massive bill

scrooge_mcduck_duck

Hi,
i,ve been with npower for a year paying a fixed £69pm for both my gas and electricity.

i recieved a letter to say my fixed price was coming to an end and my new DD amount would be £139 pm.

I called npower to find out if i could get a better deal and was told that not only was my DD doubling but i also owed them £593 due to the amount of gas i had used that year.

I was told they underestimated the amount of gas i was using.

Now surely they should have contacted me long before now to tell me i was using more gas than estimated?

Am i now stuck with npower until this bill is payed?:(

espresso

scrooge_mcduck_duck wrote: »

Hi,
i,ve been with npower for a year paying a fixed £69pm for both my gas and electricity.

i recieved a letter to say my fixed price was coming to an end and my new DD amount would be £139 pm.

I called npower to find out if i could get a better deal and was told that not only was my DD doubling but i also owed them £593 due to the amount of gas i had used that year.
I was told they underestimated the amount of gas i was using.

Now surely they should have contacted me long before now to tell me i was using more gas than estimated?

Am i now stuck with npower until this bill is payed?

Now surely you should have contacted your supplier long before now and told them that you were in fact using more energy that your payments would cover.

The meters are there for your benefit not just your suppliers.

Learn from your mistake!

scrooge_mcduck_duck

I wasnt aware i was using more gas than npower had estimated.If anything i thought maybe i was using less as the household went from 3 people to 2 people 7 months ago.

Surely its npowers responsibility to tell me im using more gas than estimated?

jalexa

scrooge_mcduck_duck wrote: »

Am i now stuck with npower until this bill is payed?

There is more than one answer here. Do you realise you stand to lose any unearned "deferred discount"? This is only earned every full 12 months of supply.

If you are intent on switching you need to initiate a switch. You may or may not find that NPower block the switch, though my understanding is that an account debit balance is not open to "debt blocking" and could be challenged via the complaints process.

However on switching you might find that NPower demand payment in full. You would need to take a punt whether payment terms would be granted (for which there may or may not be a sound case). Again the complaints procedure would be open to you.

To determine the strength of your case you need to scrutinise the direct debit payment scheme description, with respect to account reviews.

http://www.npower.com/Home/Electricity-and-gas/Electricity-and-gas-prices/Direct-Debit-discounts/

scrooge_mcduck_duck

If i can't pay the bill in full would i be able to pay it up?

Sent a complaint via email on the 28th september.They said they would get back to me within 5 days but not heard from them.

Thanks for your reply.

Antispam

Did you not get any bills which said estimate. Its also your responsibility to inform them of your consumption. You have no choice if you used the energy but to pay it otherwise they may well fit a pre paid meter. All you can maybe do is speak to them and see if you can pay any debt over a longer period. But bare in mind you still need to pay what you use now which will increase due to Autumn/Winter and also pay some of the debt off. £69pcm is quite low payment for most people, I am paying over £100 pcm and I am no a higher user on gas although a little high for electric

PasturesNew

Being fixed for a year is just a handy budgetting thing. You need to understand that you will be billed for what you actually use ... and should, therefore, either [a] keep an eye on your usage, or, expect the amount to rocket after the year. If you'd used less your payments would have gone down.

Antispam

For now on it really pays to monitor your usage. I do mine every month and alter DD payments accordingly I just decreased one of mine as I was over paying this was due to British gas increasing it because of the deal I was on ending, I since switched onto another deal rather than standard tariff. I must admit I didnt use to monitor as much but as energy is so much more past few years its frightening being in debt, I rather cut back than be in debt

Terrylw1

See the supplier .PDF's in this link to Ofgem's site.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Licensing/Work/Pages/licence-conditions-consolidated.aspx

Standard Lince Condition (SLC) 14 is clear in that they can object to Outstanding Charges as defined in the documents terms but not when its accrued due to supplier error, known as Supplier Error Amount or a disputed debt.

SLC27.14 & 27.15 cover clear descriptions of DD's and the fact they must be accurate.

You can use these to switch in this scenario. Just be wary of losing any deferred discounts.

macman

scrooge_mcduck_duck wrote: »

I wasnt aware i was using more gas than npower had estimated.If anything i thought maybe i was using less as the household went from 3 people to 2 people 7 months ago.

Surely its npowers responsibility to tell me im using more gas than estimated?

Since the meter is in your house, how could they do that unless you provided readings? Telepathy? The supplier only has to read the meter once every two years.
Each bill you received over that period will have shown readings with an 'E' against them, meaning estimated. All you had to do was phone a reading in to get a revised bill.
What is the basis of your 'complaint'?

molerat

Each estimated bill will state something along the lines of "please check this estimated reading and inform us if incorrect to help us to produce accurate bills". I can't remember the last time I had an estimated bill, 2 minutes once a month at most to submit an accurate read is not too much effort surely.