HELP Totally useless N Power at reading meters

susie93

Since 1999 we had an electricity prepayment meter with British Gas. When the payments suddenly shot up in 2008 we rang British Gas and asked the reason. They said you are no longer with us you haven't been with us for the last six months. They said we had been taken over by N Power and the reason for the increase was that we had been using a British Gas key and buying our electricity through N Power so we were paying a "key charge" to British Gas through N Power. I rang N Power to find out why they had taken over our electricity supply without our knowledge. They could not give me an answer and could not supply a key that worked in our prepayment meter so I requested a credit meter be installed and as we have a low income we were put on a Spreading Warmth Tariff. Our bills averaged about £180 a quarter. Last August we received a letter from N Power sayin "Sorry you are leaving us..." WHAT!!!???? I rang them and they said we had been taken over by Scottish Power!!!!! I requested that they put it right immediately and they said the account had already been closed and they would have to open a new account. (give me strength!!!) They opened a new account and since then it has been yet another nightmare. The DWP sent a £120 payment to N Power which covered the first bill this year plus a small payment. My next bill
was £2,174.00!!!!!! I rang immediately and said this was not possible. I gave them a reading from my digital elec meter and they said to read the first five numbers and leave the last one if there was no decimal point. Which I did and the person on the phone said that obviously the meter reader had given them the whole six numbers. They sent a revised bill of £1,740.!!!!?? and since June I have been trying to get them to see sense 2 out of 3 customer service staff could see sense - I made an official complaint in June and they fitted, eventually, a test meter which they still cannot read properly the man that fitted it told me not to let them fob me off and that it is the first five numbers and the sixth number is the one that replaced the red dial - I have just made another official complaint and requested copies of all my bills and given them a further 7 days to come to some sort of conclusion after being threatened by a complaints manager that I could have to pay thousands of pounds if they deem that my meter has been read wrong since 2008? This has all happened since they gave me a new account. (They also sent a welcome letter and bill to me for some house in sheffield!!!????) This would mean I was using £800 worth of electricity in 2 weeks according to the usage on one bill and £26,000 per year was shown as my average annual bill?????OMG Anyone had similar experience??? HELP.:eek:

spiro

If you have changed supplier several times without requesting it there is a possibility that your MPAN (bottom line of S number of bill) is being confused with another address. Ask your supplier to check this.

Terrylw1

Its not fully clear but if its regarding incorrect readings, they haven't done very well by fitting a check meter!

So, take it back to the beginning.

The first thing to check is the readings on the bill compared to the meter. Do they match?

If they do, the problem could be due to the installation readings of the credit meter. Its also possible that you were switched and in that process the readings become incorrect. It sometimes happens and creates massive values.

In terms of reading it, you will have decimal points, either 1 or 2 but they should not be used.

Your supplier gets notified of how many digits exist on the meter. It could be 5 or 6 or even more, but these are the standard. So, they can easily see this.

Can't help any further as its not possible to rule out the above or a bill catch up.

Can you post some info on your readings?

What is certain is that a check meter has no value if your case is regarding incorrect reader of a meter. They are for measuring speed if you are using to much.

These cases are far more likely to be a data problem, than a meter one.