Rip off Npower Bill. Urgent help needed.

Cate1976

molerat's information re meter means that you're not being billed for wrong type of meter.

My thinking is that you should now put in a written complaint, put complaint on the envelope. Include any evidence you have that can prove the bill is wrong. Best thing is photo of meter the day you write the letter. Also submit the reading online the same day.

If the situation isn't resolved with 8 weeks then you can go to the energy ombudsman.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Is you meter actually working correctly.

Don't know if this applies to gas meters but i had an electric meter that had stuck and was using the wrong tariff all the time.

It took Npower months to sort this out even though I contacted them on a regular basis, eventually they owed me in excess of £1000.

StressedOut35

Cate1976 wrote: »

Molerat has posted what I was going to say about your meter being imperial (easy way to remember what you have is metric & metre both start with m).

The next thing to do is check your most recent bill to make sure you're being billed for an imperial meter.

(I'm assuming that you have the read from the day you moved in).

Once you know how much gas you've used since you moved in, you can then work out an estimate of what it's cost you (the price you get will be based on current prices so won't allow for pre rise prices). Subtract what you've already paid including the £25 week you've been paying recently for the 'debt'. This will give you an estimate of how much you owe or don't owe.

I can't remember which way round it is that if N power are billing you for wrong type of meter, you'll get a bigger bill than you should. There are a couple of meter readers who post on this forum, hopefully one of them will be able to say which way round it is.

I'd also consider giving meter readings online each month, also keep paying £25 a week until the situation is sorted which could take time. I'm wondering if the problems have started since N Power changed their computer system/s?

I've just used the link putting 685 units and my postcode in & it gave 22,027 kwh with a cost of £798 per annum. Looks like N power have made a huge mistake somewhere. Please keep us posted on what happens, looking forward to the situation sorted post.

Thank you all for your advice and apologies for the delay in replying. I have written another complaint in to Npower. The weird thing here is that, using my bills to calculate the difference between meter readings/dates/and units there seems to have been a huge surge in gas usage over a period of 18 days. 1837 units over the 18 days to be precise. Two of these months were spring months so the boiler wont have even been switched on. I have never, up to this point, used more than 8 units max in 18 days. Something is seriously wrong.

sheffield_lad

StressedOut35 wrote: »

Thank you all for your advice and apologies for the delay in replying. I have written another complaint in to Npower. The weird thing here is that, using my bills to calculate the difference between meter readings/dates/and units there seems to have been a huge surge in gas usage over a period of 18 days. 1837 units over the 18 days to be precise. Two of these months were spring months so the boiler wont have even been switched on. I have never, up to this point, used more than 8 units max in 18 days. Something is seriously wrong.

Last years spring was bitterly cold with snow for almost the entire March month. I suspect you will have used a considerable amount more than this year and the boiler would have most certainly been on.


"
The UK's mean temperature for the season (March-April-May) is currently 6.0 °C, based on figures from 1 March to 28 May, and assuming average conditions for the final 3 days of the month. The figures are unlikely to change much with such a short time left.
That would make this the 5th coldest spring in national records dating back to 1910 and the coldest spring since 1962.
Earlier figures from 1 March to 15 May suggested spring 2013 was on track to be the 6th coldest on record and the coldest since 1979, but cooler than average weather in the second half of May has pushed the mean temperature for the season slightly lower."


GL

zaax

As you are living on a farm are you sure your gas supply is not connected to another building?

Follow this advice

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_energy_and_water_supply_e/consumer_energy_supply_e/faq_index_gas_and_electricity/faq_gas_and_electricity_complaints.htm

StressedOut35

zaax wrote: »

As you are living on a farm are you sure your gas supply is not connected to another building?


No. There's just the farmhouse and one big barn built on the back of the house left. The farm and other outbuildings were sold off a long time ago and houses built on it. We did recently have a new build completed next door and a lot of our trouble started not long after the energy companies connected them up (I can't be specific with dates though) but Npower dismissed this stating that the problem has to be somewhere between the house and my meter. Any leaks from the main pipes away from the property wouldn't affect my bill. We'll see what Npower have to say after my recent letter. Hopefully it wont drag on for much longer. My log burner really is fantastic and large enough to heat the entire house within a very short time. It isn't one of these small, ornate ones (although we have one of those too which has never even been turned on). It's plumbed in to heat the house and water. If the early months had been bitterly cold then the log burner would have been on instead anyway. It's flute runs up through one of the upstairs bedrooms meaning that the heat from the flute, coming through the vents, adds to the warmth on top of the radiators. Unfortunately it means that the bedroom in question gets so warm the radiator has to be turned off in that room when the burner is on.

molerat

You say "using my bills to calculate the difference between meter readings/dates/and units", were those meter reads Estimates , Actual or Customer, and if estimates or meter reader did you check them ? Just because it was supposedly done by a meter reader does not mean that a meter reader visited or even remotely resembles the actual figure on the day.

StressedOut35

molerat wrote: »

You say "using my bills to calculate the difference between meter readings/dates/and units", were those meter reads Estimates , Actual or Customer, and if estimates or meter reader did you check them ? Just because it was supposedly done by a meter reader does not mean that a meter reader visited or even remotely resembles the actual figure on the day.

The first few three were estimates but when comparing them to the meter they were only a small amount out as we barely use the gas. Never anything to worry about. I have just had another very long, drawn out conversation with them. They are claiming my meter readings are correct and that I have infact used nearly 2000 units in 112 days (in the spring months???) I used 70 units in 22 days out of that 112. (meter readings by Npower confirm this). This was while the boiler was switched off!!!!!!!

The end result? I have told them i'm going to the ombudsman and they can send someone round to disconnect my gas with immediate effect. We'll get a gas bottle for the hob and carry on heating the house with the burner.

I despair! Npower? Never, ever, ever again!!!!

StressedOut35

I do have to apologise profusely though. In an earlier post I wrote that I had 'supposedly' used 1837 units in 18 days. I was having a serious melt down moment and completely miscalculated. I had used 1837 units in 118 days. I told you this was stressing me out. 70 of these units, as mentioned before, were used in 22 days of that, meaning that the other 1767 were used over 90 days, all with my boiler off. It has taken the last 7 months of the boiler being on to use 685 units so how can it use 1837 when it wasn't being used?

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Another Npower customer lost and no more gas bills for me. I'll stick with the log burner for now. It's free!

Mallotum_X

If you were comparing the bill to the meter, and they were close then the estimated bills would be roughly correct. Have they read the meter to get the 3k bill or is that estimated too? If thats estimated then get them to come and read it. If its not estimated then what is the reading they have used and is it correct.

Bailiffs do not turn up without court first, so that part of the story doesn't seem to make any sense. Are you sure its a Baliff as they cant take anything without you doing court.

Incidentally I ran up a large Npower bill from estimated readings, they allowed me to pay it off over about 18 months.