We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

NPower mess - need help please

Sneaker
Sneaker Posts: 465 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
Hi,

After a bit of advice please. I moved from EDF to Npower for Gas and Electricity to a fixed until 2017 deal after the recommendation on the newsletter. This was back in November. The Direct Debit was set up and everything sorted. The electricity transferred relatively quickly but not the gas. I chased them, and EDF to see what was happening. Npower told me there was a dispute with the readings but I was told EDF had accepted them.

To cut a long story short, Npower emailed me a couple of weeks back saying it was finally transferring and they were adding £25 to each fuel account due to the length of time it took to switch. However having checked my online account I see that the amount that they have been taking out must only have been covering the electricity as the gas account shows that I owe £589.

Is there anything I can do? There is no way I can afford to pay this and I would like some advice please.

Thanks in advance

Comments

  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 9,121 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    If that's what you've used then you've got to pay for it. They might let you pay it back over a period of time.
    Have you not been reading your meters and checking what you were paying or even making sure any payments were going out of your bank account.
    Even though EDF & nPower have mucked you about you should have been aware of what you were consuming and how much it should have cost and therefore put the money aside to make sure you can pay for it.
    You can't just use it and then be surprised when a bill come in expecting payment.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • Sneaker
    Sneaker Posts: 465 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    No to be honest I set up the direct debits and forgot about it.

    Having checked they only set up £35.00 when it think with EDF it was £89
  • Kitchen_Sink
    Kitchen_Sink Posts: 230 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker Name Dropper
    edited 13 July 2014 at 1:53PM
    Sneaker wrote: »
    Hi,

    After a bit of advice please. I moved from EDF to Npower for Gas and Electricity to a fixed until 2017 deal after the recommendation on the newsletter. This was back in November. The Direct Debit was set up and everything sorted. The electricity transferred relatively quickly but not the gas. I chased them, and EDF to see what was happening. Npower told me there was a dispute with the readings but I was told EDF had accepted them.

    To cut a long story short, Npower emailed me a couple of weeks back saying it was finally transferring and they were adding £25 to each fuel account due to the length of time it took to switch. However having checked my online account I see that the amount that they have been taking out must only have been covering the electricity as the gas account shows that I owe £589.

    Is there anything I can do? There is no way I can afford to pay this and I would like some advice please.

    Thanks in advance

    I'm sorry, but this doesn't make any sense to me.

    If the gas has only been transferred a couple of weeks ago, then it is correct that nPower should only have been billing you for electricity until that date (and so DD's to them would only just be for electricity)

    That is because you would still be being charged & billed by EDF for gas until that time (and if you were paying by DD, they would still have been collecting an amount appropriate to the gas account)

    It seems that nPower have also given you a total of £50 which I am sure is more than any difference in price of consumed gas for the period of delay in switching the gas over.

    If you now owe nPower £589, then you either have been using a heck of a lot more electricity than you anticipated when you switched, or there has been some kind of error possibly due to estimated meter readings. Did you provide a new gas meter reading for the new transfer date? Are the electric meter readings estimated at all?

    Finally, you don't normally get any bills as such when you agree to pay monthly by DD. Even if your account is correct and you do owe £589, it would be very unusual to issue a demand for payment - they would just adjust your monthly payments to recover the accrued debt over a period of time (usually the period over which it was accrued)
  • Sneaker
    Sneaker Posts: 465 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks. No NPower agreed my meter readings and have charged from the final readings I have given EDF. the majority of the charges are for gas.
  • Kitchen_Sink
    Kitchen_Sink Posts: 230 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker Name Dropper
    Sneaker wrote: »
    Thanks. No NPower agreed my meter readings and have charged from the final readings I have given EDF. the majority of the charges are for gas.

    Almost £600 of gas in 2 weeks??? :huh: :eek:

    That's going some, especially in the middle of summer...
  • Nada666
    Nada666 Posts: 5,004 Forumite
    But if you were using £75 per month on gas then you must have known this. If you forgot that you were only paying £35 per month then fair enough - but the extra money in your bank must have been noticed - unless you have lots of money in which case the new payment level shouldn't bother you.
  • stahir786 wrote: »
    Hello everyone,
    :spam: reported
    Are you for real? - Glass Half Empty??
    :coffee:
  • nPower
    nPower Posts: 1,319 Organisation Representative
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Sneaker wrote: »
    Hi,

    After a bit of advice please. I moved from EDF to Npower for Gas and Electricity to a fixed until 2017 deal after the recommendation on the newsletter. This was back in November. The Direct Debit was set up and everything sorted. The electricity transferred relatively quickly but not the gas. I chased them, and EDF to see what was happening. Npower told me there was a dispute with the readings but I was told EDF had accepted them.

    To cut a long story short, Npower emailed me a couple of weeks back saying it was finally transferring and they were adding £25 to each fuel account due to the length of time it took to switch. However having checked my online account I see that the amount that they have been taking out must only have been covering the electricity as the gas account shows that I owe £589.

    Is there anything I can do? There is no way I can afford to pay this and I would like some advice please.

    Thanks in advance

    Hi Sneaker,

    Thank you for your message.

    This doesn't sound right. If you could email me your details over using the email address on our profile I'll be more than happy to help resolve this for you.

    Thanks
    Chris :)
    Official Company Representative"
    I am the official company representative of nPower. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE.
    If we ask you to contact us, please do so using helpandsupport@npower.com - MSE Forum has temporarily allowed the display of our contact details in our signature due to a technical issue with our profile
  • chanz4
    chanz4 Posts: 11,057 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Xmas Saver!
    email [EMAIL="paul.mascara@rwenpower.com"]paul.mascara@rwenpower.com[/EMAIL] that will get their attention , most of these board guys are lip service
    Don't put your trust into an Experian score - it is not a number any bank will ever use & it is generally a waste of money to purchase it. They are also selling you insurance you dont need.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.8K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.3K Life & Family
  • 258.5K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.