Energy Ombudsman compensation levels

ukdya

my 86 year old nieghbour has had a great npower problem and i volunteered to help after she had a small stroke and two bain ops.
i,m retires but was a consultant charging reasonable fees in the past.
I thought the help would be short term but after 100 man hours and 250 copies of docs later I am wondering if I should charge consultancy fees now it has gone to the ombudsman. we are waiting and my time is still being taken by reasing a mad online account daily.

so who should i charge and why as its npower,s cause that needs my help to this fine lady.

there must be some legal beaver that reads this blog. have I the right to charge "who" for my time?

quaybab

ukdya wrote: »

my 86 year old nieghbour has had a great npower problem and i volunteered to help after she had a small stroke and two bain ops.

Ombudsmen say they don't make awards to compensate for peoples time.
The specific ombudsman we are talking about is the energy ombudsman who say they make 'goodwill' awards only and not compensation.
You can't take npower to court unless you can show loss. You could invoice your 86 year old neighbour for the 100 hours but she would probably loose in a court case to reclaim this from npower.
The best chance you have to vent your anger is to wait until your neighbour has no assets and then sue npower. Ask the court to send out a judge so that the 86 year old can make a deposition under CPR 34.8 if she is too frail to leave the house. She tells the judge you have been dealing with it.
Although The Lay Representatives (Rights of Audience) Order 1999 says you can't represent her in court, under Civil procedure rules 27, 3.2(3), it says:
the court, exercising its general discretion to hear anybody, may hear a lay representative even in circumstances excluded by the Order.
This is all fantasy and speculation though,especially the likelihood of wining.

PENITAR

Hi button86, not entirely clear as to which sent you the bill (Npower or British Gas). On assumption that Npower sent the bill...how can they lawfully do so if the provision was from British Gas.

If British Gas sent the bill then that would appear to be a criminal offence under Statutory Instrument 1277 (Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008) SCHEDULE 1 Commercial practices which are in all circumstances considered unfair / 29. "Demanding immediate or deferred payment for or the return or safekeeping of products supplied by the trader, but not solicited by the consumer, except where the product is a substitute supplied in accordance with regulation 19(7) of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (inertia selling)(1)." Which exception 19(7) would appear not to apply in this case, Npower presumably had the necessary information and a supply line must have been in place for provision to be afforded by British Gas.

The Energy Ombudsman route is considerably evidenced to be both biased and incompetent having little regard to legislation, if anyone is sure of the facts and has evidence in support of unfair trading then far better route is the Trading Standards Service (having Duty to Enforce the above Regulations), being not funded by energy suppliers.

I would also offer the point that since the Energy Ombudsman is funded by Energy Suppliers (and therefore consumers by association) THAT OFFICE too is a Trader as subject to the above Regulations and so required by law to act with Professional Diligence.