Help : Problem moving house and energy supplier

Anand

Hi Everyone,
I have a situation with my previous energy provider at the property that I lived in; below is chronological order of events.

Up until Aug’13 I was a customer of Scottish Power for both gas and electricity, after which I decided to switch to Npower who offered a better deal. The electricity was switched over in Sep’13 and the gas was taking longer. I called NPower a few times and they simply said the gas switch was taking longer than normal but everything was in hand.

In Dec’13 I moved house, letting my current property. The agent taking over management of the house handled transferring of accounts. So this was closing the Npower electricity account and creating a new one for the new tenant, and also doing the same for the gas with Scottish Power for which I had been paying bill for. The transfer of gas to Npower never happened and at this point I wasn’t that bothered considering I was moving out.

Dec’13 I have final bills from Scottish Power and Npower.

May’14 receive a letter and email from Npower stating:

“Good news! We’re ready to start supplying your gas on 20th September 2013.

Reading your meter

Please make a note in your diary to take a meter reading for us if you can. We’ll need a reading taken between 15th September 2013 and 25th September 2013.”

I call my agent to check that all accounts had been transferred over and they confirm that everything had been transferred, so I leave it at that.

Dec’14 I receive (forwarded via the tenant) a huge bill from Npower with charging me for gas from Sept’13 until Dec’14. A period that I was living at the property and paying Scottish Power for gas and also a period where I was not actually in the property.

I speak with the tenant who is saying Scottish Power is providing her gas and she has a direct debit with them.

I call Npower to find out what’s going on and they put the account under investigation and someone will call me in a few weeks. No one calls, so I call in Jan’15 and get told that it will take 30 day, I call again in Jan’15 and get told that it would take up to 90 days and will be told in March. I call again at the end of March, being told the investigation was aiming to get resolved in May’15 (This may have been my mistake in miss-understating March and May).

It’s now approaching the end of May and have not heard anything, so plan on waiting for the next few days before I call in.

I’m wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this and have any suggestions on how to handle this ? The potential bill of a few thousand pounds has been causing me quite a bit if anxiety restlessness over the past 5 or so months that this is taking to sort out.

Thanks in advance
Anand

System

Put your COMPLAINT in writing with all the details above and ask for a response back in writing. A different set of CS staff will respond to your complaint. You will then have the right to refer the matter to the Energy Ombudsman after 8 weeks has elapsed.

nPower

Anand wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
I have a situation with my previous energy provider at the property that I lived in; below is chronological order of events.

Up until Aug’13 I was a customer of Scottish Power for both gas and electricity, after which I decided to switch to Npower who offered a better deal. The electricity was switched over in Sep’13 and the gas was taking longer. I called NPower a few times and they simply said the gas switch was taking longer than normal but everything was in hand.

In Dec’13 I moved house, letting my current property. The agent taking over management of the house handled transferring of accounts. So this was closing the Npower electricity account and creating a new one for the new tenant, and also doing the same for the gas with Scottish Power for which I had been paying bill for. The transfer of gas to Npower never happened and at this point I wasn’t that bothered considering I was moving out.

Dec’13 I have final bills from Scottish Power and Npower.

May’14 receive a letter and email from Npower stating:

“Good news! We’re ready to start supplying your gas on 20th September 2013.

Reading your meter

Please make a note in your diary to take a meter reading for us if you can. We’ll need a reading taken between 15th September 2013 and 25th September 2013.”

I call my agent to check that all accounts had been transferred over and they confirm that everything had been transferred, so I leave it at that.

Dec’14 I receive (forwarded via the tenant) a huge bill from Npower with charging me for gas from Sept’13 until Dec’14. A period that I was living at the property and paying Scottish Power for gas and also a period where I was not actually in the property.

I speak with the tenant who is saying Scottish Power is providing her gas and she has a direct debit with them.

I call Npower to find out what’s going on and they put the account under investigation and someone will call me in a few weeks. No one calls, so I call in Jan’15 and get told that it will take 30 day, I call again in Jan’15 and get told that it would take up to 90 days and will be told in March. I call again at the end of March, being told the investigation was aiming to get resolved in May’15 (This may have been my mistake in miss-understating March and May).

It’s now approaching the end of May and have not heard anything, so plan on waiting for the next few days before I call in.

I’m wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this and have any suggestions on how to handle this ? The potential bill of a few thousand pounds has been causing me quite a bit if anxiety restlessness over the past 5 or so months that this is taking to sort out.

Thanks in advance
Anand

Hello Anand

Thank you for your post.

Have you managed to speak with anyone about this yet? If you can email the address shown on our profile page, I'm happy to look into this for you and get it put right.

Thanks

Beth

Anand

Hi Beth, Not yet. I was waiting a few days after the end of May date NPower gave me for them to send a response. I've not heard anything yet so will email you as you have advised.

Thanks
Anand

Anand

So I emailed NPower as advised above and as expected have not had a reply - Not even a we're "looking into it for you".

For anyone else reading this thread, don't be fooled that they can be helpfull.

spiro

Your first mistake was letting your agent to close your accounts, it is your responsibility to provide the move out readings to you supplier. If the agent gets it wrong you have very little comeback without taking them to court. It is then the new tenant or agent to open accounts at the property.