npower

massey_2

Hi
wonder if any one can help

i have been with enpower for over 8 years i have had a lot of trouble with them. they never read the metre for over 12months and when they read it i found that i owed them 13000 pounds which i could'nt believe despite paying them monthly.
eventually i got it down and decided to change suppliers and this is where ther trouble started. they told me that i owed them £600 pound so i paid this off so we could change suppliers. then i recieved a final bill off n power the amount was £645 for Electric and £335 for Gas.
when i rang them and explained that i had paid the amounts oweing they said that i was paying areas from 2007 and this what i owe from then.
They put me on a duel account and wanted £220 pound amonth and i paid 2 months and just cannot physically aford that amount so i pay what i can afford every month they have now stopped my plan and are threating me
Sorry to rant but can any one suggest anything or do i just bit the bullet and contiune to pay i am sure they have got this wrong but i have no previous bills beacuse i threw them away

rafa205

i had problems with npower as well and continue to do so. they tried charging me £300+ for a quarter. i thought it was high simply by the fact that we barely used any elec/gas. i stayed on the phone for around 3hrs through various departments. i eventually applied common logic after i concluded i couldn't work out their tariffs and rates. i took the previous quarter's bill, (which was over £200 less) and matched it against the number of k/w that we had used in that period. we had used roughly the same k/w in the current period yet had incurred greater charges - after pushing this logic through to them, and speaking to line managers, i eventually made them realise that there was an error and the bill was recalculated to £80 or so. my advice would be to go through your recent bills, look at the usage vs. cost (k/w vs. £s) and apply the same logic across your bills. don't take their word as gospel - i never will again! ps. i have read so many stories about npower overcharging customers so maybe just dispute even if you don't understand the workings ;-)

rafa205

also, maybe consider their online saver tariff. it gives you visibility of your usage online and you can also upload meter readings whenever you want so that they can't use "assumed" readings

dogshome

Hi massey - You haven't given any details of your dwelling or family size so whilst the figures are big they could be justified, tho' with that said, a bill for £13,000 plus the value of D/D's made in a period of less than 2 years, is enough for a small hotel

You really need to do what n'power are doing and go into the fine details of your billing back to 2005 - The fact you haven't kept the bills isn't a problem as n'power have to supply copies if you ask.
Whilst you are at it, ask n'power what your Annual Kwh consumption figues are and post them here

It's a lot of work but you should check that the End & Start meter readings run from bill to bill and that the Meter Nos on the bills match those on your meters

undaunted

It's about time somebody got a grip of Npower instead of window dressing & talking tough (ie Cameron, Huhne & Ofgem)

If you believe any money you owe has been paid I suggest you write stating the facts and that you dispute the claimed debt. (Should Npower subsequently attempt to obtain a warrant to fit a PPM you can argue that the Electricity Act states they may not do so in cases of "genuine dispute".

It may be worth contacting your MP & Consumer Focus with details of your compalint (you will not be the only one there has been & perhaps if enough begin to arrive someone may get off their backsides & address the issue!) as suppliers are also supposed to consider affordability of payment proposals

I agree with dogshome that you should contact Npower & request copies of all bills if you believe you do not owe the money.

I find it hard to believe that you could be in debt dating back to 2007 and know nothing about it. Are you aware of any debts?

Your post states £13000 which seems rather a lot for the year - I assume it should be £1300 given the other figures and that you were told if you paid half they would consider allowing you to leave (I am aware of another case in which Npower staff have used that kind of deception before - considering it is not promising to agree to it, just letting you think that they will!)

There is little prospect of Npower allowing you to switch supplier unless you can pay the balance or someone successfully challenges the transfer objection on grounds of debt in the Courts I'm afraid, they are utterly intransigent & unreasonable people in my opinion