NPower - never billed, debt sold on. Advice please...

Steve7373

I left NPower over 18 months ago.. I have now received a letter from a debt management company saying I owe them £164. I have outlined the sequence of events below..

Phoned them when I sold my property on completion day with my final meter reading. Paid all money outstanding.

Received a final bill from NPower - money taken from my account (circa 25/06/2010).

4/01/2012 - received a letter from a debt management company stating that I owed them £164.60 and that the account was due to NPower.

Contacted NPower (several times talking to various people); eventually got to someone in billing who sent some old bills through to me and put the debt management activity on hold for a month.

Still cannot get to the bottom of what the charges were for and have never received any bill for this amount. The last letter I ever received was dated 25/06/2010. NPower have hinted at a meter reading being 'transposed' at their end - but they have not provided any bills / letters to back this up.

I am now struggling to speak to the person who seemed to want to help - I have managed to obtain an email address for a team manager who has also not replied to my emails.

Can anybody help me understand my rights on this?

Do I need to pay? Where can I get some advice?

At the moment my credit score does not appear to have been affected and NPower assure me that this is the case.. but at the moment this is my biggest concern.

If they can prove to me that I need to pay the bill because of a mistake at there end over 18 months ago, which they have never contacted me about, despite me leaving all of the forwarding addresses / contact numbers they requested. Do I need to pay?? At some point does the debt expire, or is their a reasonable time limit?

I have subsequently moved address again - I had a postal redirection in place until 19/01/2011; which i believe is reasonable behavior on my part.

Hope this isn't too long winded to get some replies...

Any advice or help greatly appreciated.

qwad4x4x4

well of course you mustnt pay until they provide an accurate bill, without this they have no claim on you. If you have asked for this and they have not supplied it - it is not your fault.

Try sending recorded post to their complaints dept (customer services) demanding this evidence (dont say 'before I pay')

If there treatment becomes a harrassment then you have a number of options in the future. PM if you wish to discover more. Do not pay unless you know that you owe this money - even if they threaten you with debt collection etc.

HalloweenJack

was talking to a neighbour - she got a demand then a dca from npower for £98 - she has never been with npower , yet the dca kept on and on at her.

spiro

When you moved out did someone move in on the same day or did the property remain emtpy for a period of time? If the latter did you switch everything off? It may be the next person moved in and the reading they provide does not match the one you gave and the supplier has used their reading. If they say you owe them money you should be able to compare you old 'final bill' with the new 'final bill' they have sent you so see what has changed.

In terms of correcting a bill and chasing a debt that lasts for 5 years.

jalexa

Steve7373 wrote: »

Can anybody help me understand my rights on this?

Your "rights", or rather the supplier's conduct is defined by the "Billing Code"
http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/industrycodes/code-of-practice-for-accurate-bills/

On the face of it, you settled a "final bill". At the point of settlement there was no "debt, therefore, IMO, any subsequent change is a "billing issue" subject to a 12 month (from billing) liability timeframe (subject to the "Billing Code" applying), not a 6 year debt liability timeframe. On that I disagree with a previous poster.

Specifically test the supplier against Clause 1.3 of the Code.

Whatever, if you are dissatisfied with the supplier, you need to raise a formal complaint (in writing or by email) on the occurence of the first failure to resolve the issue to your satisfaction. Suitable grounds would be non-application of the "Billing Code", the occasion would be the first failure to make a promised call-back or email.

I have one other comment. You mentioned keeping a postal redirection for a period as "reasonable". You should/would have been asked for a forwarding address when you phoned in the closing read. IMO the "reasonableness" test is your reason for not providing (to NPower) a forwarding address.

chanz4

I didnt think npower could create bills there and then for move outs, as dont there systems bill over night? Its coming in I know this year once atlas is fully live.

jalexa

chanz4 wrote: »

I didnt think npower could create bills there and then for move outs,

Yes. I think that was a slight misunderstanding by the OP. However the later in the post "received a final bill from NPower - money taken from my account (circa 25/06/2010)" is probably more relevant.

nPower

Hi Steve7373,

This all sounds a little confusing if you moved out of the property 18 months ago!

If you send me your address/account details to [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL] I'll be able to take a look and see what has happened here.

Many thanks,

Adam

Steve7373

Thanks for your responses..

Yes somebody moved into the property the same day I moved out.

For info - I provided a forwarding address, which was a temporary address (stayed here 23/6/2010 - 19/10/2010, then the postal forwarding was applied until 19th Jan 2011 to my current address). I would also have freely given my mobile if requested; but cannot remember whether this was done. I think the company should have requested it when the acc was closed and used this when they believed that money was due.

I will certainly read the billing code though if NPower fail to tell me what the charges are for.

I will email Adam (at NPower) and see if he can help..

Thanks again.

nPower

Hi Steve7373,

I just noticed there was a typo error in the email address I posted yesterday.

Apologies if you've tried to email me and it didn't work.

The correct email address is [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL] so if you send your details, I'll take a look at this for you.

Many thanks,

Adam

Steve7373

Email resent to new address..

Steve