I came home and Npower/metre plus have changed my metre to a prepayment metre.

inklove

I input my meter reading on their website every month, the fault is theirs, they admitted that it was an error that the DD was not automatically adjusted as it should have been.

I have negotiated with them about a payment plan, at first I didn’t think I would be able to offer them much at all after the second increase, but I was told to do a financial breakdown and work out what I could realistically afford to pay, which was £10 so that is what I offered, I sent them all of the relevant information, and although they said they could accept £10 I was told several times that they would 'consider' my offer and get back to me.
I have also told them several times that as soon as I am able to I will be able to increase the repayments, which they said they would take into consideration.


I never said that we are imprisoned in the house and never get out,
you dont know a thing about me, so why are you being so rude and judgmental?

I live in a small village, the only shop here does not have paypoint machine, the nearest shop that does is in the next village and and I am not capable of walking that far, I am not able to drive and there is only one bus that goes to the nearest town (18 miles away) twice a day.
I can just about get around our village with the aid or crutches to take my children to school and nursery, but it is a struggle.

Up until recently I had two part time jobs, and before that I worked full time.
At the moment I am only able to work one of my jobs, which is during school hours, and I have my income topped up by benefits, but things are still tight and I have to budget.

I don't know why you seem to be so negative towards me but I am not a bad person, I came on here for genuine advice to help a situation which has been badly handled by npower, not to be judged.

But regardless of all of that the situation now is that I am stuck with a prepayment meter with a ridiculously unreasonable charge on it.
I had virtually no credit on it and I do not have a payment card to top it up.
I have been unable to contact npower at all.
I phoned earlier today and was cut off twice and on hold for almost two hours before my calling credit ran out.
I have emailed dozens of times today alone, and have not had anything other than automated responses.

Basically npower have put me in a situation where my children and I are going to be left without any electricity soon.

sally26_2

inklove wrote: »

I input my meter reading on their website every month, the fault is theirs, they admitted that it was an error that the DD was not automatically adjusted as it should have been.

I have negotiated with them about a payment plan, at first I didn’t think I would be able to offer them much at all after the second increase, but I was told to do a financial breakdown and work out what I could realistically afford to pay, which was £10 so that is what I offered, I sent them all of the relevant information, and although they said they could accept £10 I was told several times that they would 'consider' my offer and get back to me.
I have also told them several times that as soon as I am able to I will be able to increase the repayments, which they said they would take into consideration.


I never said that we are imprisoned in the house and never get out,
you dont know a thing about me, so why are you being so rude and judgmental?

I live in a small village, the only shop here does not have paypoint machine, the nearest shop that does is in the next village and and I am not capable of walking that far, I am not able to drive and there is only one bus that goes to the nearest town (18 miles away) twice a day.
I can just about get around our village with the aid or crutches to take my children to school and nursery, but it is a struggle.

Up until recently I had two part time jobs, and before that I worked full time.
At the moment I am only able to work one of my jobs, which is during school hours, and I have my income topped up by benefits, but things are still tight and I have to budget.

I don't know why you seem to be so negative towards me but I am not a bad person, I came on here for genuine advice to help a situation which has been badly handled by npower, not to be judged.

But regardless of all of that the situation now is that I am stuck with a prepayment meter with a ridiculously unreasonable charge on it.
I had virtually no credit on it and I do not have a payment card to top it up.
I have been unable to contact npower at all.
I phoned earlier today and was cut off twice and on hold for almost two hours before my calling credit ran out.
I have emailed dozens of times today alone, and have not had anything other than automated responses.

Basically npower have put me in a situation where my children and I are going to be left without any electricity soon.

Take no notice to nada wotever you are not the only he/she has been judgmental towards, I dont understand why people contribute just to be judgmental or sarcastic its pathetic.

Anyway make an official complaint see the companies procedures for this, and if this gets you no where take it to the ombudsman, sorry thats all the advice I can offer. As for the weekly repayment they have set the debt at I would IMMEDIATELY go the CAB, ask them to negotiate for you as a matter of urgency.

spiro

inklove wrote: »

At first it was set at £35, by them, then it July it was increased to £48, in October it was increased to £73.
That is not including any repayments.

The DD has already been increased, they did it automatically when they discovered that it was wrong, it is the repayment amount that was being discussed. They wanted me to pay £30 per month, (later reducing to £25) but I cant afford any more than £10, which I have repeatedly explained to them.

As your heating is electricity £35pm was never going to be enought, it should be nearer £75-£100pm based on what others have posted.

Normally when they increase a DD it is to cover ongoing usage plus any debit balance. So in your case they would just increase the DD to £108.

Whilst you may hate having a PPM, it provides 2 benefits, you can't get further in debt and you are also offered more protection about how much debt per week they can recover which could be as low as £4pw.

chanz4

sally26 wrote: »

Take no notice to nada wotever you are not the only he/she has been judgmental towards, I dont understand why people contribute just to be judgmental or sarcastic its pathetic.

Anyway make an official complaint see the companies procedures for this, and if this gets you no where take it to the ombudsman, sorry thats all the advice I can offer. As for the weekly repayment they have set the debt at I would IMMEDIATELY go the CAB, ask them to negotiate for you as a matter of urgency.

