I left my power supplier suddenly I owe them £900 ??

memphis73

Hello,

I recently joined the energy club and moved to Sainsburys. Hurray !

However on leaving Npower they tell me I acytaully owe them £900 ? It seems they reduced my direct debit too low, and my usage over 4 years has built up a significant debt. They 're offering me the chance to pay it off at £20 a month, but do I have any way of negotiating that down, or asking whether they have mis-billed me ?

Many thanks in advance for your help

lstar337

Did you not keep an eye on it, or at least check your balance when you started a switch?

memphis73

You're right, I should have watched my online billing rather than assuming my direct debit was being adjusted to reflect actual usage.

Cardew

Presumably they used estimated meter readings that you didn't correct??


The problem is that once the discrepancy between estimated meter readings and actual readings gets too big, the computer 'thinks' the actual meter is a mistake and substitutes an estimated meter reading.


The best way of 'negotiating it down' is to offer an immediate cash settlement of £??? (try £600!)

energyworker

There are provisions in the backbilling code for cases where the supplier did not adjust your Fixed Direct Debit. If you were providing meter readings on a regular basis and the supplier did not make an adjustment to your FDD levels for 15 months then it does fall under backbilling which will mean that you can likely request a write off of any usage older than this.

naedanger

According to this leaflet energy suppliers are required to read meters every two years.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/42361/5875-factsheetmeteraccuracy-and-billingdisputes.pdf

You could ask npower to explain why they failed to so. And if you are not satisfied with their response you could consider complaining in writing. Their complaint process is here:

https://www.npower.com/home/help-and-support/contact-us/complaints/complaints-handling-policy/

undaunted

Did you provide actual readings and / or they read the meter over the 4 years? Are you trying to haggle down the £900 or do you accept that to be a reflection of your consumption and unpaid usage and it's just the £20 rate of repayment you want to haggle?


If so do you want to haggle on the £20 because you are in genuine financial difficulty or just because you think you might be able to get away with doing so? You are not a customer so all they could do is take you to court. If you genuinely have no money then that's unlikely to do them much good & you should just offer what you can demonstrate you can reasonably afford (CAB or stepchange will each give you free help to prepare a financial statement if necessary) but if you can afford to pay you are just running up costs pointlessly. As Cardew suggested you could try a punt & offer £600 immediately but they are not obliged to accept it.

KTF

When was the last time you gave them actual meter readings?

Cardew

memphis73 wrote: »

Hello,

I recently joined the energy club and moved to Sainsburys. Hurray !

However on leaving Npower they tell me I acytaully owe them £900 ? It seems they reduced my direct debit too low, and my usage over 4 years has built up a significant debt. They 're offering me the chance to pay it off at £20 a month, but do I have any way of negotiating that down, or asking whether they have mis-billed me ?

Many thanks in advance for your help

The ‘hurray’ indicates you have actually switched to Sainsburys and not just applied to switch.


The losing company(Npower) can veto a switch if the customer is in debt, and with a debt of £900 would normally enforce that provision. It would be even more unusual to allow an ex-customer to pay off a £900 debt at £20 a month; thus taking 3 years 9 months to clear the debt.


If dual fuel, are you sure both gas and electricity have switched?

nPower

memphis73 wrote: »

Hello,

I recently joined the energy club and moved to Sainsburys. Hurray !

However on leaving Npower they tell me I acytaully owe them £900 ? It seems they reduced my direct debit too low, and my usage over 4 years has built up a significant debt. They 're offering me the chance to pay it off at £20 a month, but do I have any way of negotiating that down, or asking whether they have mis-billed me ?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Hi Memphis73

Thank you for your post, I can see you've been offered a payment plan previously. If you wish to discuss the payment plan further I'm happy to look into the options available and ensure you're billed correctly.

Please contact us using the contact details found on our page.

Laura