Npower cockup any advice?

Carnoostydebs

My very first post so be kind I moved into this house June of 2006 and have received bills since July of the same year. I provided them with the first meter reading which is an imperial meter btw. That reading was 1053. Meter readers came and went and I got bills and I paid them and fairly soon had set up a dd cos my memory is awful. I have phoned in meter readings, have sent in meter readings and had readers in as well. In January this year I phoned in another reading and actually spoke to a person instead of an automated service and she queried the numbers as they were so far off the numbers that npower had on file. It turns out that at some point in the last 5 and a half years the system refused a reading and it was never flagged.
I received a letter from npower at the end of march to tell that they were writing off £2076.76 as it was more than 12 months ago, yippee I thought until I read that those figures were based on estimated readings! Where are the figures I've provided and the nice wee men from the national grid lovingly entered onto their machines all those times they came round my house?
I've read the bills over and over and cannot make head or tail of it, confused.com!
I've been billed for an extra £455.41 which I haven't paid yet and I also cancelled my dd til this was all sorted.
Is there an agency who could explain the bill to me and calculate if my usage is as extreme as it appears to me?
Help!
Ps well done for getting this far

jalexa

Carnoostydebs wrote: »

The first thing to do is immediately (or tomorrow) go and read your meter. If you want meaningful help here post the reading and your monthly DD payment for the last year. Look out your most recent bill. Post the meter reading numbers on the bill. Start taking weekly readings for a few weeks.

brittdad

I have just had a similar problem with my son.I agree with jalexa keep doing meter readings for a few weeks.This in turn will show proof to the supplier of accurate readings over a period of time.It will not take in a cold spell but I am sure any supplier would adjust for that over the period you are looking at.
Also as a point of caution inform the supplier you have an issue over the bill and have cancelled the DD.Then inform them until the matter is resolved you will pay by debit card a fixed amount so you do not fall further into debt.

Terrylw1

Its not clear what has happened since missing 1 reading wouldn't throw your entire history out.

The readings taken, did they show on the bill? If so, have they rebilled you without these and do they even match your current meter reading?

Carnoostydebs

Thanks for the advice so far
Spoke to npower this morning and they admit they have no idea why the numbers are so far out. It wasn't just 1 number it has been out of sync for at least 3 if not more years.
They adjusted the original reading down to get the numbers to work, if not it means that the meter has clocked and we've used nearly 10000 units more! My heating is off for the summer and is off during the day when we're at work so it's just not possible
They have 'firm' readings from March last year and they fall in line with my own readings and basically it works out to approx 770 units annually so even if we go from 7/7/2006 which was my first reading and ignore all other 'readings' then it works out just about the same.
They are gonna phone me back on Monday with a range of 'products' which they feel will best suit our consumption.
Is there any way that the meter could be at fault as readings are literally all over the place?
I don't feel I've got any choice but to pay the £455.41 and put it behind me but I really want to know what the heck has happened!

Carolyn_USEA

Hi Carnoostydebs, is the meter serial number on your bill the same as that on your actual meter? If not then it may be that the readings are wrong because the meter had been exchanged in the past and not updated, or something similar like that.

savageHK

Have you kept a record of all the meter readings you have submitted yourself?

jalexa

Carnoostydebs wrote: »

Is there any way that the meter could be at fault as readings are literally all over the place?

Is there any reason why you haven't posted your current meter reading?

undaunted

Was the reading you gave when you moved in correct according to how it is being read now?

What is the reading now and does that tie in with roughly 770 units per year as you suggest is correct?

You say you've paid by account and DD since you moved in. How much have you actually paid to Npower within this time?
How does that figure equate with the 770 units you say is correct?

Claiming to write off over £2000 means nothing unless you've actually used that energy. Equally unless it can be shown that you've used approximately £455 more energy than you've paid for why should you need to pay them more money?

Carnoostydebs

Jalexa today's reading is 5484

Carnoostydebs

undaunted wrote: »

Was the reading you gave when you moved in correct according to how it is being read now?

What is the reading now and does that tie in with roughly 770 units per year as you suggest is correct?

You say you've paid by account and DD since you moved in. How much have you actually paid to Npower within this time?
How does that figure equate with the 770 units you say is correct?

The original reading was actually 5254 and not 1053 as they have told me in the letter detailing everything, they've done this to make the numbers work. The reading now is 5484 which would mean in just under 6 years I've used just under 10000 units.
The 'firm' readings they have are as follows:
11/10/10-4061
30/3/11-4674
1/11/11-4984
18/11/11-5025
2/12/11-5066
22/12-5144
17/1/12-5241

I've had a look at my bills online and the last actual reading was oct 2010-6179 so how has that happened? They only keep them for 2 years online so I can't check further back.
They can't prove I have used this much fuel other than calculating my consumption on firm numbers and I can't prove I didn't use it!