NPower issues Economy 7

msmithy12

Really just wanted to vent my issue with npower. Bought my first house (3bed semi YO41 village) in May 2012, the previous owner had Npower elec/BG gas. When i rang utilities Npower said they could do both. I told them that was fine and read my meter readings/serial nos to the npower people. Now when i bought the house i had E7 elec for my storage heaters and hot water on immersion, cook on elec and a gas fire.

They said my DD/month would be £50 (seemed low but i agreed knowing the e7 wouldn't last for long)

Being conscious of the low payment i sent meter readings every 6-8weeks and watched the debt/credit figure on my account stay in the black (happy me) then in late September my gas fitter fitted a nice shiny Viessmann combi-boiler and a removed the immersion and storage heaters.

So i rang npower and they sent a guy to change my meter to a single rate electric meter. That was on the 19/11/2012. I watched the e7 readings go into my online account readings and then the new readings of night: 0 and day: 4 go into the online account.

After 2 months i realised i couldn't send a meter reading to npower because they wanted 2 electricity numbers and i only had one MY NEW ALL THE TIME READING.

So i emailed customer complaints/services and a month later (20/01/2013) i received a call about my issue. I was told that they had not updated there system with my new single rate tarrif when the meter was changed. She took the meter reading and said that in 28days my account would be updated.

After 28 days i rang Npower and asked why my issue had not been resolved (i still had an economy 7 tarrif on my account)

They told me that 28days was not a correct time scale and that it would take 90 days to rectify. Which would be approximately mid april.

Well i checked my online account last week and they have put up my DD/month to £191 so i rang up and asked why?

They informed me that my account was in debt by nearly 900 pounds. I explained to them that my account was not an economy 7 account and that the issue was on there part and they assure me they are rectifying this and have voided my bills and will rebill me on my correct details when the account is amended.

Is this kind of negligence something that npower are known for? Has anyone else experienced issues going to a standard tarrif?
Do other companies screw things up this much? I assume they all drop the ball once or twice

Also just for information:
Gas used between 29/10/2012 - 11/04/13 - 617units
Elec used between 19/11/2012 - 11/04/13 - 1253units

dogshome

I'm afraid that n'power due a botched software upgrade, have more problems than they can cope with at the moment.

The magic word 'Complaint' puts suppliers on a track they must follow by the terms of their licence, so WRITE a letter boldly headed Complaint, thesupplier then has 56 days to resolve the problem or it's off to the Ombudsman you go.

However don't hold your breath for a quick solution as n'powers problems are so deep, the expression " Don't know if their xxxxxx are punched or bored" comes to mind.
But least with a Complaint letter on their desk, they should cease any demands
for payment until the matter is resolved

PollyOnAMission

For several years nPower asked me for Economy 7 readings, despite me telling them over and over again I had a standard meter. They even kept on doing it after they sent one of their meter readers out! I was charged day rate Economy 7 prices for all my electricty usage for years.

EVENTUALLY they sorted out the problem, recaculated my bills over the affected years and credited my overpayments back to my account (hundreds). I left nPower soon after and would never go back!

Wywth

msmithy12 wrote: »

Really just wanted to vent my issue with npower. Bought my first house (3bed semi YO41 village) in May 2012, the previous owner had Npower elec/BG gas. When i rang utilities Npower said they could do both. I told them that was fine and read my meter readings/serial nos to the npower people. Now when i bought the house i had E7 elec for my storage heaters and hot water on immersion, cook on elec and a gas fire.

They said my DD/month would be £50 (seemed low but i agreed knowing the e7 wouldn't last for long)

Being conscious of the low payment i sent meter readings every 6-8weeks and watched the debt/credit figure on my account stay in the black (happy me) then in late September my gas fitter fitted a nice shiny Viessmann combi-boiler and a removed the immersion and storage heaters.

So i rang npower and they sent a guy to change my meter to a single rate electric meter. That was on the 19/11/2012. I watched the e7 readings go into my online account readings and then the new readings of night: 0 and day: 4 go into the online account.

After 2 months i realised i couldn't send a meter reading to npower because they wanted 2 electricity numbers and i only had one MY NEW ALL THE TIME READING.

So i emailed customer complaints/services and a month later (20/01/2013) i received a call about my issue. I was told that they had not updated there system with my new single rate tarrif when the meter was changed. She took the meter reading and said that in 28days my account would be updated.

