nPOWER - billing errors

FCA

The nPOWER bill computer calculates the daily standing charge as the inclusive number of days from the start date to the end date of your bill and each subsequent bill starts on the end date of the previous bill and charges you for the last day you have already paid for.

Example
31/12/10 - 31/03/11 - 91
31/03/11 - 30/06/11 - 92
30/06/11 - 30/09/11 - 93
30/09/11 - 31/12/11 - 93
Total 369 days.

Check your bill now.

FCA

They were quick to agree to credit my account after I contacted them about this.

This system error can potentially make them millions of pounds from their millions of customers who do not notice.

SnowMan

Thanks. That as an interesting one. Would be interesting to hear others confirm if that was a one off for you or it had happened to others.

I'm just switching to the npower go fix 8 tarriff which has a standing charge of £137.97 for gas and £141.42 for electricity (at least in my region).

So if they did the same thing with me that would be an over-charge of £3 over a year (=4/365 x (137.97 + 141.42)).

A nice earner for them if they did it on every account.

Perhaps the npower representative on here could comment and confirm that all affected (assuming it isn't a one off) will be automatically refunded for the over-charge?

meggsy

It's worth bearing in mind that a previous 'error' cost them £70million in customer refunds a year ago


ex npower customer

undaunted

Hmm, another "error" by Npower eh?

SnowMan

Are there no other npower customers out there with a standing charge who can confirm either way whether it has happened to them or not?

DirectDebacle

meggsy wrote: »

It's worth bearing in mind that a previous 'error' cost them £70million in customer refunds a year ago


ex npower customer

Meggsy, how very dare you!

You know perfectly well that was not an error by npower but their way of ensuring that the average customer was £60 p.a. better off. The proof of that was because they said so. The £70m repaid to customers was a pre Christmas goodwill payment because they are the nations brightest power company and their customer care is legendary.:)

They are doing the same this year. By increasing the number of days in a year they are significantly reducing the average daily energy consumption of customers. Thus cheaper bills. Any notional increase in standing charges will be offset by the average £127.40 p.a. they calculate customers will save. Any npower lawyer/accountant could have told you that.

You will rue the day you left. Mark my words.:D

PaulB79

Just checked my bill after seeing this and it appears they have done the same to me. Thanks for the pointing this out FCA!

undaunted

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Meggsy, how very dare you!

You know perfectly well that was not an error by npower but their way of ensuring that the average customer was £60 p.a. better off. The proof of that was because they said so. The £70m repaid to customers was a pre Christmas goodwill payment because they are the nations brightest power company and their customer care is legendary.:)

They are doing the same this year. By increasing the number of days in a year they are significantly reducing the average daily energy consumption of customers. Thus cheaper bills. Any notional increase in standing charges will be offset by the average £127.40 p.a. they calculate customers will save. Any npower lawyer/accountant could have told you that.

You will rue the day you left. Mark my words.:D

:rotfl::rotfl:

DirectDebacle

FCA wrote: »

They were quick to agree to credit my account after I contacted them about this.

This system error can potentially make them millions of pounds from their millions of customers who do not notice.

This error certainly needs passing on to Consumer Direct with a request that it be forwarded to Consumer Focus for further investigation.

A 'system error' such as this could cause over 2 million customers to be overcharged. Previous experience with npower suggests the 'error' will not be fixed until they are told to by Ofgem. Well spotted.

Consumer Direct can be contacted on 08454 04 05 06 or use their online complaint form: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_195918

They will need account details, copies of bills etc.

meggsy

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Meggsy, how very dare you!

You know perfectly well that was not an error by npower but their way of ensuring that the average customer was £60 p.a. better off. The proof of that was because they said so. The £70m repaid to customers was a pre Christmas goodwill payment because they are the nations brightest power company and their customer care is legendary.:)

They are doing the same this year. By increasing the number of days in a year they are significantly reducing the average daily energy consumption of customers. Thus cheaper bills. Any notional increase in standing charges will be offset by the average £127.40 p.a. they calculate customers will save. Any npower lawyer/accountant could have told you that.

You will rue the day you left. Mark my words.:D

DD after all this time I am pleased to see your humour is intact :T