Advice needed with npower elec debt.

StuRo_2

Hi all,

We have been in our 2 bed ground floor flat in Bristol since June 2012. The flat is in a modern block, approx 4 years old. There is only electricity supplied, no night storage heaters. For some reason though we have a two rate meter. When we first moved in I contacted npower to set up the account, their advisor asked the relevant questions about the flat and us. I explained to the advisor that I had not been in a property of this type before and didn't know what usage would be suitable, the advisor set the monthly DD to £24 per month.

We did not get a bill from them until Feb/March 2013 time, this was approx £800 which we cannot afford to clear. I contacted npower stating that it was their error that the monthly DD was set too low and that I expected the account to be cleared as it was their liability. I then got passed to their executive complaints team, who sent a final position letter which stated that they won't make any adjustment to the amount which now stands at £1063.

I have now been trying to agree a tariff with npower, but need some advice:

Can I move suppliers with the debt outstanding and go to the ombudsman about my complaint with npower?

Our usage figures are below: (this usage is from 29/06/12 to 15/10/13)

Days 471 Rate 1: 6558 Rate 2: 2188

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

This has, unfortunately, been covered many many times on this forum.

The advisor from npower was clearly an imbecile. £24 a month isn't going to heat and power any property, anywhere.

That being said, you have no chance of getting the balance cleared, and you can't move suppliers until the debt is paid. You have used the energy, of that there is little doubt; and you will be expected to pay.

Pro rata you're using 6777 KWh a year, this is above average. Most people pay around the £120-130 mark a month for energy, did you not stop to consider, with all the hype in the news, that less than 300 quid a year was insane?

The best you can hope for is npower will allow you to pay off the debt over the period of a couple of years. This will be on top of your ongoing consumption, so you'll be looking at payments of around £170-180 a month. The only alternative is PPM's.

In the mean time, perhaps try and get the consumption down? Other than that there's not many positives to give you I'm afraid!

keith1950

Hi, you will not be able to switch until your debt is under £200.

Whatever mistakes have been made, you owe them the money so all you can do is try to set up a repayment plan so they can recover the debt.

From your figures you seem to be using an average of £95/month.

Your debt would normally be recovered over a period of one year so that would be around £90/month plus your usage of £95/month making a direct debit of £185/month.

You say you have no storage heaters......so how do you heat the house ?

Your electricity usage is sky high.......I hope you are not using electric fires ?

As an example , an average household with gas central heating only uses around 3300 kWh so how are you consuming the extra 5500-6000kwh ?

If you definitely want to switch asap you should set the dd at £200 per month and you should be able to switch within 12 months.

However angry/upset you are you are wasting your time complaining about this, it is your debt and has to be paid.

If you do not agree to the dd they set you will most likely be made to have prepayment meters fitted to claw back the debt.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi, you will not be able to switch until your debt is under £200.

Whatever mistakes have been made, you owe them the money so all you can do is try to set up a repayment plan so they can recover the debt.

From your figures you seem to be using an average of £95/month.

Your debt would normally be recovered over a period of one year so that would be around £90/month plus your usage of £95/month making a direct debit of £185/month.

You say you have no storage heaters......so how do you heat the house ?

Your electricity usage is sky high.......I hope you are not using electric fires ?

As an example , an average household with gas central heating only uses around 3300 kWh so how are you consuming the extra 5500-6000kwh ?

If you definitely want to switch asap you should set the dd at £200 per month and you should be able to switch within 12 months.

However angry/upset you are you are wasting your time complaining about this, it is your debt and has to be paid.

If you do not agree to the dd they set you will most likely be made to have prepayment meters fitted to claw back the debt.

It's not sky high, there's no gas.

keith1950

There's no need to be pedantic.....if the OP has no storage heaters then they have aimlessly used electric fires or some other expensive electrical heating to use an extra 6000kwh without any thought of how much they are using.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

keith1950 wrote: »

There's no need to be pedantic.....if the OP has no storage heaters then they have aimlessly used electric fires or some other expensive electrical heating to use an extra 6000kwh without any thought of how much they are using.

There was no pedantry. Perhaps I have to be clearer for you.

OFGEM's figures (last time I checked) for electricity only fuel mix, economy 7, average consumption is 6600KWh per annum. The OP is using 6777.

You stated "sky high", I stated "above average". I believed my depiction to be more accurate, and was attempting to ensure that the OP wouldn't be concerned they were using vast amounts of energy, which they're clearly not.

Nada666

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi, you will not be able to switch until your debt is under £200.

More 'pedantry':

That figure is sky high (and out-of-date). On a credit meter an existing arrears of £0.01 is enough to block a switch. (And on prepayment meters the transferrable threshold has been increased to £500.)

macman

OP, you need to switch to a single rate tariff urgently. On E7 you are paying a premium rate for all your day rate usage.
How do you heat and hot water the property?
But how did you think you could power, heat and hot water any property for £288pa!? The agent must have thought that you had some means of non-electric heating.

keith1950

Nada666, I did say down to at least £200.....I have just switched seemlessly with an outstanding balance of £178 and have in the past switched with higher outstanding balances.....it could be that they look at your payment history to see whether there is likely to be a problem before deciding.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

keith1950 wrote: »

Nada666, I did say down to at least £200.....I have just switched seemlessly with an outstanding balance of £178 and have in the past switched with higher outstanding balances.....it could be that they look at your payment history to see whether there is likely to be a problem before deciding.

You have 'seemlessly' told a lie, for this is what you said:

you will not be able to switch until your debt is under £200

This is guff.

You can switch with £500 debt. You can also not switch with £0.01.

Energy companies are creditors in this instance. If they are satisfied that the debtor will pay they will allow the switch. If they aren't, they will block it.

There are no hard and fast rules, and if there were, they wouldn't publicise it (it would be commercial suicide)

nPower

StuRo wrote: »

Hi all,

We have been in our 2 bed ground floor flat in Bristol since June 2012. The flat is in a modern block, approx 4 years old. There is only electricity supplied, no night storage heaters. For some reason though we have a two rate meter. When we first moved in I contacted npower to set up the account, their advisor asked the relevant questions about the flat and us. I explained to the advisor that I had not been in a property of this type before and didn't know what usage would be suitable, the advisor set the monthly DD to £24 per month.

We did not get a bill from them until Feb/March 2013 time, this was approx £800 which we cannot afford to clear. I contacted npower stating that it was their error that the monthly DD was set too low and that I expected the account to be cleared as it was their liability. I then got passed to their executive complaints team, who sent a final position letter which stated that they won't make any adjustment to the amount which now stands at £1063.

I have now been trying to agree a tariff with npower, but need some advice:

Can I move suppliers with the debt outstanding and go to the ombudsman about my complaint with npower?

Our usage figures are below: (this usage is from 29/06/12 to 15/10/13)

Days 471 Rate 1: 6558 Rate 2: 2188

Hello StuRo,


If you would like me to take a look at your account and see what payment options are available for you, please send an email to the address on my profile page.


Thanks

Carmel