A companys credit control cant be governed by EOS, the only letter that has to be sent is the rights of entry. The rest is down to a company.

Cate1976

What a horrible situation, just to clarify here: I assume that the issue you have is the amount that you're paying each week/month towards paying the debt. Having been in the situation of having debt with Scottish Power and successfully negotiating with them a monthly DD that covered usage and something towards the debt I hope I can help you even though you've had a pre pay meter fitted.

The first thing I did was to ask what I should be paying each month for usage, from that I was able to negotiate repaying the debt at a level I could afford and was acceptable to Scottish Power, we're not on JSA/IS/ESA type benefits though. We do get CTC/WTC & some HB though.

Obviously accessing shops to top up is very difficult for you, have you looked to see if you can buy top ups online (some suppliers do allow this). If not, then your only option is to find a way to persuade your supplier to replace the credit meters and allow the monthly DD to be set at the amount that covers usage and £10 week/month towards the debt. To give you some idea, there's 5 of us (2 adults, 3 children) in a 3 bed cottage. Scottish Power said that £120 month is our average usage spread through the year and we're paying £45 month towards the debt.

I really do hope you're able to get this sorted.

sniggings

Nada666 wrote: »

But £10 is not an acceptable sum to pay - the minimum sum payable by the poorest person on minimum benefits is more than £17 per month. You have children and disability benefits on top - so you certainly should have offered more than £10. I thought the minimum they have to accept is £3.60 a week, which is a bit less than £17 a month not over £17 a month, you also do not know what the OP was already payng towards the debt, as did the DD already include a payment towards the debt? so when the OP offered £10 a month, was this on top of a payment they were already making towards the debt or £10 in total, you do not know.

You refused to negotiate. A prepayment meter was fitted. OP said they did offer £10, that is negotiating, just because npower didn't agree doesn't make it a case the OP was unwilling to negotiate.

All of a sudden you are now happy to increase your payments to get rid of your debt and move supplier quickly - so a positive result for both parties. the OP says they will do anything they can to pay the debt off fast, this is likely to mean the kids will go without and other bills get behind, I hardly think the OP has been hiding money, and will hardly be pleased!

Being disabled, having children - it does not magically mean you can just not pay your bills. who says it does?

We can only go by the facts we have been given, the Op sounds a reasonable person, so I can not see why they would want to lie about the situation...as pointed out the meter is out side of the property yet the npower rep talks about court warrants for meters inside a property, so the npower rep either misread the OP or is dodging here, so I was ask a simple question to the npower rep, are the above procedures you listed above the same regardless if the meter is inside the property or outside?

sniggings

oh I forgot to say, depending on the level of debt you can still move suppliers, no need to wait until it's all paid off, I think the limit is £500, under that amount you can still move.

sniggings

Nada666 wrote: »

One post you say you offered £10 per month, other say £10 per week, which is it? The minimum is over £15 per month. If you repeatedly stated you were not going to pay more than £10 per month no matter what then there was no point in them continuing the conversations, was there? Ultimately the only option is to fit the prepayment meter - more convenient for you than any other option.

If you did not want to opt to pay £93 per month to them then fuel direct payment taken directly off your income at source at £88 per month is not a better solution - you would be even unhappier with that as there would be too long a delay to adjust your usage and adjust the payments.

Your child is imprisoned in your home and never gets out? They only leave the house with others? Or do you, in fact, leave the house and are able to top-up your meters once every month or every two months?

Okay, no disability payments but you are able to care for a child. So mobility problems can't be that savage. You really ought to have just paid the £93 or £100 a month and kept your credit meter instead of complaining. Bit late for that now.

Also you did not unknowingly underpay - the meters are in your home, it is your job, (especially as a parent), to keep an eye on what you are using. You should have known how much and accommodated that in future plans - do I want to start saving up to pay up a lump sum or do I want the debit instalment to be altered by a large amount? If you are no happy with the latter alternative then you have to take action, not just shrug your shoulders.

You're getting a bit carried away now, the facts here do sound like the meter was put in far to quickly, the OP has only been a customer for about 6 months, things need time to settle, her useage was more than likely calulated in the summer, now it has hit winter things change, she was paying the amount they set, you can hardly blame the OP for that, to suggest the OP should not trust what they tell her she needs to pay is being daft, it's clear to me she has fallen through the safety net here and things have moved along far too quickly.

I'm not saying there are cases where someone is not willing to pay and makes all kind of excuses but this case does not come away like that, so for you to start saying the Op is not disabled enough and that she should send her child to the shop for the tokens is just being nasty, you do not have to be on ESA for a ppm to be not the best solution, you have to be next to dead these days to get on ESA, why have a ppm when direct pay would be better for the OP, also what if the kids are in bed, does the OP have to get them up to fill the meter and all go off to the shop? yes she should plan to have the meter full but being on benefits it's not always possible and meters tend to run out at the worse times.

Sometimes power compies do get it wrong and in this case I think they have.

undaunted

sniggings wrote: »

oh I forgot to say, depending on the level of debt you can still move suppliers, no need to wait until it's all paid off, I think the limit is £500, under that amount you can still move.

In theory but does it ever happen in practice? (When the limit was lower it had apparently never been used according to one ofgem document)