npower blunder

imacb

Hi everyone. My first post so don't be too mean please

I moved into a flat in September 2012 with some friends, and we were each assigned bills to pay. My friend was supposed to be paying gas and electricity, and for whatever reason the foolish so and so did not set them up.

Today we received notice (after not hearing a single word beforehand) that they were going to send out a warrant to acquire the funds and switch off our gas. Obviously I was very surprised, and even more so when I found out that my flat mate hadn't set up the bills. So I contacted npower to explain the situation, they were reasonable about it and told me to send them out a copy of our lease agreement and they would only charge us from that date.

I asked how much that would be and was passed through to billing. I gave the lady at billing our meter readings from when we moved in and today's, and was very surprised to hear that our bill would be a total of ~£2470.

First of all, that seems insanely high, especially for what is just over 10 months (it breaks down to £670 for electricity and the rest for gas).

Second of all, the notice that they had sent out (which was dated today, and had been dropped off by hand at my doorstep, not posted), said the total owed is ~£1900.

The house has 4 rooms (inc living room), 2 bathrooms, kitchen and hall. There is usually at least one person in.

So my questions are:

1- is £2470 very high?
2- how can they try to charge us more than they were previously looking for?
3- is there anything I can do to bring the price down? (other than ransom my idiot flatmate to his parents).

I appreciate any and all help!

Thanks

matelodave

If you've got your initial meter readings and your current meter readings then you should be able to do the sums using the tariff on the bill to see if they are correct. Unfortunately if you didn't send the initial reading to them then it's going to be difficult to agree what it was unless your landlord/letting agency have the info.

Big lesson - don't trust people. check and make sure stuff is sorted out especially if there's a possibility that you might end up being responsible.

You should be reading the meter regularly (at least monthly) and then you'd at least have a running record that you could use as evidence of your usage

vroombroom

I'm assuming the £1900 was based on estimated reads? Then you have called up and given actual reads from the day you moved in to today? If so, and the bill is accurate, not much you can do other than arrange a payment plan with them.

imacb

Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know how to get the standard tariffs on the npower website? I can't find them anywhere. Every link directs me to their price comparison tool - not exactly helpful.

Edit: never mind, I found it

We used 4064 units of electricity and 3805 units of gas. I still think £250/month is very high, especially considering our previous place cost about half of that/month and was only one room smaller.

Edit: So I've checked their prices and what I'm being given seems completely inaccurate.
First they are trying to charge us a marginally higher rate than any of the rates listed on the website.
Second, even with the slightly higher rates, I can't figure out how 3805 units of gas = £1796. Anyone have any suggestions why it could be this high?

I'm going to send them all my details tomorrow, and I'll try and sort it out with them.

Thanks for the responses so far... If you want something done right, do it yourself eh?

[Deleted User]

I would ve thought your flat would have had meter readers knocking a few times in the year at least. Npower readers have to get 80% access so they would have been trying.
Last year we had, in my opinion, probably the worst winter in years. Not the level of coldness, but how long it lasted with the temperature hovering around 1 c-3 c right until the middle of April. Everyone last year got two big winter quarter bills , so I think you could have used that ammount of gas

Stooby2

You need the meter readings from when you moved in - someone, even the previous tenants, should have them on a bill somewhere. then the current reading and then Npower can give you a proper reading.

The tarrif you were on at your last place might be quite different to what you're on now. And prices shot up ready for winter. But Npower are hopeless when it comes to wrong readings and it can take a long time to get it settled with them.

dogshome

Whilst each unit on your Elec meter equals One chargeable Kwh of power, it's different on the Gas meter
.
They come in 2 types:
A Metric meter, (Marked m3) delivers close to 11 chargeable Kwh for each meter unit.
An Imperial meter ,(marked ft3), delivers close to 31 Chargeable Kwh for each meter unit

Nada666

imacb wrote: »

First they are trying to charge us a marginally higher rate than any of the rates listed on the website.

Is it, by any chance, a 5% difference?

imacb wrote: »

Second, even with the slightly higher rates, I can't figure out how 3805 units of gas = £1796. Anyone have any suggestions why it could be this high?

3,805 meter units x 11.2 = 42,616 kWh
42,616 x 4.5p = £1917

notbritishgas

OP, you say you used 3805 units of gas in the period Sep 2012 to date.
I am assuming you have a metric meter and they in fact billed you as one (only because an imperial one would give an unbelievable usage). In that case 3805 units = approx 42616 kwh.
Use that figure to work out your cost from your tariff details, but using an average of 4.5p per kwh that gives a cost of £1917, so not too far off what they say.

In my opinion that figure of 42616 kwh is high for that period but not unbelievable if you were not careful with the heating during the winter. But to compare, the national average usage per annum is about 16500kwh, so you will be about 3 times that figure by your year end.

Who took the initial reading, are you sure it is correct?

Edit: I wish I could type faster than Nada

macman

I'm still not clear what the source for the opening reads is, and whether it is reliable? If it's not, then you are not in a position where you can dispute the billing easily.
And shouldn't your header be 'flatmate blunder', not 'nPower blunder'?
And what has become of the money that you were presumably giving him towards the bills? Why isn't he now sorting out the mess he has created?
The problem with you getting involved is that you are now the likely individual that nPower will come after, since you are all jointly and severally liable for the entire debt (even if the money is owed by your flatmate)

Wywth

How on earth was any of this nPower's blunder? :huh:

It was you/your friend that failed to register for an account. Now you appear to be being billed at the very expensive standard (deemed) rate by nPower for your failings.

Hope lesson is learned. ...