NPower help!!!

snowberry38

Hi,

I am a newbie and need some advice/help on how to deal with Npower.

I have been an electricity customer of theirs for 8years and have had an ongoing complaint regarding my bill. I live in a rented farm house and there are 2 other houses and a large barn (non of which is rented to me) i have paid my bill by direct debit at an amount requested by Npower, I have never missed a payment.
For years Npower have been billing me for the house and the usage of the barns (used by the farmer)
They have charged me business rates and various other rates that werent necessary. All the time that the complaints were on going I had paid by direct debit.
In 2010 by complaint was eventually dealt with correctly, I was invoiced for one meter only and another account has been set up for the farmer who uses the barns. However, NPower have now decided that i owe £5,500 for usage over the 7yrs whilst dealing with the complaint.
I have received a bill stating that on Feb 2010 my account was £214 in credit. NPower are now stating that there is still an outstanding amount of £5500 outstanding (despite paying by direct debit the amount requested by NPower)

I am now in deadlock as I am refusing to pay all of the outstanding amount as I consider this to be excessively high (4bed house, no electric heating) and I feel that a portion of this amount is due to the incompetence of Npower.

So, I have forwarded the details to the Energy Ombudsmen but does any one have any advice on what else I can do.

(Npower are asking me to pay £550 a month to clear this debt, I am a mother of 2 disabled kids and dont have £550 spare income to pay off a debt that I dont feel is right)

dogshome

Phew - You really have had a difficult time, not helped by n'power by back-billing you for 7 years when by law thay can only go back 6

With this now in the hands of the Ombusman it's all in limbo till he makes a decision, but, from your post it seems you now have over 12 months of correct billing - I suggest you work on these to get an accurate figure of your yearly use in Kwh, and it's cost on your present tariff.

Obviously, because tariff prices have had many increases over 6 years, you can't simply x your present annual cost by six to see what the total would be over 6 years, but you do have some previous bills which will give you the info to make some adjustments - Then having got a total deduct your D/D payments to get a rough figure of what you owe, or do not owe to n'power.

It's hell of a lot of work, but in your shoes I would do it and if the figure is way off the £5,500 demand, I would send it to the Ombudsman as a further submission

undaunted

8 years to resolve a complaint, followed by a huge bill? It's about time somebody got a grip of Npowers abysmal service standards.

Have you considered an Energy Trust application to address whatever bill is ultimately felt correct?

http://www.charisgrants.com/

Good luck

chanz4

smell a rat, I wonder if the op has recently had some new supplys on the other propertys. Npower are bad but dont believe 8 years

mattcanary

Surely if anything your bill should now be lower than what NPower had previously billed you?

- If I am reading the OP's first post correctly, NPowere were billing the OP for both the electric used in their house and in a barn that the farmer was using (and weas being charged at higher business proices too)

snowberry38

Thanks for all the replies...........firstly, the reason it has taken NPower 8yrs to resolve the original complaint is due to the fact that they would send someone to the property, acknowledge that there are in fact 2 meters and only one of these relates to the property I am living in. Then somehow between seeing this for themselves and transferring onto a bill seems to be an issue. Following quarter the bill is back to 2 meters, either at domestic rates, commercial rates or a mixture of both.
A new person picked up the complaint in 2010 and finally resolved it, or so I thought. She set up a new account and put all the bills from 2003 - 2010 on hold, set up a new direct debit and went from there. All the previous bills were being investigated, NPower stated that I used 45kw a day for electricity, for a 4 bed house with no electric heating (no electricity full stop if theres a storm lol) seems excessive. I did joke that it must be the cannabis farm that I am growing that uses up all the electric. (I worked full time and the kids were at school so no one at home during the day either)

In May 2011 the final straw came with NPOwer and I switched suppliers, they sent me a credit note stating that my bill was now £214 in credit, followed by a demand letter for £5k!!!

My direct debits to Npower during this period were set by Npower themselves and had increased from initially £35 a month, to £55 a month, to £100 a month to finally £152 a month!

I am so stressed about this I have no idea what to do.......I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall when I speak with NPower, when I tried to ask them whether £4k a quarter was a normal size bill for a 4 bed they just said it depends on how many appliances I was using!! aarrgghh

mattcanary

I think really you should be due a considerable refund from NPower for your DD being set at an unrealistically high amount. Do you know which meter at the farmhouse was yours?

What were the readings when you first noved in to the farmhouse/joined NPower? What was the reading on that same meter when you left NPower? Only then will you know if the final bill is correct or not (I would be amazed if it is correct!)

Furthermore, NPOwer need to showw you a bill with the initial reading on it and the final meter reading when you left them (estimated or not). If they can't do this, they don;t have a leg to stand on so don;t pay them anything more!

Let's hope the ombudsman can help the issuer be resolved quickly and efficiently!

snowberry38

its all now with the Ombudsman - NPower have said I dont have a leg to stand on but I've forwarded at least 5yrs worth of complaints that I have issued and they've not resolved. I have also sent a copy of a letter that states my account is in credit and then 1month later there is a £5k bill!!
Fingers crossed that someone will investigate and realise that I have paid by direct debit at the amount requested by NPower and have never missed a payment, oh and the payments were set by NPower.
Only time will tell eh?! Thanks for the replies

meggsy

Good luck snowberry, npower are a nightmare ! They have just been fined £2 million for their rotten customer service and about this time last year they were forced to refund £70 million for overcharging during the year 07-08 and I noticed this a couple of days ago ...

http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/news/business/business-news/community_centre_makes_demand_for_cash_refund_1_4020367

:eek:

undaunted

Npower are always right (according to them) & I wonder whether they believe it's just a war of attrition

I don't have much faith in the Ombudsman in general but hope you can prove them wrong this time somehow.

Good luck.