Duplicate bill from N Power when supplied by someone else?!

Azil87

Hi

Hoping someone knowledgable can help. Apologies in advance for long post!

I moved from one rental property to another in May. Our new landlord and letting agent advised the new house was supplied by Spark energy. We duly set an account up and have been paying Spark. I did at the time ask to switch to eon as I'd used them previously and was told due to the type of meter (economy 7) this wasn't possible.

A few weeks after we moved in we received a bill from npower addressed to the occupier for roughly £100. I rang them and queried it and was told to ignore it; we're supplied by spark and as said Bill does not have my name on its not for me. They assured me no further bills would be sent.

Fast forward a couple of months and we have now received another bill showing the previous balance being carried forward plus an additional £120 - so total amount owing £220 roughly.

Just got off the phone with them again. They've said to send the bills back with 'not known at this address' if we get any more. I queried if it's some kind of underhand sales tactic as the bill even has a giro slip and I can imagine some people would just pay it without question. They assure me this is not the case - however, and I quote 'I can't discuss it with you as you're not the account holder, I'd need to go through security.' I questioned this as obviously there does not appear to be an account holder as the bills are addressed to 'the occupier'. She just kept repeating this and refused to explain why we keep receiving these bills.

I'm just a bit concerned that a year or so down the line they'll realise actually we do owe them all this money and we'll be landed with a huge bill! Has anyone else had experience of something similar?

naedanger

Azil87 wrote: »

Hi

Hoping someone knowledgable can help. Apologies in advance for long post!

I moved from one rental property to another in May. Our new landlord and letting agent advised the new house was supplied by Spark energy. We duly set an account up and have been paying Spark. I did at the time ask to switch to eon as I'd used them previously and was told due to the type of meter (economy 7) this wasn't possible.

A few weeks after we moved in we received a bill from npower addressed to the occupier for roughly £100. I rang them and queried it and was told to ignore it; we're supplied by spark and as said Bill does not have my name on its not for me. They assured me no further bills would be sent.

Fast forward a couple of months and we have now received another bill showing the previous balance being carried forward plus an additional £120 - so total amount owing £220 roughly.

Just got off the phone with them again. They've said to send the bills back with 'not known at this address' if we get any more. I queried if it's some kind of underhand sales tactic as the bill even has a giro slip and I can imagine some people would just pay it without question. They assure me this is not the case - however, and I quote 'I can't discuss it with you as you're not the account holder, I'd need to go through security.' I questioned this as obviously there does not appear to be an account holder as the bills are addressed to 'the occupier'. She just kept repeating this and refused to explain why we keep receiving these bills.

I'm just a bit concerned that a year or so down the line they'll realise actually we do owe them all this money and we'll be landed with a huge bill! Has anyone else had experience of something similar?

Have you anything in writing from npower? If not what will you do if, in a year's time, npower say they have no evidence of any previous calls with you?

Personally I would send them an email asking them to confirm in writing what they told you on the phone.

Plenty of people have had huge problems with npower. I don't think it is under-hand sales tactics but rather a complete breakdown of some of their billing systems. Hopefully you won't have problems but in my view it is better keeping evidence now in case you need it later.

Skools_Out

Azil87 wrote: »

Hi

Hoping someone knowledgable can help. Apologies in advance for long post!

I moved from one rental property to another in May. Our new landlord and letting agent advised the new house was supplied by Spark energy. We duly set an account up and have been paying Spark. I did at the time ask to switch to eon as I'd used them previously and was told due to the type of meter (economy 7) this wasn't possible.

A few weeks after we moved in we received a bill from npower addressed to the occupier for roughly £100. I rang them and queried it and was told to ignore it; we're supplied by spark and as said Bill does not have my name on its not for me. They assured me no further bills would be sent.

Fast forward a couple of months and we have now received another bill showing the previous balance being carried forward plus an additional £120 - so total amount owing £220 roughly.

Just got off the phone with them again. They've said to send the bills back with 'not known at this address' if we get any more. I queried if it's some kind of underhand sales tactic as the bill even has a giro slip and I can imagine some people would just pay it without question. They assure me this is not the case - however, and I quote 'I can't discuss it with you as you're not the account holder, I'd need to go through security.' I questioned this as obviously there does not appear to be an account holder as the bills are addressed to 'the occupier'. She just kept repeating this and refused to explain why we keep receiving these bills.

I'm just a bit concerned that a year or so down the line they'll realise actually we do owe them all this money and we'll be landed with a huge bill! Has anyone else had experience of something similar?

1. Eon supply Economy 7

2. If the bill is not in your name, you cannot be held responsible for it ("the occupier" or similar is not sufficient; it needs to be in your name)
Suppliers issue such bills as it allows them upto 6 years to recover such debt (otherwise they may get cought out by the 12 month back-billing procedure)

3. If you have never been on supply from by nPower, how can you possibly owe them any money? It probably refers to a previous tenant or a period of time outside of your TA when the supplier was not informed who was responsible for the bills. If the property is vacant, it is the landlord that should be picking up the bills.

Former Spark Representative

Hi Azil87


It sounds like the issue here is with nPower, but if there's anything you want us to check at our end, just give me a shout using the email address on my profile.


Kind regards


Jenny
Customer Relations Manager

nPower

Azil87 wrote: »

Hi

Hoping someone knowledgable can help. Apologies in advance for long post!

I moved from one rental property to another in May. Our new landlord and letting agent advised the new house was supplied by Spark energy. We duly set an account up and have been paying Spark. I did at the time ask to switch to eon as I'd used them previously and was told due to the type of meter (economy 7) this wasn't possible.

A few weeks after we moved in we received a bill from npower addressed to the occupier for roughly £100. I rang them and queried it and was told to ignore it; we're supplied by spark and as said Bill does not have my name on its not for me. They assured me no further bills would be sent.

Fast forward a couple of months and we have now received another bill showing the previous balance being carried forward plus an additional £120 - so total amount owing £220 roughly.

Just got off the phone with them again. They've said to send the bills back with 'not known at this address' if we get any more. I queried if it's some kind of underhand sales tactic as the bill even has a giro slip and I can imagine some people would just pay it without question. They assure me this is not the case - however, and I quote 'I can't discuss it with you as you're not the account holder, I'd need to go through security.' I questioned this as obviously there does not appear to be an account holder as the bills are addressed to 'the occupier'. She just kept repeating this and refused to explain why we keep receiving these bills.

I'm just a bit concerned that a year or so down the line they'll realise actually we do owe them all this money and we'll be landed with a huge bill! Has anyone else had experience of something similar?

Hello [FONT=&quot]Azil87[/FONT]

Thanks for your post; I appreciate your concern regarding the correspondence you’ve received from us for roughly £220.

The reason you may be receiving an npower bill in the name of the occupier could be due to us previously supplying your property. If the bill doesn’t cover the period you are responsible for this is not your responsibility. If the bill covers the period of your tenancy please contact us via email, this can be found on our profile page. Please mark the email for my attention and I’ll ensure this is investigated.

Thanks
Laura