MSE News: Warning: Npower's slapping ex-customers with huge bills

ironman1

Thanks.

I am just worried I will have to pay. This isn't a case of me trying to get out of anything. I gave a reading anchor sent cheque with letter sating on my final bill saying I was in credit. To then get another final bill saying I owe £200 odd is a shock

naedanger

ironman1 wrote: »

Thanks.

I am just worried I will have to pay. This isn't a case of me trying to get out of anything. I gave a reading anchor sent cheque with letter sating on my final bill saying I was in credit. To then get another final bill saying I owe £200 odd is a shock

Provided you pursue the matter you should not have to pay, assuming your final npower readings were the same as your opening First Utility readings, and provided the the difference between the amounts shown on the two npower bills was solely caused by difference between the two sets of meter readings.

Even if npower somehow manage to convince the Ombudsman that their reading was correct and yours was wrong then while you would need to pay npower for the extra energy you would be due a refund from First Utility (since their starting readings would need to be increased to the equal the higher closing readings from npower). At the end of the day your closing npower readings must equal the starting First Utility readings.

However you may need to pursue the matter to get a satisfactory outcome.

SnowMan

Article on the Telegraph website about Npower's shambolic backbilling

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/energy-bills/11229164/Npower-the-decision-tree-that-shows-how-it-calculates-your-billing-compensation.html

That Npower have been resorting to widescale manual approximations to allow for backbilling is a recipe for disaster. But then Npower ARE a disaster at every level. It probably also leads to a position where a clear statement on what Npower think is owed is not provided to the customer when they are provided with a new final bill typically a year after the customer has left.

naedanger

SnowMan wrote: »

Article on the Telegraph website about Npower's shambolic backbilling

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/energy-bills/11229164/Npower-the-decision-tree-that-shows-how-it-calculates-your-billing-compensation.html

That Npower have been resorting to widescale manual approximations to allow for backbilling is a recipe for disaster. But then Npower ARE a disaster at every level. It probably also leads to a position where a clear statement on what Npower think is owed is not provided to the customer when they are provided with a new final bill typically a year after the customer has left.

Wow. How can the regulator let them away with only calculating bills approximately, which is bound to lead to a good proportion of affected customers being over-charged. Then they say "Npower said similar calculations have now been automated as part of its billing system". This is shocking.

HUMBUG

My 83 year old father (who is registered blind and was paying by direct debit ) moved from NPOWER 3 months ago and now he is about to be sent a bill backdated for over a years worth of Gas usage £818 . He only gets state pension so I think he will now be overdrawn on his bank account and get even more charges. It's truly disgraceful while Ofgem and Ombudsman seem to be doing a 'softly-softly ' approach rather than threatening to remove NPOWER's licence. They are just as useless as NPOWER if truth be told.

Further, when I switched from Scottish Power to NPOWER last November 2013 , they moved my neighbours electricity supply line instead of mine. So I've been billed for my neigbours electricity for a whole year plus also getting billed for my own supply line which is still stuck with Scottish Power. Both companies are unable to resolve the issue resulting in me not being able to switch to better deals until this chaos sorted out . The Ombudsman has been worse than useless in assisting resolution and today (even after raising an official case with Ombudsman 3 months ago) I received an invoice for my neighbours electricity backdated for 1 year. So what happens now ? How can they bill my neighbour for her electricity usage when they still think they are with their original suppliers 'Southern Electric' . They didn't choose NPOWER as their supplier and have also lost out on any dual energy deals they had . Plus the neighbour rented her property to tenants who have now left and who didn't receive any electricity bills from SSE or NPOWER, So once this mess is resolved the owner will be lumbered with a bill for her tenants (long gone now) electricity bills. This whole energy business is in a chaotic mess and needs renationalisation.

naedanger

HUMBUG wrote: »

Further, when I switched from Scottish Power to NPOWER last November 2013 , they moved my neighbours electricity supply line instead of mine. So I've been billed for my neigbours electricity for a whole year plus also getting billed for my own supply line which is still stuck with Scottish Power. Both companies are unable to resolve the issue resulting in me not being able to switch to better deals until this chaos sorted out . The Ombudsman has been worse than useless in assisting resolution and today (even after raising an official case with Ombudsman 3 months ago) I received an invoice for my neighbours electricity backdated for 1 year. So what happens now ?