After 28 days i rang Npower and asked why my issue had not been resolved (i still had an economy 7 tarrif on my account)

They told me that 28days was not a correct time scale and that it would take 90 days to rectify. Which would be approximately mid april.

Well i checked my online account last week and they have put up my DD/month to £191 so i rang up and asked why?

They informed me that my account was in debt by nearly 900 pounds. I explained to them that my account was not an economy 7 account and that the issue was on there part and they assure me they are rectifying this and have voided my bills and will rebill me on my correct details when the account is amended.

Is this kind of negligence something that npower are known for? Has anyone else experienced issues going to a standard tarrif?
Do other companies screw things up this much? I assume they all drop the ball once or twice

Also just for information:
Gas used between 29/10/2012 - 11/04/13 - 617units
Elec used between 19/11/2012 - 11/04/13 - 1253units

http://www.npower.com/idc/groups/wcms_content/@wcms/@busi/documents/digitalassets/puttingthingsright100108.pdf

It's not 28 days or 90 days, but 8 weeks until you can ask the ombudsman to intervene.

I'm sure the ombudsman would not accept 3 months to update your online acount details with the proper info to be acceptable

charlizet

I have a small 2 bed semi house, no gas..and npower reckoned I owed them £1600 for 6 months.. after several rows with them and putting in a new meter they refunded this. but then I still had a really high bill, they put me on a £200 per month dd and I said this wasnt right as I am at work all week and my daughter is at school..so I didnt pay it, they have put a Econ 7 meter in now, bills should be less, but in the last 3 months they think I owe them £537.00 now...I have paid £300 off and now their saying they have the right to send baliffs into my house to reclaim the money..I have tried swithcing to other companies, but they say I have to pay the debt off before they take me on..So I am stuck..Npower say that i can pay it off bit by bit, but I have many other bills to pay..and why is it so high..
Dont know what to do and it has made my credit score go down tp poor now..so my I wont be able to apply for credit...Very unhappy with them..if anyone has any suggestions, Im grateful.

dogshome

Hi charlizet
I'm somewhat confused. You appear to have had a rogue meter which ran up a big bill, which eventually n'power changed and wrote off the outstanding debt

The new meter also ran up a big bill and n'power have changed the meter again, but this time for an ECO7 type ?

An ECO7 meter reguires the house to be fitted with Storage Radiators and a large hot water storage tank, all of which use cheap overnight power, but without them it cost more than a standard meter becuase of ECO7's high price for Daytime Elec.

Please advise what sort of heating system you have

Wywth

dogshome wrote: »

...An ECO7 meter reguires the house to be fitted with Storage Radiators and a large hot water storage tank, all of which use cheap overnight power, but without them it cost more than a standard meter becuase of ECO7's high price for Daytime Elec.

Please advise what sort of heating system you have

We have E7.

We have gas central heating and so our hot water is also heated by gas. It pays us to be on E7 which is why we have it.

7/24 = 29%

Break even for E7 varies by supplier, tariff and supply region but can be very low or very high or anywhere inbetween
I've even seen break even below 0% - yes, a tariff where it would always be cheaper to be on that suppliers E7 than not in a certain supply region - I don't think it's currently that way, but break even can be as low as about 10% night time usage (or as high as about 60%)

Always best to do the calculation yourself, ask the supplier to do the calculation for you or use a comparison site.

nPower

msmithy12 wrote: »

Really just wanted to vent my issue with npower. Bought my first house (3bed semi YO41 village) in May 2012, the previous owner had Npower elec/BG gas. When i rang utilities Npower said they could do both. I told them that was fine and read my meter readings/serial nos to the npower people. Now when i bought the house i had E7 elec for my storage heaters and hot water on immersion, cook on elec and a gas fire.

They said my DD/month would be £50 (seemed low but i agreed knowing the e7 wouldn't last for long)

Being conscious of the low payment i sent meter readings every 6-8weeks and watched the debt/credit figure on my account stay in the black (happy me) then in late September my gas fitter fitted a nice shiny Viessmann combi-boiler and a removed the immersion and storage heaters.

So i rang npower and they sent a guy to change my meter to a single rate electric meter. That was on the 19/11/2012. I watched the e7 readings go into my online account readings and then the new readings of night: 0 and day: 4 go into the online account.

