n power owe me money. what can i do?

ellefsenmc

i had a electric pre payment meter and we were paying too much. we had paid nearly £1000 a year. when someone came out and took a meter reading he said we should only have paid half of that. got in touch with n power who said they would look into it. in the meantime we got an electric credit meter which i was supposed to get a bill every 3 months. after 6 months i changed supplier which was when i got my first bill. they have put me to debt collectors now. what can i do? i have still been ringing them about the money they owe me and they have said that powergen havent given it back to them. n power never sent us an electric key so had to use powergens. also how can they put me to a debt collector when i was supposed to get a bill every 3 months but got 1 when i changed suppliers after 6 months. if i hadnt changed suppliers then i might not have got a bill

tripled

If you used Powergen's key, Powergen have the money, not nPower, so you actually owe nPower money not the other way round. What you have done is the equivalent of walking out of Tesco's with £x of shopping and paying for it in the Sainsburys across the road! I couldn't see Tesco's being too happy with that.

Suppliers only are obliged to send a bill once a year, although most issue them every quarter. I don't understand your complaint, after 3 months why didn't you ring them with a reading, I'm sure they could have issued one? Or why didn't you pay the final bill when it came through?

There is a system in place to transfer misdirected payments between suppliers, but if Powergen have refused to send it then you will need to reclaim the money from Powergen and then send a cheque to nPower. You might need your receipts from the paypoint to prove it was you who made the payments though.

ellefsenmc

after 3 months i did get in touch with a reading and asked for a bill which they didnt send. we are on benefits so needed that bill every 3 months to be able to afford it. i told them that but still didnt send a bill. i cant see why im at fault because they didnt send me a bill. how is that my fault.

tripled

It's not your fault they didn't send you a bill, but didn't you put some money aside each month for when the bill came? If when it finally came it was more than you expected, did you contact them and ask to pay it in installments or time to pay? If you just ignored the bill and reminders, it is hardly surprising they sent it to a debt collection agency.

Crystaltipps_2

If you have been using Powergen's key when you were being supplied by nPower then Powergen will refuse to give you a refund and instead send it to nPower. Have nPower advised that Powergen have definitely refused to send them any money? It may be that Powergen can't find your payments and need extra help like info from a receipt or something to find them.

Did you used to be supplied by Powergen? If so, the money might be on your old account, so give Powergen a call. If not, then it may be on the previous occupiers account. Problem is that the info exchange that occurs between the suppliers for misdirected payments doesn't leave room for extra info like "look at the previous occupier".