This is very similar to my complaint with npower. I too switched to them only to find they put another person's electricity account into my name. So for over a year I had two electricity bills. I think it has just about been sorted now, after more than a year, and after many, many emails from me pushing them to act.

I too complained to the Ombudsman and their original ruling was in line with what I requested, namely that npower was to transfer back the erroneous electricity account, take over my correct account, ensure I was compensated for any cost differences that arose because they had not taken over my account when I originally requested, and finally I was to be paid £100 (which I had not sought) for the bother I had been put to. Npower were given 28 days to implement the solution. So up to that point I was happy with the Ombudsman.

The problems arose when npower basically did nothing further (other than close my complaint so as not to count it in their complaint statistics which Ofgem were monitoring). From that point on I had to constantly push npower to do what they were supposed to do, which was not easy because they largely ignored most of my points (many of which were never answered).

The Ombudsman also, in my view, did very little to pressurise npower into implementing the solution that npower had agreed to. So I have complained about the Ombudsman to the Independent Assessor and am waiting from their ruling.

How can they bill my neighbour for her electricity usage when they still think they are with their original suppliers 'Southern Electric' . They didn't choose NPOWER as their supplier and have also lost out on any dual energy deals they had . Plus the neighbour rented her property to tenants who have now left and who didn't receive any electricity bills from SSE or NPOWER, So once this mess is resolved the owner will be lumbered with a bill for her tenants (long gone now) electricity bills. This whole energy business is in a chaotic mess and needs renationalisation.

I think that npower needs to revert the neighbour's supply back to their original supplier as though it had never been transferred. That means your neighbour's original supplier will then need to chase payment from the account holder at that time. If that is not possible I suspect that supplier will be able to pursue npower for any resulting loss to them. However none of this should concern you. As soon as npower knows this account (i.e. your neighbours account) is not yours they should stop billing you for it. In my case they refused to do this and the Ombudsman didn't help. I hope the Independent Assessor gives a ruling that will help others who find themselves in a similar situation in future.

StevieD_2

We moved house 18 months ago and switched to npower from the existing provider at the house which was Scottish Power. We were switched over in about a month. After 12 months npower still seemed unable to debit my account for the amount we felt we owed (and indeed did owe) - 3 bed detached, gas and elec, should be about £150/month and that's what we discussed on set up but they only ever took £42 something- why?! After hours of calls we gave up trying to pay our bill to them and have moved back to Scottish Power. We left on 20th Oct and am still awaiting our final bill. I have had two red letters saying we owe money (oh really?!) and each time I phone them to try to pay they keep saying we have to wait for the final bill..... Utterly useless.

Plymbloke

Npower trying to steal? Npower are now issuing demands for payment of bills that relate to accounts closed over 16 months ago where both gas and electric were in credit at the time of the switch and Npower had refunded the overpayments! Recieved a letter asking for £62 on an old account and when I checked all previous bills and those of the supplier to which I had switched found that everything had been settled and Npower had had to repay £42 to me that was the credit on the combined accounts. Are Npower now attempting to steal from us? Do check all the figures on the Npower switch to know where you stand. is this serious enough to go to Ofgen with?

Mommykaz

hi new here, I not sure if there is any help out there but here we go.
N power recently sent me a bill for gas and electricity amounting £560 pounds. This bill is from 21 months ago which They set up a payment plan to cover. They didn't take any money and they are now telling me I should of set up with my bank and it's my fault. This all dates back to march 2013 I'm now with British Gas and have been since May 2013. I don't understand how they have never contacted me asking why the payment plan wasn't being paid and why nearly 2years later I get a reminder bill and then 4 days later a telemessage threatening courts and debt collectors.

It's my responsibility to check payments going out. But I didn't didn't think any need too. Can they really just be so unprofessional and try to blame customer for their mistakes.

Midlands_Landlord

when I switched my electric and gas to First Utility, I had over £485 in credit in my account, because Npower changed my direct debit from £114 to £236 during one year even my account in credit all time. also after I switched , Npower still charged once more from my direst debit! But after I left, npower "re-do" the bills, only refund me back £.0.27 instead of £485. after I made complaints to their billing department, they made my account invisibile now. BEAWAR! when you switch, you need to download all bills before switch, and cancel your direct debit first.
Also my other rented houses, when the new tenants moved in , we did give accurate reading each time to open a new account for new tenants, but Npower always messed up the reading , and give a huge bill to the tenants. Never trust Npower ! All should leave Npower !Npower treat customer just like a joke!