Npower forgot to pass on their November 2012 price hike

WheresWally

Hi Everyone,

I've just received a letter from NPower that goes something like this...

Dear Customer

Your npower account

We've been checking our records and have discovered an error on the last bill or statement we sent you. We did not apply our November 2012 price increase so you have been undercharged for the energy you've used. We've now corrected your account and will send you a new bill or statement shortly.

We're very sorry this happened and can reassure you that we've now fixed the problem so your future bills will be correct. You don't need to do anything.

Now let's pretend I bought a bottle of wine from a wine store for £3 and drank it. The owner of the wine store subsequently finds out it was underpriced and he should've charged more for it. He comes knocking and asks for more money... what would you say?

Is this any different?

I know they say I don't need to do anything. I really feel I should though.

I felt robbed before reading this letter and now :mad:

Any ideas? What would you do?

chanz4

they are able todo so, its well under 12 months

KTF

I switched away from npower a few months ago and still got the letter last week

Final bills for gas and electricity have been paid so waiting to see if a new bill appears as the letter indicates.

joncombe

KTF wrote: »

I switched away from npower a few months ago and still got the letter last week

Final bills for gas and electricity have been paid so waiting to see if a new bill appears as the letter indicates.

If I were you I'd check if Npower still have a direct debit on your account and if so cancel it, and ignore any chasing for payment. You switched suppliers, they closed the contract you had with them so tough.

WheresWally

chanz4 wrote: »

they are able todo so, its well under 12 months

I'm not sure I follow you. Can you please explain?

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

Unfortunately, there are many issues with npower's 'new system' as documented in the long thread:

Warning: npower accept new customers without sending them a Contract
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4273611

An early symptom of the 'broken system' was their inability to send out Contracts.
The 'new system' has lost Customer's data. There are also issues with DDs and Billing.

As npower are using a 'broken system' there are, naturally, many Posts (in the thread above and other linked threads here at MSE) about difficulty in contacting npower.

I recently had to phone them to make sure my DD was set correctly: see Post #181.

"Adam at npower" has recently posted, see Post #185, that npower are moving all their Customers to the 'new system'. I anticipate that there will be more people getting this letter as they 'find errors', as part of the move.

Hi WheresWally,

You'll have to pay for the Energy.

WheresWally wrote:

... I know they say I don't need to do anything. I really feel I should though. ...

I would check the bill. If there are Estimated Readings I would give npower Actual Readings. If you think any DD is wrong I would also challenge it. I've found that even with the Actual Readings the 'new system' still gave a DD that was 28% too high (see Post #181 and #187).


Hi KTF,

It will be interesting to see if you are sent a Bill after the 'Final Bill'. Please give us an update.

Both of your posts, about this letter, illustrate another fault with the 'new system'.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

KTF

joncombe wrote: »

If I were you I'd check if Npower still have a direct debit on your account and if so cancel it, and ignore any chasing for payment. You switched suppliers, they closed the contract you had with them so tough.

My DD was cancelled when I switched suppliers at the end of Feb.

Although I can still log in to 'my npower' it will be interesting to see what happens next because, as you say, the contract is closed and its not my fault that they found an error after the 'final' bill was produced.

Edit: I just checked and I submitted a reading for both fuels on 01/11/12 so if another letter/bill appears with a total on it I will see if they actually used this reading to calculate it or just thought up a number instead.

WheresWally

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig wrote: »

Hi WheresWally,

You'll have to pay for the Energy.


I would check the bill. If there are Estimated Readings I would give npower Actual Readings. If you think any DD is wrong I would also challenge it. I've found that even with the Actual Readings the 'new system' still gave a DD that was 28% too high (see Post #181 and #187).

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

I'm not saying that I don't have to pay them. I do pay them every month via DD.

I enter meter readings on the 1st of every month so the bills should be accurate.

I just can't see how after charging me one rate and then deciding that this was wrong they can now subsequently ask me for the difference after I've paid for and used the energy.

That just seems wrong. I can't think of any other product or service that you'd buy where that would happen?

macman

They made a billing error, they're entitled to correct it. If the error were in your favour, would you not expect them to credit you? You haven't been billed for the energy, you have simply paid a monthly DD contribution to be offset against your next bill.

WheresWally

I've had 3 invoices since November and paid NPower around £500, so I think I have paid for it.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

Hi WheresWally and KTF,

In a related thread:
nPower forgot to add price rise!!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4545397

dogshome wrote:

...

The whole point is that any variation in the price for customers on a contract, has to be pre-notified to the customer in writing prior to the price rise

Though n'power may well now claim that such written notice was given, with their record of not implementing the rise, any claim about prior notice is highly suspect.
If was me, I'd not pay the 'extra' billing until n'power have taken it to a Court and have a decision in their favour.

If the OP has not had a pre-advice letter, he/she should write to n'power rejecting the 'extra' billing

Emphasis added.


I think dogshome is making an excellent point: npower should have notified their Customers of any variation.

In my case, I have received a letter (and I've been billed correctly).

However, in adamsko89's case (and WheresWally's and KTF's cases).

It is is possible that they did receive the notification,
then a Bill (at the wrong rate) and, most recently, a Bill (at the correct rate).
From what they posted, I don't think they did.

However, if this were the case, then I think npower could rebill (for their error, and only for usage in the last year).

I think this is what Wywth, in Post #5 (of the linked thread - above), is assuming.

Wywth wrote:

You have to pay the contract price for the energy you consume.

Their error means you have been undercharged. The fact they are not going to correct this for another 3 months, essentially means they are providing you with 6 months interest free credit

I know that npower's 'new system' is not working well and, as a result, we are seeing many very odd phenomena which can be explained (not excused) by npower using a 'broken system'. These 'odd situations' are, I think, not random errors but are caused by npower using a 'broken system'.

I speculate that dogshome is correct in guessing that 'No notice of variation was sent' and so the rebilling is challengeable.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig