No contact from nPower for years

vsmith

Hi everyone,

When I moved into my flat about 4 years ago, I phoned npower, the electricity providers at the address, to register with them under my boyfriend's name (he was living with me at the time.) They said he would have to phone them himself, so I let him know and left it with him. He never phoned them back (out of slackness!), but we never received any correspondence (no bills, no reminders) from them until now. Someone has been round this morning to see if the property is occupied. I missed them and they left a letter asking the occupier to contact them or they may cut off the electricity. My boyfriend has moved out this month, and I'm hoping to move out in the next month or so.

I'm not really sure where I stand with any of this, or what I should say to them when I call. I'm aware that if they don't send you a bill for a long period of time, and they're at fault, then they can only back-charge you for up to a year, but I'm not so sure if this falls under the heading of 'not their fault'! Obviously though, I can't afford to pay 4 years' worth of bills. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

chanz4

Its not their fault your bf didnt call them, by the way they have audit functions so can tell when their accounts are gone into. you would not be eligable for back bill, a big bill is coming your way

insanegloss

Hi,

You may not like what my post is about to say, but unfortunately it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure you get your accounts registered with your energy provider. Also, in those circumstances, the back billing code doesn't apply.

You best off reading the document on the back billing code. Search ERA Back Billing in google, and it is the second link (PDF).

Your responsibilities are detailed in there.

"Customer’s responsibilities
Customers should pay for energy used and the Code is not intended as a means for avoiding
payments. Customers have an obligation to assist suppliers and can expect to pay for all energy
consumed if they:

Have been using the supply but have made no attempt to contact the supplier to make or
arrange payment, including moving into a property and making no attempt to let a supplier
know they are the new tenant.

Have wilfully avoided payment.

Have not co-operated with attempts to obtain meter readings or resolve queries requested by
the supplier, including allowing access to the premise or failing to respond to requests for
meter details or meter readings.

In the event of billing problems, customers should be encouraged to pay a reasonable estimate of
their consumption with the understanding that once an accurate bill is produced, suppliers will
use payments or credits to offset any additional charges or allowances.
In the event of a customer paying one supplier for their energy and it later transpires that their
supply should have been with another supplier, any payments refunded to the customer as part of
the process of correcting the error, may be required to be paid to the other supplier for the
energy used. Suppliers will contact customers on an individual basis to agree payment
arrangements."

I would doubt telling them that you want to set up an account in your boyfriends name without him present would count as trying to get in contact. This could be because it could be breaking Data Protection to accept those details without the account holders verification.

I would contact them ASAP, and speak to them very calmly and ask for a payment arrangement.

I know its probably the opinion you didn't want to hear, but I wish you the best.

vsmith

Hi,

Thanks for your response. Jeepers! No, not what I wanted to hear at all.... I did suspect it would probably be the case though. Are nPower allowed to get my details from the landlord? What if I were to fudge the dates I moved in a little in my favour? Will they want it all back over a certain period, or do you think I can pay it back over a number of years?

Thanks again.

Kev27

God Help you!! maybe worth looking into Bankruptsy. :eek:

vsmith

Kev27 wrote: »

God Help you!! maybe worth looking into Bankruptsy. :eek:

urrrrrrrrgh don't say that. How much do you reckon the whle bill would be? It's a one-bed flat with no gas, just electric, and storage heaters. This is making me feel sick.

kizkiz

Surely you knew this day was coming?
You can't have thought you were getting free electricity and nobody would notice!
As already advised, you need to speak to them and sort out payments.

ihateyes

so over the lat 4 years both you and your bf have enjoyed around £2k of electric, did you have a nice time partying on the back of your lecy??

nPower

Hi vsmith,

This all sounds very tricky for you. Would you like me to see what the next steps are?

If you send your full address details to [EMAIL="fourmresponse@npower.com"]fourmresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL] and i'll have a look into this.

Best wishes

Sally

Kev27

vsmith wrote: »

urrrrrrrrgh don't say that. How much do you reckon the whle bill would be? It's a one-bed flat with no gas, just electric, and storage heaters. This is making me feel sick.

Anything between 3-6K i should imagine. Good luck hope its at the lower end of the scale.

undaunted

Much as I think Npower a dreadful company & that the deemed contract system is a farce (there's no way you should be able to get into this situation in my opinion - a simple time limit on "deemed contracts" would prevent it happening!) I'm afraid in this case you & b/f nevertheless only have yourselves to blame really as you knew there was a problem looming & rather than address it you just tried your luck didn't you?

I would have thought you should be looking to him to pay his share (even if you have to take him to court for it) but other than that the best you can hope for is that Npower bill the account & you pay it over a similar period to that it accrued in.

I suggest you ensure that any property you move into isn't supplied by Npower (otherwise you may well find yourself fitted with a PPM and / or tied to them for some time to come). They are merely another debt to budget for if they aren't your supplier rather than being considered priority.

Whether you wish to consider bankruptcy, your eligibility for a Debt relief order etc is upto you & something you should seek proper advice upon before doing anything - eg by contacting consumer credit counselling service.