NPower to Ovo switch warning

Dreamscometrue

I got my first online bill from Ovo today after switching gas and electricity at the beginning of December. I immediately went to read the meters as I'm inbetween jobs at the moment and worried about cost. The gas estimate looked okay but the actual electricity reading is lower than the one shown as estimated for December 4th! I immediately phoned customer services to unravel the situation. She asked if I'd given the meter readings to them before switching and then confirmed that I had (I can't see those readings I gave just before the switch). It seems that NPower had somehow estimated that I'd used around 3000 more watts of electricity than I actually had and given those figures to Ovo! I'm suprised that Ovo didn't question the huge discrepency between the figures that I gave and NPowers! She calculated that this equated around a years worth of electric for this household! :eek:Customer services told me that this would be investigated independently but it could take 12 to 14 weeks to get this money back! Unfortunately I paid Npower a couple of weeks ago. Luckily I have a mortgage current account with a huge cheap overdraft! I thought the bill seemed extortionate but thought the previous direct debits were too low and as I'm stuck at home I knew that I must be using more than when I was always out at work. I should have checked the meter readings of NPowers final bill.

Wywth

Dreamscometrue wrote: »

I got my first online bill from Ovo today after switching gas and electricity at the beginning of December. I immediately went to read the meters as I'm inbetween jobs at the moment and worried about cost. The gas estimate looked okay but the actual electricity reading is lower than the one shown as estimated for December 4th! I immediately phoned customer services to unravel the situation. She asked if I'd given the meter readings to them before switching and then confirmed that I had (I can't see those readings I gave just before the switch). It seems that NPower had somehow estimated that I'd used around 3000 more watts of electricity than I actually had and given those figures to Ovo! I'm suprised that Ovo didn't question the huge discrepency between the figures that I gave and NPowers! She calculated that this equated around a years worth of electric for this household! :eek:Customer services told me that this would be investigated independently but it could take 12 to 14 weeks to get this money back! Unfortunately I paid Npower a couple of weeks ago. Luckily I have a mortgage current account with a huge cheap overdraft! I thought the bill seemed extortionate but thought the previous direct debits were too low and as I'm stuck at home I knew that I must be using more than when I was always out at work. I should have checked the meter readings of NPowers final bill.

The final meter reading from nPower should be the same as that start reading from Ovo.

If that reading is 3000 units more than what you say it should be, then it would be nPower that has cahrged you too much on their final bill and Ovo's would be reduced by a similar amount (taking into consideration the comparitively small variation of the two supplier's tariffs)

As a new Ovo customer, you would be paying the agreed monthly payment by DD anyway, so no issues there.
If you really want to contest this, then it is nPower that is effectively overcharging you, and they should agree to put your final bill into dispute (and hold off any collection actions) until your dispute is resolved.

So complain to nPower if you want to pursue this further.

Dreamscometrue

Many Thanks for your response. I realise that NPower have overcharged me but I've already paid the final bill as it should have been paid by December 31st. I've only just received my first bill from Ovo. When I login to my Ovo account it doesn't give the electricity reading that I gave them at the beginning of December but shows the opening reading as estimated! Ovo have told me that this will be investigated independently. I'm not sure whether I can speed this up if I call NPower to explain the situation. It would be nice to have the money back now as I'm surviving on my overdraft!

Dreamscometrue

NPower account details are not available as they are performing essential maintenance all day! Call back Monday.

nPower

Hi Dreamscometrue,

I'm sure we can get the ball rolling on this for you!

Did you keep a note of your final meter readings when you left npower's supply?

If you can send me over any information and your address/account details to forumresponse@npower.com, I can get this looked into.

Best wishes,

Adam