusually low so i gave her some more readings, she said they are exactly the same as they were a year a go, and also 6 months a go when an engineer also took some readings.. so the machine must be broken.

First thoughts: i'm going to be hit with one HUGGEEE bill, it's the first thing i asked and she said it is possible because i've not been paying enough (especially since the prices did go up), however with being in £250 credit that would take a chunk out of the repayment.

I'm just wondering where i stand with this? i don't really want to hand over 100s of pounds for their mistake. Surely when their engineer took the readings 6 months later it's up to them to notice that the reading was exactly the same and realising the machine is broken?

This has happened to me...with EDF...as I reported that the last three meter readings on NORMAL meter (I have LOW as well) were identical. They sent an engineer round to change faulty meter but he said the space in the meter cupboard was too small (obviously big enough for them to have installed it in 1999!!) and he went away again. This was 2 months ago!

Heard nothing since.
:mad:

energysavingexp

gazjoneswales wrote: »

why didnt the OP question the bill for £0 usage. Its alot easier for 1 customer to check 1 bill instead of relying on a company to check millions of bills.

Utility companies have a system in place to check whether a meter reading is plausible or not to make sure that the meter reading is not too high or below what was given previously. In this case the meter reading given would have passed this check. Meter readings are not checked by humans, and in this case a bill would have been sent showing usage for £0 no matter what company you were with. Blaming a utility company in this situation is just passing a buck and shows laziness on the OP part in not checking their bills properly and querying any problems. There is only so much a company can do.

have you ever seen an npower bill ?

i shure they just make up the figures

example my bill this month, all actual readings no estimates at all

showed my leccy was £200+ in credit and gas over £100 credit
the day later when i spoke to them they said my leccy was only 1p in credit whe i said i wanted to see the new bill with all the working out and figures he said No i could not have it when i asked why he said that he had now canceled that new bill and they would send me a new one in 6 week time

and they take money from gas account and put it in the leccy acount and vice versa then they cancel last 6 months bills and credit your account then add the amount back again and re bill you the same amount, this is all on 1 bill
whats that all about?
they have been doing this every year
i can under stand them wanting to move money from 1 account to another to balance the accounts up but they dont, they are random figures and when you call them or check your acount its all changed again.

gazjoneswales

energysavingexp wrote: »

have you ever seen an npower bill ?

i shure they just make up the figures

example my bill this month, all actual readings no estimates at all

showed my leccy was £200+ in credit and gas over £100 credit
the day later when i spoke to them they said my leccy was only 1p in credit whe i said i wanted to see the new bill with all the working out and figures he said No i could not have it when i asked why he said that he had now canceled that new bill and they would send me a new one in 6 week time

and they take money from gas account and put it in the leccy acount and vice versa then they cancel last 6 months bills and credit your account then add the amount back again and re bill you the same amount, this is all on 1 bill
whats that all about?
they have been doing this every year
i can under stand them wanting to move money from 1 account to another to balance the accounts up but they dont, they are random figures and when you call them or check your acount its all changed again.

if you have been having all these problems then you should write to them with a formal complaint saying everything you have just said and ask them to explain it. I have never been an npower customer but im pretty sure that not all of their customers accounts are like yours otherwise why would people stay with them?