NPower vast bill

minkstersmum

I am in the process of fighting NPower. After my ex left I had the accounts for gas and electricity transferred to my name. There was a six motnh delay as they refused until they had tracked down my ex who was previously responsible and had left a debt so I accumulated a 6 month debt while they faffed about. When they finally changed the account I paid that back. During the time I was with NPower I supplied then on at least 3 occasions with a meter reading. I paid a monthly charge for both gas and electricity after making it clear that I needed to pay an accurate amount being a single parent of a disabled child and could not deal with large quarterly bills (they incidentally refused my application for the special tariff for the disabled as my income was too great hahahahahahahahaha...oh yeah, it's a breeze living on carer's allowance etc) Anyway, I was offered a better deal with another firm and when I asked to close the account, they sent me bills for nearly £600 on gas and £300 on electricity (despite being £130 in credit on the electricity a week before) with 7 working days to pay up!!!
I cannot pay this and I will not as I kept my side of the deal...they did not! What's my chances of winning in court? Any help/advice gratefully received

undaunted

None whatsoever if I read your post correctly!

If the reason you were £130 in credit one week and £300 debit the next is simply that meters hadn't been read, bills estimated & this has now been corrected then you appear to have used the electricity & the Court will expect you to pay for it I'm afraid.

If by keeping your side of the deal you mean you paid a DD sum that was agreed but has now proven insufficient to cover your usage the Court will expect you to pay for it I'm afraid.

As things currently stand it is also likely that they will block any transfer if you can't clear the debt I'm afraid.

I appreciate that you may be struggling and you could have a look at charis grants & try an application to help clear the debt but unless I misunderstand your post on what basis do you think you have a successful legal argument here?

minkstersmum

I asked them to provide me with a correct amount to pay by direct debit monthly, I provided them with meter readings on several occasions and they did not amend their monthly DD amount to reflect the useage. The CAB advisor working with me has pushed for me to fight this so I was fairly confident but was hoping to hear someone else's personal experience.

undaunted

Unfortunately I think your CAB adviser is allowing feelings to get in the way of judgement. Npower may be treating you badly (you're certainly not the first!), they could possibly have been more helpful, it may be morally wrong but what specifically do you / your CAB advisor believe they have done that is actually unlawful? (That's what a Judge has to consider I'm afraid).

I think Npower are a dreadful company, I really do, but to be fair I have to be say that asking them to provide you with an accurate monthly DD at outset is perhaps unrealistic in the sense that they can't reliably be expected to forecast your usage until they have something to go on!

Could they have amended the DD sooner after you read the meter? Perhaps. Will that be enough to convince a Judge you shouldn't pay for energy you used? I doubt it I'm afraid (it may even be argued that you could have worked out your bills by simply reading the meter yourself & multiplying by the stated kw charges if it were that important to your circumstances).

I don't wish to seem harsh or unsympathetic in any way but I feel I have to warn you that you could potentially get yourself into even more costs here if you fight this without more basis than you have shown as far as I can see so far. If they are so sure you should fight this do you think the CAB / your adviser will then pay any costs for you?

As I said above Charis grants may be worth a look http://www.charisgrants.com/

chanz4

Have you checked the final reads? Also if your income was too high, charis grants wont help Im afraid. Think the reason they would of delayed a change of owner would be due to how many people call them and say the other half has done a runner to get a fresh account.

nPower

Hi minkstersmum,

Do you want me to look at this? You can send me your details to [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL] and I can see what has happened.

Best wishes,

Adam

spiro

minkstersmum wrote: »

I asked them to provide me with a correct amount to pay by direct debit monthly, I provided them with meter readings on several occasions and they did not amend their monthly DD amount to reflect the useage. The CAB advisor working with me has pushed for me to fight this so I was fairly confident but was hoping to hear someone else's personal experience.

They will have provided you with the 'correct' amount based on previous consumption patterns. What they dont do is adjust the DD amount every month based on new meter readings, they typically only adjust every 6/12 months. DDs are also design to spread the cost over a year so you can be in debt some months and credit in other months, if you happen to try and change supplier during a 'debt' month that hard luck. If you were that concerned you should have gone onto a tariff that offered monthly billing. As to being in credit of £130 the week before that was probably showing DDs received but the energy costs are only added every 3 months.

No this doesn't help you but it may help explain how you have got were you are.