NPower - Deadlock (Please Help)

notbritishgas

A couple of points, when you switched to Npower they should have asked you to submit a meter reading to them to start your account. They then send that reading to EoN so they can close their account.EoN should not tell Npower the reading.

However you say an estimated reading was used, so on your final bill from EoN is the final reading the same estimated one that started your Npower account?

SwanJon

If you are able to change the opening npower read, then this will also change the E.ON closing read, so you will end up owing E.ON money.

As the exchange was so long ago it is outwith the normal procedure for correcting the read so you are down to relying on npower's goodwill.

Was there a balance on your first statement from npower & was that based on an estimated or actual/customer read?

fed_up_and_stressed

notbritishgas wrote: »

A couple of points, when you switched to Npower they should have asked you to submit a meter reading to them to start your account. They then send that reading to EoN so they can close their account.EoN should not tell Npower the reading.

However you say an estimated reading was used, so on your final bill from EoN is the final reading the same estimated one that started your Npower account?

Yes Npower would have requested the customer to provide a customer read for the change of supply (cos) however the read has to be AGREED by both suppliers.

Yes you are correct though in asking DarkKnightUK to check that the read Eon have closed eir accounts to correlates to the opening read npower have (ive worked in the industry a lonnng time and seen discrepancies ..rarely but it did happen).

How are Npower as the gaining supplier supposed to instigate the opening read they have no data on consumption ?!? Certainly for the many years industry experience working on electricity account billing does not support your claim... In fact i KNOW npower's change of supply process i can even quote the data flows for change of supply.

DarkKnightUk -the thing i also need you to check ..... Meter details ... You had a meter change in 2009 ... Can you make sure that npower and eon held /hold the correct meter details for the meter that is currently in situ as if the MOP didn't send the data flows to your then supplier EON and they didn't update your meter change that may cause an issue.

Details of the meter change - meter serial number installed date installed reads and removed reads should be on a tag on your meter ... Check these correlate to the meter details npower hold for you and that eon billed you to e correct removed and installed reads on your current meter.

Wywth

DarkKnightUK wrote: »

I live in a 1 bedroom small flat, built in 1982 (brick and well insulated). The flat only provides Electricty. When I moved into the flat in 2006 the electricity was through Scottish Power, 2009 i moved to E.on and then Oct 2011 i moved to Npower. They were charging me £55 per month and i always paid (£660). October 2012 the plan ended and they moved me to a standard plan. Somehow immediately my DD increased to £200 per month without my knowledge (Paid £860 at this point).

I queried it and they advised me they believe in 13 months i have used 8000kws of electricity and therefore my annual bill for that period totals £1350 so they increased the DD and going forward they expect me to use the same so £200 is correct and justified according to their calculations.

In the One bed flat i live alone, out the building 8am to 6/7pm everyday except weekends and only awake for around 5hrs whilst there so i cannot have used all that electricity. I am now told it is based upon the estimated final reading that E.on gave Npower when i moved and when i gave up to date readings NPower find i used all that electricity.

They have advised they will not reconsider despite the E.on reading only being an estimate and all the information about the flat. I have made them aware i have no intention of paying a further £500 on top of the £860 already paid in 13 months...So we are now at a DEADLOCK..Is there anything I can do?

Deadlock means it is the final response by the supplier to your complaint.

You can now take it to the ombudsman (even if it hasn't been 8 weeks since you initiated the complaint)

However, I'm not sure you will get anywhere without evidence (such as actual meter readings)

Even if you can prove the estimated meter reading used by nPower (and Eon) at the switch was too low, it just means you will owe Eon money rather than nPower.

I would just pay nPower what they ask. You will only be charged for what you use anyway.

If you don't want to do this, ask to pay on receipt of bill which will ensure you only pay for what you use (assuming they have a valid meter reading to bill you with, which you can always provide)

fed_up_and_stressed

Hi wywth from what DarkKNightUk has posted since his first post which is the one you have replied to. it looks as though Npower haven't given up investigating so the deadlock position has been rescinded and as someone who worked in the utility billing industry dealing with ombudsman complaints for a while, generally in this situation the ombudsman will ask npower to continue to find efforts to resolve this as they are no longer t deadlock.

Also yes obviously if the opening read with Npower is adjusted, his final read with Eon will all need to be adjusted however "just paying npower what they ask as you advise" may not be the best course of action ... You have no info as to what tarriff the OP was on with Eon or Npower at these points so if we can work out what he should have been billed by each company more accurately and actually paying rather than a "guestimate".

Also DarknightUk I am VERY suprised that Eon state they can't access the dataflows from the MOP as it is over 12 months ago and would challenge that.....

fed_up_and_stressed

DarkKnightUK-I was hoping the Npower Customer Rep on moneysavingexpert would have contributed to your post by now.

I suggest you email them direct explaining you have posted a thread on moneysaving expert with a link to your thread

Get them to -clarify if you are at still at deadlock, if so you can proceed to the Energy Ombudsman

You will need to give them either your account number if you have it -or better your full name and address so they can invstigate (their account numbers have recently changed as they have recently and are still in the process of migrating accounts to their SAP system so addresses are better

The email address for them for contributors on here is-forumresponse@npower.com

Hope you get it sorted

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

DarkKnightUK wrote: »

Thanks Fedupandstressed Deadlock was the term he used but im glad he decided to speak to his seniors first and see how we can avoid it going firther. E.on just fobbed me off today saying they just have the reading they gave to Npower as they dont keep data longer than a year. will call them again tomorrow see what i can get. I am just stressed out i guess as i just cant afford paying £200 per month for electricity

Hi DarkKnightUK

Sorry for the late reply but only just spotted this thread.

I agree with fed up and stressed, there's no reason why we can't give you all the actual meter readings noted on your account for the time you were with us. This includes all the readings we have either side of the meter exchange.

I'm sorry you were told we don't keep data longer than a year. This just isn't the case.

As notbritishgas says, with a change of supply, it's the responsibility of the incoming supplier to give the outgoing supplier the readings they intend to use to open their account.

The outgoing supplier will use the same readings to close their account. This is to make sure customers are only charged once for the same energy.

Where there's a dispute over the readings, there's an industry wide process to sort this out. This is known as an Agreed Reads Dispute (ARD). However, this cannot be used where the change of supply date is over 12 months old.

As your end date is beyond the 12 month limit, I'm afraid, an ARD cannot be raised here.

In this case, you need to let us know if you agree a different starting reading with your present supplier. We can re-bill to this. Just keep in mind, as Wywth says, if your current supplier uses a higher starting reading, our re-bill will be to a higher closing reading and will, therefore, mean you owe us money.

Hope this helps.

Malc