nPower Prepayment Meter and Landlords Historical Debt

BlueDynamo

I've been living in a 3 bedroom rented property for over 4 and a half years. It appears that before I moved in that my landlord racked up a big debt (around £3k) because the electrical boiler was not on a timer and was thus on 24/7. In early 2009 nPower informed the landlord of the debt and specified that he would be put on a prepayment meter to repay the debt. The flat has been on the meter ever since.

The landlord no longer lives at the property but myself and my flatmates can't help feeling we are still or have been paying his debt off while paying the normal electricity. In Winter the electricity costs can be as much as £100/month!

Is there anyway for me to get it in writing from nPower at which point the debt has been repaid or if it still is being repaid? The nPower website only allows account holders to contact them.

The landlord has previously reassured me a few years ago that the meter is not paying the debt off but I can't help but feel I was being lied too!

Any help would be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Press blue button to screen "S " ( only viewable with key inserted ) screen "T" shows the weekly debt recovery rate, screen "A" will show weekly standing charge debt if there is any , by either a minus sign before the ammount or the word "debt "

macman

Didn't you register for the account and obtain your own card/key when you took over the property? Unless this applies, you are the account holder, so why can't you contact them? The account is nothing to do with your LL since they moved out.

Fire_Fox

Didn't you take meter readings and give NPower your details when you moved in? If so why did they install prepayment meters for debt when the landlord doesn't live there, do they think he never left or moved back in?

BlueDynamo

Thanks for all the replies. Apologies for taking so long to come back with answers:

macman wrote: »

Didn't you register for the account and obtain your own card/key when you took over the property? Unless this applies, you are the account holder, so why can't you contact them? The account is nothing to do with your LL since they moved out.

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Didn't you take meter readings and give NPower your details when you moved in? If so why did they install prepayment meters for debt when the landlord doesn't live there, do they think he never left or moved back in?

The landlord moved out of the property in mid-2011, however the people (including me) who live at the flat still pay rent to him monthly.

It was agreed that we would continue to pay the electricity on the meter as this was easier with three people living in the property who did not know each other rather than transfer a bill to an individual. We were not advised that we would be paying off a historical debt!

I moved into the property in September 2008, the landlord was put on the meter in March 2009. I had no involvement in the dealings nPower had with the landlord regarding installation of the meter.

sacsquacco wrote: »

Press blue button to screen "S " ( only viewable with key inserted ) screen "T" shows the weekly debt recovery rate, screen "A" will show weekly standing charge debt if there is any , by either a minus sign before the ammount or the word "debt "

Thanks for this information sacsquacco:

I've taken down the following information from the meter:

E = £4933 - I presume this is the total taken by the meter since installation on 17/3/09.

F = £10.70 charge/week - Is this what is known as the 'Standing Charge Element'? If so I assume everyone with a meter has to pay this?

I = 15.74p/kWh

S = £1101 Debt (on 7/4/13) - this was £1115 on 28/3/13 so we are obviously paying some sort of debt off!

T = £10.00 debt charge/week

chanz4

Bit more difficutly with it been multiple occupancy, is he doing something underhand by any chance with tax etc?

[Deleted User]

Hi BlueDynamo, I would think you now need to furnish the suppliers with the dates that you took control of the electricity for the property. What should happen is that you get issued with a new card and any debt is then wiped off. The Landlord would then be chased for that debt. The meter is also collecting some standing charge debt along with the debt repayment weekly ammount.

SwanJon

There's still a large debt on that meter.
You can write to npower to see if they can retrospectively close the account down to when the LL moved out, but from the sounds of it you were in the property when the debt was run up. What was the agreement over the electricity bill when the LL was living there (in rent or split between tenants and LL)?
I'd go for having the account closed down to mid 2011, giving the forwarding address of the LL for the bill - which will be around £1,800. You will probably need to look for somewhere else to live as it's not going to help the relationship.

BlueDynamo wrote: »

E = £4933 - I presume this is the total taken by the meter since installation on 17/3/09. Yup

F = £10.70 charge/week - Is this what is known as the 'Standing Charge Element'? If so I assume everyone with a meter has to pay this? Yes,this is the standing charge + the weekly debt payment: the standing charge is 70p/week (see screen T)

I = 15.74p/kWh Cost of 1 unit

S = £1101 Debt (on 7/4/13) - this was £1115 on 28/3/13 so we are obviously paying some sort of debt off!

T = £10.00 debt charge/week so you are looking at another 2 years to clear the debt

timmmers

10 quid a week = 520 a year x 4 = 2080 which would tally with a 3k debt paid off to date leaving a grand debt now.
What you need is proof that you moved in and paid from the date you started at that address...and have been paying someone else's debt.

I think nPower may tell you to get it from the LL , they aren't helpful at all until you find that decent person

I had to ring them last week and the phone numbers weren't even live on letters they sent me , then I was helpfully put through to "the right dept." by a customer services person and found a puzzled lady from their IT dept wondering wwhy I was on the line.

I cant help much except to give you what turned out to be the right number 0800 0733000 to ring them on ...best of luck. Hope you get your money back

nPower

BlueDynamo wrote: »

I've been living in a 3 bedroom rented property for over 4 and a half years. It appears that before I moved in that my landlord racked up a big debt (around £3k) because the electrical boiler was not on a timer and was thus on 24/7. In early 2009 nPower informed the landlord of the debt and specified that he would be put on a prepayment meter to repay the debt. The flat has been on the meter ever since.

The landlord no longer lives at the property but myself and my flatmates can't help feeling we are still or have been paying his debt off while paying the normal electricity. In Winter the electricity costs can be as much as £100/month!

Is there anyway for me to get it in writing from nPower at which point the debt has been repaid or if it still is being repaid? The nPower website only allows account holders to contact them.

The landlord has previously reassured me a few years ago that the meter is not paying the debt off but I can't help but feel I was being lied too!

Any help would be appreciated.

Morning BlueDynamo,

This does sound very frustrating for you but, this is a conversation that you would need to have with your landlord.

If you start the ball rolling with your landlord, they are more than welcome to contact me at forumresponse@npower.com if I can assist them with setting up a new account for you and your housemates.

Many thanks,

Adam

chanz4

If its a multiple occupancy property, the landlord should be paying the bill anyway