N Power Interesting Statement and DD proposal

superbigal36

Comments welcome as I wait on N-Power answering the phone.
I am on a tarrif fix Dec 2014 for Gas and Elec so no changes are expected.
I received my 6 monthly statement/review on the 10th September which used actual readings taken on the 7th September.
I only found that be accessing my account. Dont know where my email is !!
12 months ago I owed NPower £59.58 at their review point. My payments reverted to £174 per month which I agreed to.
Now yesterdays statement now shows a credit balance of £438.44.
Predicted costs for the next 12 months I am happy with are £166 per month.
(Will be lower I know but happy with what computer says)
Npower changing my DD to £197 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah Just got through to N-Power.
Apologies I should be receiving an email alert. It has not been sent.
Apologies countless statements going out with ludicrous DD calculations.
(not sure if i believe this or it is a scam).
He certainly did not confirm whether my call was required to address the issue.
He then proceed to calculate my DD should be circa £138 !!!!
I have settled on £152 due to the timimng of payments.

Will get an email in 5 days to confirm (If they sort my notification problem out)

Nice chap on the phone but incredible.

Cardew

Computers! Rubbish in - Rubbish out!

QED

superbigal36

Further to this just had a closer look at my account.
Even though a real bill/statement and DD review was produced 10th September, it is still saying the 6 monthly Bill and DD review is due 30th September and 10th October 2013.
What the !!!!kkkk ?

Wywth

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits#fight

scaredofdebt

The computer systems utility companies use are generally useless. I believe a lot of them use accounting type systems that simply aren't designed to be used for utilities and the people who are paid to modify them appear not to know what they are doing as they come from accounting backgrounds and not utilities.

bob_bank_spanker

scaredofdebt wrote: »

The computer systems utility companies use are generally useless. I believe a lot of them use accounting type systems that simply aren't designed to be used for utilities and the people who are paid to modify them appear not to know what they are doing as they come from accounting backgrounds and not utilities.

Interesting, what evidence do you have of this?

Cardew

bob_bank_spanker wrote: »

Interesting, what evidence do you have of this?

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240085992/British-Gas-sues-Accenture-over-problems-with-billing-system

undercover_peon

And Npower went ahead with a similar sort of system knowing the problesm BG and EDF had!

OP I would make certain the bill DOES actually bill you up to date. NOT the date of issue which nowadays means nothing...

Cardew

My earlier comment of 'rubbish in - rubbish out' really applies.

It is really difficult for any computer system to cope with estimated, inaccurate, meter readings or even unusual patterns of consumption.

I have an annex with low and intermittent consumption. When BG were having all their computer program problems, I was sent an over-estimated bill. As it was only a few kWh over the actual reading it wasn't worth the bother of correcting the reading.

However 3 months later the meter was read by a meter reader and it was below the estimated reading of 3 months earlier. That is when the trouble started!

The computer rejected that reading(presumably as a misread)and gave an even higher estimated reading. To put an end to this cycle of rejected readings followed by estimated readings; I contacted BG.

With all the computer problems they were having they couldn't reset my account. The high-tech solution was each quarter to enter a meter reading 1kWh higher than the previous reading until the actual reading 'overtook' these invented readings.

The computer was happy to accept that I used 1 kWh each quarter. However when everything was back to normal, I got an estimated reading based on using 1kWh a quarter!

redmanc35

We had the same problem. A year ago we was paying £88 a month for both, it then came round to the 6 month point the meter was read and they said we had an £80 debit so put up the payment to £122 a month. We thought this was fine, it would pay off any debit and with it being summer would place us in credit, which it did by £235!
We too did not get the email alert that the bill was ready untill I noticed said credit back in to our account :T. I logged in and looked at the bill, it stated we had over paid and they had credited us the money but would be putting up the payments to £147!!:mad:
My wife phoned and the women at npower said its because we had a debit a year ago that the computer says we will have to pay that so not to have another debit, she was quite rude with my wife.
I made her phone back again because I didn't see how they could put the bill up so much(I woudl have done it but I was stuck at work), the next person was so helpful, she looked couldn't understand why either, has placed us on a new fix tariff and changed the payment, she said it could have gone down to £69 but we said to keep it at £122 :rotfl:.
So fixed for at leats a year and £235 better off in my pocket! :beer:

superbigal36

Well just to keep you abreast of developments.
Still no email information/alerts.
Especially strange as they have now refunded me £234.62 even though I asked for no refund to be given.
Time for another phone call.