NPower Help!!

foggy87

Hi,

Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place/incorrectly.

I am at my wits end and need some advice.

I have been with NPower for 3 years. When I moved to my property they put me on an economy 7 tariff as I have storage heaters. I told them at the time I didn't want to be on economy 7 as I had no intention of using the heaters. To this day I have never used them.

Without me realising they didn't process my request and as as result I accrued a large debt with them as we were using the majority of our electricity at the most expensive rate.

After many tears and several phone calls I set up a payment plan with them to clear the debt and come off economy 7. However the person I dealt with only set my payments up to cover my debt and not my usage going forward so as I cleared the debt my next bill came and pushed me back into debt again.

After going back and forwards with Npower I finally set up a payment plan covering both debt and ongoing use and thought everything was ticking over fine.

I was wrong. I have discovered today that I am still on economy 7. It transpires after a 2 hour conversation with them that I would need my meter changing to a single tariff meter. Why couldn't I have been advised of this 3 years ago? My argument to them was that as this was their mistake as they had not followed my repeated requested my debt should be refunded.

All they waffled on was about changing my meter which isn't an option as I am a private tenant. Finally she did reveal I could go on a 24 hour single tariff.

Npower are refusing to look at my debt and look at some compensation of what I consider something I have been overpaying for years now. They have insinuated I am a liar as there are no notes on their system to say I've asked for this. I have little trust in their system due to other little niggles over the year but they are adamant they have done nothing wrong.

I seem to be going round and round and circles with them and every phone call to them results in tears. I am stressed out immensely that I owe them so much money. I could accept if it was due to me not paying but I pay them by direct debit every month without fail. They are pushing me over the edge and they just don't care and I don't know whether I am fighting a losing battle with them.

It seems they are happy to profit from my misery and as the little fish in a big pond they simply do not care.

Would appreciate any advice/experience anyone could share with me.

Thank you.

macman

How do you heat the property if you don't use the NSH's? Even on a single rate tariff, electric heating will cost about 300% more without E7.
You have clearly been given very poor advice from the outset, as only some suppliers support a single rate tariff on an E7 meter-all others would require a meter change. You can certainly change the meter as a tenant, but you would have to change it back at the end of your tenancy, the normal charge being around £60.
What I don't understand is how you could not realise you were still on E7, as each bill or statement would have shown that you were being charged on a dual rate tariff.
Your best course of action is to raise an official complaint in writing, that puts the ball back in the supplier's court. Don't phone, don't email.

sgun

It took me the best part of a year to get an E7 issue sorted with Npower and I'm still not convinced they have told the truth. I would have been eligible for my bill to be wiped out under the direction of the ombudsman but I then discovered that Npower had closed my complaint without telling me.

So... open a complaint. You can do this over the phone. Do NOT agree for this to go to "the back room" as this does not constitute a complaint.

If you don't get a letter acknowledging your complaint after a week, chase them up. (It took 3 months for them to lodge my original complaint, useless the lot of them!)

After 28 days, when they haven't sorted your issue have your complaint transferred to executive complaints and immediately request a deadlock letter. You can then go to the ombudsman.

Bear in mind you will probably be lied to at every stage and that you will constantly need to chase them up and check they have done what you have asked.

foggy87

I appreciate that I should have paid more attention to my bills rather than looking at how much I owed them. It was only recently that I looked more closely at my bill and noticed.

I dont use storage heating, I have a gas fire which is more than sufficient hence why I feel that E7 isn't for me.

Thank you for your reply.

foggy87

Thank you!

I'm now not prepared to let this drop so thank you for the advice.

[Deleted User]

Have you checked some of the eco 7 tariffs available on one year fixes with suppliers such as Extra Energy, First Utility and Sainsburys Energy.they have rates such as 11.5 p/kwhr day, and 6.5 p /kwhr night which would possibly beat single rate tariffs .
All suppliers have the same problem with former night storage users dispensing with them and going for gas central heating and its really not up to any supplier to be interested in what the end user does with the energy supplied. Its not up to any supplier to know what the domestic arrangements are with individual properties. I know of several large towns where eco 7 meters were installed alongside the gas supply. Worksop, Retford, Sutton in Ashfield have these meters, even new builds in these towns in the 1980 s were installed with eco 7 and gas central heating. I think you are wasting your time trying to get much redress for some call centre jockey not being au fait with the inner workings of eco 7,.Its not his job to give individual advice on domestic arrangements and I expect the Ombudsman will back Npower. The best you can expect from Npower, or any supplier, is a bit of a discount. they can t be expected to be liable for the lack of knowledge of any end user as to what type of meter is installed in their properties.It was all clear as night from day on the bill....Day units and night units prices, all in black and white.. If you have an old style 24 hr timer switch the cheap 7 hrs can fall virtually anywhere in the 24 hrs and not in the dead of night

sgun

OP stated did not want to be on E7.

