N power absolutely useless

nickj_2

i've just told npower i'm ooot after switching to them last year , they've just doubled my DD and this has been in a relitively mild winter , not even BG chrged me as much last year and we had arctic conditions for weeks
my county council has just done a bid for bulk customer deal and BG and OVo were the winners so i'm trying ovo who were £160 cheaper then what i was paying before npower hiked the price

chanz4

nickj wrote: »

i've just told npower i'm ooot after switching to them last year , they've just doubled my DD and this has been in a relitively mild winter , not even BG chrged me as much last year and we had arctic conditions for weeks
my county council has just done a bid for bulk customer deal and BG and OVo were the winners so i'm trying ovo who were £160 cheaper then what i was paying before npower hiked the price

out of the two I would go with BG

chanz4

FLAPJACK wrote: »

And there Chanz you discover the root of the problem.

The chap who read my meters arrived in a car marked NPower....surely in this age of everyone being able to change suppliers as and when they like, it cannot make sense for the energy companies employing their own meter readers for just their own customers.

Maybe it's time to employ an army of meter readers from an independant company who can read a whole streets meters and put the readings on a system for each energy provider....even though just looking at the meter wouldn't tell them who the supplier is so they would still have to have some info for each property.

Of course in the fullness of time when everyone has a "smart" meter the usage can be sent from the meter to where ever without having to be read....even changing suppliers should not effect the system as the useage info would get sent to the new supplier....wouldn't it??

I can already see numbers of posts here in the future about changing supplier on a certain date but the readings still going to the previous supplier....so maybe an army of humans reading the meters isn't such a bad idea?

Their are several mops, it sounds like they are the operator for your area. Also G4S do a lot for other suppliers

Carrot007

chanz4 wrote: »

Their are several mops, it sounds like they are the operator for your area. Also G4S do a lot for other suppliers

The meter operator does not do meter reading.

However the same field operatives that the MO uses may well do the reading.

MallyGirl

npower told me that they now only read meters themselves every 2 years and use customer readings for the 6 monthly bills.
I submit monthly readings now as my DD were fluctuating wildly. Their new website shows your forecast energy usage for the coming year - they predict I will use 252% more electricity this summer than last and I cannot seem to get this changed. In the end the call centre person worked out an annual bill using the last 6 months customer readings and manually overrode the DD - made it £180pcm instead or £380pcm! Totally rubbish but I am in a fixed contract till Oct 14.

davidgmmafan

"npower told me that they now only read meters themselves every 2 years and
use customer readings for the 6 monthly bills"

Incorrect, this is the legal minimum for meter readings and the gas safety inspection (for the meter not your appliances).

Terrible advice to ring them too, their system is broken, their staff are overstretched, management are using what I call the head in the sand technique.

For things like this you need details in writing. The lack of a response is not unique though, I got through an entire Ombudsman complaint without a response from Npower (I\m not counting template letters, I mean some real contact or action).

Something seems very off with the usage figures quoted. If you do decide to phone and get a member of staff who has been there a while they will know how to work it out manually. If you get a newer staff member who only knows the new system well good luck.

Do they have a wrong meter reading? Was there and under estimate which your usage is now catching up on? This could explain the skewed figures, but it is common sense to work out any payment based on your ACTUAL usage and any balance.

Are they saying there is a debit balance? If you have usage from previous years and they only have six months of iffy usage insist on using your figures.

MoneyMate

NPower have lost it at the moment keep sending me texts advising of meter readers coming around in 2 or 3 days time then never arrive very strange.

Alison_P

I moved February 2013. When £150 suddenly went to npower from my bank I phoned npower who said this was final settlement of bill. This was May 2013. This year I had communications from npower about my current address (since February 2013) that I couldn't understand. I phoned and asked for a statement. I received a statement for my old address and none of the figures matched what I had been told in May 2013. I have asked on a number of occasions for up to date information on my current address. This morning I had 3 different bills, all dated September 2013 for my current address. I can't make any sense of them. So I will have to start ringing again. The normal call centre numbers just result in my sent in circles and given different numbers that all seem to go the same route. Now using the complaints number, 0800 316 9581. Not that I am getting a lot further with them.