Npower bill,I'm not even a customer!!

ANDY928

I used to have gas and electricity through Npower,had my gas supply disconnected about 7 years ago and switched to Eon for electricity just to get away from them.
Have just had a £700 bill for gas when I don't even have a supply and they wont discuss it with me because its billed in my ex wife's name.
Tried to explain that there is no account and they have invented it,to no avail.
Have sent them a recorded delivery letter to this effect and billed them for my time.
Any advice gratefully received.

dogshome

£700 bill covering 7 years? - That is the sort of money accrued by the Daily Standing Charge - What does it say on the bill, which should be fully detailed

How was the Gas 'Disconnected' - was the meter removed?

hannah899

Ive been going through something similar for nearly 2 and a half years but ive never been with them. The only thing that has worked for me is going to ombudsman. I say worked ive just started te process but it feels hopeful. but you have to wait 8 weeks. I really hope you get it sorted I know how stressful they are

teddysmum

As has been mentioned: Did you cancel the gas when transferring the electric or did you just stop using gas ? If the latter, then standing charges will apply.


As the bill is to your ex, presumably no longer at that address, then return any mailings for her, labelled 'no longer at this address'.

ANDY928

My meter was capped 7 years ago as we had no gas appliances.
They tried to bill us about 6 years ago and sent an engineer to to verify the meter was capped.It was finally sorted after loads of phone calls/letters.We just had the electricity with Npower then and I moved supplier earlier in the year.
This £700 pound bill is made up of 3 bills going back about 18 months and is all estimated because of course there is no gas supply.
What worries me is that I run a small company registered at my home address and I don't want my credit worthiness questioned as it could put me out of business.
Will take it to the ombudsman then.

Andy_WSM

ANDY928 wrote: »

My meter was capped 7 years ago as we had no gas appliances.

So there is still a meter in place? If that's the case then standing charges still apply, so maybe you have been misinformed in the past?

naedanger

ANDY928 wrote: »

...
Any advice gratefully received.

Complain in writing using their official process:

http://www.npower.com/home/help-and-...ndling-policy/

Use the address provided so you have evidence of what is said.

If after 8 weeks you are not satisfied take your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman.

Also if the npower rep on this forum offers to help keep your official complaint running in parallel as you can only go to the Ombudsman if you have followed the official process.

Carrot007

The meter is there and capped.

About 18 months ago ofgem decided to abolish two rate tariffs.

Standing charges are therefore mandatory. (any estimated costs can be removed by providing a current read)

You therefore owe them. (yes this change was a bad thing in my view!)

Currently the only way to avoid gas charges is to get the meter removed. Expect a charge for this and for the supply to be completely removed within a year (so requiring new supply charges for any future need).

chanz4

Your ex would owe from when the new standing charge guidline came in, however you would be liable after she moved out.

naedanger

Carrot007 wrote: »

The meter is there and capped.

About 18 months ago ofgem decided to abolish two rate tariffs.

Standing charges are therefore mandatory. (any estimated costs can be removed by providing a current read)

You therefore owe them. (yes this change was a bad thing in my view!)

Currently the only way to avoid gas charges is to get the meter removed. Expect a charge for this and for the supply to be completely removed within a year (so requiring new supply charges for any future need).

I do not think it is at all clear that the OP (or his wife) owes them anything, far less £700. It appears to me that the contract ended seven years ago. If this is the first bill in seven years I think the onus is on npower to explain why, if there was a contract, they have had no contact in seven years.

Npower will remove a gas meter for free according to this article from February, assuming they have not introduced such a charge since then.

http://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/news/2014/02/12/households-being-charged-for-gas-they-dont-use/

Also although ofgem prohibits two rate tariffs it does not require suppliers to charge a service charges. Suppliers can have a single rate, and zero service charge tariff, if they want - see for example Ebico.

ANDY928

Thanks for all the advise.
The gas supply was officially cut off when the meter was capped and billing was supposed to stop which it did.Apart from the blip about 6 years ago when they tried to invent an account.
There should not be a standing charge on a capped meter and there was just the electricity account which I moved.
We kept the meter so that we could restore the supply if necessary.
This was advised at the time and no charges are meant to apply as there is no account.