Looking for some advice please x

wannabeasupersaver

I currently have my gas and electric supplied by Npower. I am on their online tariff which I was told would be cheaper than their standard. My dd was set up and each month it has cleared. Now I realise that I may use more than what it set as and price increases but this month my payment has increased to 5 x the amount I normally pay. When I contacted them to see what was going on my invoice said that I would have an extra £191.06 to pay plus the extra from 22 oct til now, when I asked for more information it turns out that infact I apparently owe not £191.06 plus from 22 oct til now but £810.06 My account, even though we have given in readings and they do estimates if you dont hasnt been updated since JUNE. I was unaware of this as we give the readings in. Basically I'm not disputing the money owed, more the fact my account hasnt been updated by them for 6 months therefore it has left me unaware of my need to increase my direct debit to cover any over use etc. Any ideas where I stand with this? Guy on phone says that this is unusual but he has recently dealt with 3 similar cases recently. I amm waiting for someone from complaints dept to contact me and I just want myself to be as knowledgable as possible. I know there may be nothing i can say or do but many thanks in advance anyway xxx

good_advice

Hiya, you need to pay the bill. It is not Npowers fault you were not watching your bills.
I cannot see any cause for them to want to lower your dept.

It is getting to the stage were each family has to watch the house hold bills as most are going up and up.

You say you are an online customer. Then read and submit the meter readings - often. I do mine every week.

Not what you want to hear.
Not been updated since June! Then all the bills went up and now it is winter with the CH on!

Take more care

wannabeasupersaver

Hi, thanks for your reply, I am not looking to get the debt reduced that is not what I said if I owe it, I owe it. I have been submitting my readings also, what I am saying as THEY have NOT been registering them so nothing on their part has been updated. The guy said it is unusual but it has been happening lately.

good_advice

When you put your meter readings in did the computer not calculate how much you have used and how much credit you have left?
I am with SP and know exactly how much in KWH and money I used for the last 7 days. How much credit is left in my account.

If it did not register why did you not phone?

chris1973

It is getting to the stage were each family has to watch the house hold bills as most are going up and up.

+1 to that

I still can't understand the reluctance of people to read their meter(s) every Month or so. Energy bills take a huge chunk out of the family budget, and are probably just as important and are as much of a staple requirement as the weekly shopping, yet whilst most can immediately tell you roughly what they spend every week on Groceries, they are clueless when it comes to checking that their DD payments match what they are using, and budget accordingly.

I'm not saying that the OP is guilty of this, but unfortunately, some people also think that Energy bills are like unlimited Data usage on their phone, they pay a fixed monthly price and can use as much they want because they pay a fixed price £-- a month agreed with the Energy Company. Obviously this isn't the case, a DD set up is simply an estimate of your usage and this can change depending on lifestyle and weather factors, or simply not be accurate in the first place. Simply having a bitterly cold winter, followed by an unseasonably cool spring can make a huge difference to your annual energy consumption, compared to a mild winter and summer arriving at Easter!.

I'm not disputing the money owed, more the fact my account hasnt been updated by them for 6 months therefore it has left me unaware of my need to increase my direct debit to cover any over use etc.

Well, you are closer to your meter than they are, and you, unfortunately are the one best placed to control, monitor and budget for what is after all your personal and individual household energy consumption. If you had read your meter on a regular basis, or even worked out your own usage when you took these readings to send to them, then you would have seen that your actual real time usage was exceeding your Direct Debit Payments, and if this had continued for a few months, then it would have flagged that you were underpaying your actual usage and would need to change your DD accordingly, hopefully in time to give some damage limitation against the period of underpayment.

Nobody should need an account update to tell you what you are using, its written on the meter less than a 20 second walk away. Basic Maths then tells you that the number of units used since your last reading, multiplied by the price per unit shown on your bill will tell you what you have used. That probably takes no more time to do, than booting the computer and logging into your account.

I am waiting for someone from complaints dept to contact me

Why complain?, you admit that you have used this energy and now it needs to be paid back.

I just want myself to be as knowledgable as possible

Then start taking meter readings on a regular basis, as you have found its in your interest to. If you have (older) kids then make it part of their pocket money routine to take a reading every Saturday and perhaps even do the maths to work out what you have used in the previous week. Who knows, a miracle could happen and being involved, it may even make them more energy aware and likely to turn things off when not needed!, as you so rightly say, you are all responsible for this - as a family.

wannabeasupersaver

Hi, we did ring readings in and also have had their meter reader enter to take readings.

In regards to why I feel the need to complain- because they have not been updating my account with this information. It appears they havent even been estimating.

Yes I definitely will keep a better check on this myself, but in all honesty I find the gas and electric the most confusing thing ever. I believe that they, as my supplier, should be inputing the information either that I submit or that their own reader collects into my account to keep it up to date. Is that a wrong assumption I have made?

macman

When the 'actual' readings do not compute, then the system disregards them as erroneous and substitutes it's own estimates.
This is all done on the billing system and is untouched by human hand.
This may be what has happened in your case-did you not see that the bills were all based on estimated readings, as it's clearly marked?

jalexa

wannabeasupersaver wrote: »

Is that a wrong assumption I have made?

No its not. While in dealing with a supplier you make your own "luck" you are not "responsible" for supplier error. In such circumstances normally a supplier will offer payment terms.

You may not realise it but your posts have been a tad evasive. You have not mentioned your direct debit amount and for how long. You have not posted the meter readings that you have provided to the supplier. You have not posted the *exact* reading details of your most recent (and previous to that) bill or statement.

Remedy that and you *may* learn something to your advantage regarding "back-billing".

Regarding complaining, a customer is entitled to complain on the first occasion they are not 100% satisfied with a customer service outcome. You have done the right thing to complain (if you were dissatisfied) because it will produce an audit trail of the recovery actions taken by the supplier.

undaunted

I don't think you're being evasive but otherwise generally agree with Jalexa

If you've supplied correct readings and they haven't used them that is their fault not yours. You should therefore expect to be able to at worst repay the balance over the period it accrued in.

At best you may wish to look into back billing rules http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/43/412.html

wannabeasupersaver

Hi thanks very much for pointing me to the back billing information. It has been most useful :-)