Astronomical gas bill for new house

bnedge

Hi.
My partner and I bought a new house at the very end of November last year. The house was in a state and so we spent a month doing it up before even moving in. At the time, the boiler's circuit board was fried and wouldn't even power on, so the gas was shut off entirely at the mains until the day before New Year's Eve which is when we moved in.
We didn't have any contact with the sellers, and everything was conducted through solicitors and estate agents, as the previous owner wouldn't agree to speak to us, and as such we had no way of finding out who the energy supplier for the house was. So after several failed attempts at contacting the previous owner, we decided to switch energy suppliers so that we could get a final bill from the energy company to settle up, which we did and it took two months for switch to occur, and we have been paying the new company with no problems.
We didn't receive any notification from the previous suppliers until the 13th of August, when a letter arrived from nPower, asking for £400 + for energy used from the 29th November to the 1st March. The electricity was reasonable at £100, but the gas was over £300!

I contacted nPower and explained the situation and asked if it could be looked into. Unfortunately, although we did take meter readings on the day we got the keys, they have disappeared in the move and we now don't have them. But, nPower assured us that something could still be done and that it would be looked into and a callback was arranged for the next day.
I didn't have a phone call, and gave them a week extra to contact me, at which point I decided to cave and phone them back, at which point I was told that nothing could be done and that if I was unhappy I should call back the next day and speak to someone else. Which I did, and was told again that something could be done and that it would be looked into and I would hear from them within 28 days with a resolution.

Cue today, 15th October, well over 28 days later, and still no word from them, so I called them back today, and was told yet again that nothing could be done, and that I should pay the bill. On digging a little deeper with the rather rude operator it turned out that the query had been raised but no one has been bothered to look at it. I said that having been told that someone would be looking into it, it was only fair that they get someone to actually look into it before charging me anything. He replied that nothing could really be done but he would pass it on to a superior to look into it as promised and I'm now waiting for a call back. I asked what would have happened, since the payment was on hold, and no one had bothered contacting us either way, if I hadn't called today, and he told me that he honestly didn't know.

Whilst on the phone with him, I asked how much energy the average boiler used in kwH (pointing out that it is ONLY our boiler on gas, as we have electric appliances) and he said that he can't give that information, as they don't deal with averages. I took the opportunity to point out that on the same letter that they have sent me, it sates "the AVERAGE customer uses XXX amount of gas and XXX amount of electricity per year..." (which BTW, based on that it works out that they are trying to charge us for a whole 6 - 7 months worth of gas!), and that their starting reading for us states is an estimate, which surely must be derived from an average. He confirmed that estimates are derived from averages of similar homes in similar circumstances, but that they still deal in averages. 0_0.
He the went on to say that we have never provided nPower with any readings or allowed any of their representatives to take readings, and I explained that they had NEVER contacted us before, and the only meter reader to come around to our property was 3 months ago and represented our NEW energy company. I asked if he could tell me when the last meter reading was taken by one of their employees on a house call and he stated that he cannot provide me with that information as it is a breach of Data Protection. I replied that I find this unfair as they are happy for me to pay for an estimated reading.

I know that misplacing the readings does put me on the back foot, but surely there must be something that can be done about this as this still seems an extreme amount of energy to have used in such a shot space of time.

Sorry for such a long post, but there is so much information to relay. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks,
Ben

Cardew

Apart from the usual attitude from Npower, if I understand you correctly your main complaint is that from the time you switched on gas on New Year's Eve to 01 March Npower have billed you for £300, although the period of the bill was 29 Nov to 01 March.

pointing out that it is ONLY our boiler on gas,

I assume that the above means that gas is used for Central heating and Hot water?

I have to say that £300 for January and February whilst highish is certainly not 'astronomical'. At that time with Npower you would have been paying for 3 months allocation of Tier 1 gas rates(Tier 1 rates are high)

That you lost the initial meter readings you took doesn't help.

In the case where Npower have estimated readings, the estimate will be based on the previous occupant's history and would be for 3 months not the 2 months you used gas; and for the three coldest months in the year Dec/Jan/Feb £300 is not high, particularly as the house 'was in a state' which presumably means it is not particularly well insulated.

Without trying to be unsympathetic, it is easy to find out who was the previous supplier. Your new company would have told you - after all they have had to take over the account from NPower.

What action do you expect Npower to take?

Robwiz

@benedge – it appears to be that you have a weak case. There is a standing charge for almost all gas contracts which are payable whether you consume gas or not. It's not difficult to find out the existing energy supply arrangements when moving to a new home and it is good practice to record and provide meter readings to the energy companies.

If you had taken those steps you would be in control. You enjoyed the provision of gas supply (whether you used gas or not) and gas has been consumed which has to be paid for. Npower won't write off that bill and as you don't have your starting reading there's no option other than to pay up or risk the debt collectors, legal fees, bailiffs and harm to your credit score. For £300 it's not worth it in my view.

sk240

I'm afraid that really its all down to you, that isn't helped though as nobody tells you what to do when you buy your first house.
Its really easy to phone any of the suppliers, who will be able to tell you who the current supplier is.
£100 per month though is pretty average for the depth of winter, I would expect the same every year, so don't be surprised if your bill is the same again.