NPower wrote off final bill now 8 months on they've sent me a final bill

Rosielaura

Hi, can anyone give me some advice please.
I left NPower officially May 28th 2014. I didn't receive a final bill, but I did receive a letter, dated 22nd July 2014, saying:

'We appreciate the account was closed over 6 months ago. Due to problems with our system at the time, we were unable to send you a statement covering your final billing period with NPower.
Good news on your final statement.
Any outstanding balance specifically related to your final billing period with NPower has been written off. Please accept this letter as confirmation of that, there is now no need to send you a final statement.'

This letter I found odd, as it had not been 6 months since I had left NPower but I wasn't about to argue with them over it. I was happy to finally be rid of NPower. I'd been paying huge bills for my 1 bed flat and things had never been right.

I then received a letter on the 10th January 2015 (dated 15th December 2014) asking for £506 as a final bill.

I have complained and asked my account to be reviewed under the Backbilling Code of Practice but they have said I do not qualify as my bill has been sent within 12 months of me leaving NPower, therefore I should pay it.

When I tell them I was sent a letter saying my bill had been written off back in July, they have said my account did not qualify for that write off because it had not been 6 months since my account had been closed, as stated in the letter.
They had sent me the letter as a mistake, even though it's addressed to me, with my account number on, etc. they just didn't take the time to look into my account. But that's not my fault. Surely they should stand by that letter?!

Since complaining, they have recently offered me £50 off the £506 bill and an 18 month period in which to pay it off.

I continued to complain and the following day, they had increased the amount they were willing to take off to £75 and a 24 month period in which to pay the bill off.

I've continued to complain today, which means they have to send me a final response before I possibly take it further with an energy ombudsman or just pay up.
Am I right in taking it further or should I just pay it?
Do I have any rights here?

Would really appreciate some advice. I just don't know what to do!
Thanks :-)

Rosielaura

Also, when I first complained about this bill, the woman on the phone said it was for energy used between May 2013 and May 2014. That was the reason why I asked them to review my account under the Backbilling code of practice as I was being charged for energy over 12 months old.

Now when I phone, they say the bill is for the energy used in the final billing period.
Change of story...

NittyGritty

might be worth emailing the CEO and explain the situation to them, hopefully they will resolve it for you. tell them you have the letter which clearly states it was written off.

Rosielaura

Thank you NittyGritty - really appreciate your reply. :-)

Rosielaura

Has anyone experienced this or something similar?

Cardew

In general terms a firm can make a mistake and later rectify the situation. In the same way if you make a mistake and overpay, you can claim refund.


I still have a Visa credit slip, for some returned building material, for the sum of £217,927.82 which sadly the company would not honour!


A claim under the back-billing provision is where you haven't received a bill(not an incorrect bill) and the company are at fault.


If the £506 is accurate, a £75 reduction and 2 years to pay is IMO a reasonable offer, although a bit more haggling might produce £100?

naedanger

Rosielaura wrote: »

Has anyone experienced this or something similar?

Have they actually sent you a bill showing how the figure of £506 was reached and with the final meter readings?

Rosielaura

Thank you for your replies. So appreciate the help.

naedanger - When I received the second reminder letter for £506, I told them I'd never received the first letter with the actual bill on. I asked for the final bill to be resent (convinced it was never actually sent) but they ended up sending me a different bill - the one before the final bill which I'd paid before I left NPower.
I need to ask them to send the final bill again then. Thank you.

scaredofdebt

Npower don't know their own policies, they decided to reduce the time-limit for backbilling to 3 months during Q2/Q3 last year due to the volume of late bills they were issuing. So customer leaving around that period had bills written off if there weren't produced within 3 months.

I have a friend who works there so I know this is correct but I don't know the exact dates involved, but it would appear you fall into this timescale.

Personally I'd take it to a higher level and the Ombudsman if you can't get a resolution. Do you still have a copy of the letter?

Even if you don't the letter should trigger an automatic diary note on your account for the date specified which they can then read at Npower.

Out of interest do you get bills by email? If so they may have emailed the original bill but reminders are always sent by post. Equally they may have cancelled the final bill due to the write off but the reminders may have still followed as their compter systems were an utter shambles back then.

They aren't exactly great now but have improved since then.

Once thing to note is if the bill is delayed through no fault of Npower then backbilling won't apply, ie if you didn't provide reads or if you changed supplier and there was a dispute over the final reads between suppliers etc.

Rosielaura

Thank you! It's so great to get some advice of different people. :-)

Yes, I still have a copy of that letter and have taken a photo of it too just in case.
I was an online customer but haven't tried to access my account since I left. Should I try?
Two more reminder letters arrived on Friday (2 days ago). When I phoned Npower yesterday, they told me they have now put the bill on hold, so that they can send out their final response letter. I then have ten days to respond to it before they take the hold off the bill and I start to get threatening letters about the money they believe I owe.

I think I've given up on the Back billing thing now, and the thing I need to focus on is the letter telling me the bill had been written off. When I spoke to someone at NPower on Thursday, she told me to send in a copy of the letter. I'm not sure why they would need a copy of it?!

She said she was also passing my complaint onto Stage 2 and that team would be in touch within 10 days. But it was the following day I got a call, with the increased offer of £75 and 24 months to spread the cost.

Since then, the people I've spoken to say the letter does not apply to my account because it had not been 6 months since my account had been closed.

Rosielaura

They're now offering me £100 off the £506 bill and the same two year period in which to pay it all off. (Not that I'd want the bill hanging round my neck for that long).

Do you think they know they're in the wrong and I have a case against them, as I wasn't expecting them to increase the amount of money they were willing to take off in their final offer letter.

The person on the phone has said I have been told in my final offer letter (which I am yet to receive) that the letter which stated my final bill had been written off was only for customers with £75 or less left to pay on their account and as I supposedly did not fall into that category, the bill was not written off. But that wasn't specified in the letter I received.

Do I have a case to go to the ombudsman with?
Any further advice would be great. Thanks