Request not processed.

OP should have checked but didn't - part his fault, part Npowers.

Npower set up payment plan incorrectly.

Npower failed to recognise a completely different meter would need to be installed - totally Npowers fault, it IS the "call centre jockeys" job to be au fait with the products that they are selling.

OP did not have a "lack of knowledge" of what was installed, they had tried to get the tariff changed. It is NOT the OPs job to know that a different meter was required - this was entirely down to Npower as they are the supplier and therefore the "expert".

[Deleted User]

Before making assumptions about the eco 7 meter causing the debt, we would need accurate day/night usage reads. I see eco 7 meters all the time where the timerswitches are so out of time the night use is very high even without NSH. Also its a favourite trick of ALL suppliers to bill people the wrong way round with the expensive day units billed at half price.Rest assured hardly anyone complains of course..they save that for the big complaint when they are back billed. No NSH use now for the OP so will prob have GCH. There are some very good dual fuel eco 7 rates around which can beat single rate tariffs..It all depends how many cheap units are used. In the past on here we have had many people complaining about their eco7 meter and been offered substantial rebates .EDF and BG have even wiped the difference completely. The OP has Mr Google to help him/her and did nt really need anyones expert advice about a legacy meter .All he/she needed was a bit of common sense and clear instructions to Npower to exchange the meter, and pay the cost of that exchange..my old Mum did it without me telling her ! . I believe that OFGEM have instructed suppliers to inform people on Eco 7 tariffs if they would be better off on a single tariff. They would need a couple of years usage to properly work that out and that would need plenty of accurate readings submitted.

nPower

foggy87 wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place/incorrectly.

I am at my wits end and need some advice.

I have been with NPower for 3 years. When I moved to my property they put me on an economy 7 tariff as I have storage heaters. I told them at the time I didn't want to be on economy 7 as I had no intention of using the heaters. To this day I have never used them.

Without me realising they didn't process my request and as as result I accrued a large debt with them as we were using the majority of our electricity at the most expensive rate.

After many tears and several phone calls I set up a payment plan with them to clear the debt and come off economy 7. However the person I dealt with only set my payments up to cover my debt and not my usage going forward so as I cleared the debt my next bill came and pushed me back into debt again.

After going back and forwards with Npower I finally set up a payment plan covering both debt and ongoing use and thought everything was ticking over fine.

I was wrong. I have discovered today that I am still on economy 7. It transpires after a 2 hour conversation with them that I would need my meter changing to a single tariff meter. Why couldn't I have been advised of this 3 years ago? My argument to them was that as this was their mistake as they had not followed my repeated requested my debt should be refunded.

All they waffled on was about changing my meter which isn't an option as I am a private tenant. Finally she did reveal I could go on a 24 hour single tariff.

Npower are refusing to look at my debt and look at some compensation of what I consider something I have been overpaying for years now. They have insinuated I am a liar as there are no notes on their system to say I've asked for this. I have little trust in their system due to other little niggles over the year but they are adamant they have done nothing wrong.

I seem to be going round and round and circles with them and every phone call to them results in tears. I am stressed out immensely that I owe them so much money. I could accept if it was due to me not paying but I pay them by direct debit every month without fail. They are pushing me over the edge and they just don't care and I don't know whether I am fighting a losing battle with them.

It seems they are happy to profit from my misery and as the little fish in a big pond they simply do not care.

Would appreciate any advice/experience anyone could share with me.

Thank you.

Hello foggy87,

Thanks for your post! I’m sorry to see you’ve asked to be billed on the single rate tariff on several occasions and have been billed on Economy 7 rates. It’s also not great to hear that a payment plan was set up for your outstanding balance only.

It is advised to have a meter exchange if you wish to change from Economy 7 to Standard, however we can also make amendments without an appointment. If you’ve not had the meter exchanged your prices may revert back to Economy 7 if you change your tariff etc, this could be what’s happened with your account.

I’m happy to look into this further if you can send an email for my attention. You can find the email address on our profile page.

Thanks
Laura