After 2 months i realised i couldn't send a meter reading to npower because they wanted 2 electricity numbers and i only had one MY NEW ALL THE TIME READING.

So i emailed customer complaints/services and a month later (20/01/2013) i received a call about my issue. I was told that they had not updated there system with my new single rate tarrif when the meter was changed. She took the meter reading and said that in 28days my account would be updated.

After 28 days i rang Npower and asked why my issue had not been resolved (i still had an economy 7 tarrif on my account)

They told me that 28days was not a correct time scale and that it would take 90 days to rectify. Which would be approximately mid april.

Well i checked my online account last week and they have put up my DD/month to £191 so i rang up and asked why?

They informed me that my account was in debt by nearly 900 pounds. I explained to them that my account was not an economy 7 account and that the issue was on there part and they assure me they are rectifying this and have voided my bills and will rebill me on my correct details when the account is amended.

Is this kind of negligence something that npower are known for? Has anyone else experienced issues going to a standard tarrif?
Do other companies screw things up this much? I assume they all drop the ball once or twice

Also just for information:
Gas used between 29/10/2012 - 11/04/13 - 617units
Elec used between 19/11/2012 - 11/04/13 - 1253units

Hi msmithy12,

I'm really sorry to read about the problems you've been experiencing sorting your metering and billing out with us - this is obviously not the level of service we expect to give our customers.

I can see that you've already spoken to someone about this but, if there is anything I can help with, you can get in touch with me at [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL]

Best wishes,

Adam

msmithy12

Just realised that my nPower DD will still be £191 when they take the amount on the 1st of may, so rang up to change this...not enough notice to change a DD so ill have to pay it , Looks like I`m going without food this month.

If it takes more than 7 days to ammend a DD no wonder it takes 5 months+ to change a meter details.

Npower are useless and verging on criminals!

My complaint is with the metering department for rectification but i cannot speak to the metering department! Obviously they don't use phones

I have reported my situation to ombudsman and i hope they sort it out because if i had an address i would drive to npower and wait until someone could sort me out, or maybe just break stuff until i was escorted off the premises.

I shall rectify this issue (hopefully in the next few months) and move suppliers; although i will have used all my cash on their criminal DD amounts and probably had my house repossessed by then, so i wont need an energy supplier!

Anyone thinking about a move to nPower, DONT!

msmithy12

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi msmithy12,

I'm really sorry to read about the problems you've been experiencing sorting your metering and billing out with us - this is obviously not the level of service we expect to give our customers.

I can see that you've already spoken to someone about this but, if there is anything I can help with, you can get in touch with me at [EMAIL="forumresponse@npower.com"]forumresponse@npower.com[/EMAIL]

Best wishes,

Adam

Adam, Thank-you for your response, as you can see I would not expect this level of customer service (i wouldn't really call it customer server; more infuriate the customer until breaking point see if he goes postal)

My issues are easily resolved by someone that cares (even someone that does not, that is maybe feeling a bit helpful today) I want nPower to remove their finger from whichever orifice they have favoured today and fix my metering issue. I have all the readings needed the old meters finishing values (day 05365 night 14217 as of 19/11/2012) when it was removed and your meter guy wrote the readings down! the new meters reading (start 00004 on 19/11/2012) and the reading for the bill date (01257 on 11/04/2013).

As you can see i have done all the hard work for you all i need is someone at npower to fix metering, fix the bill, fix the DD amount. Which shouldn't be a big issue!

Matt:)

Wywth

msmithy12 wrote: »

Adam, Thank-you for your response, as you can see I would not expect this level of customer service (i wouldn't really call it customer server; more infuriate the customer until breaking point see if he goes postal)

My issues are easily resolved by someone that cares (even someone that does not, that is maybe feeling a bit helpful today) I want nPower to remove their finger from whichever orifice they have favoured today and fix my metering issue. I have all the readings needed the old meters finishing values (day 05365 night 14217 as of 19/11/2012) when it was removed and your meter guy wrote the readings down! the new meters reading (start 00004 on 19/11/2012) and the reading for the bill date (01257 on 11/04/2013).

As you can see i have done all the hard work for you all i need is someone at npower to fix metering, fix the bill, fix the DD amount. Which shouldn't be a big issue!

Matt:)

I think you've found someone at nPower that cares, or even if not, is maybe feeling a bit helpful.

Whether or not you wish to take advantage of that offer of help is, of course, up to you