NPOWER fined £26 million

Hern

skyt wrote: »

I'm pleased to see Npower receiving some sort of regulatory attention, sadly I wonder if the penalty is enough to make them think again.
A couple of years ago they refused to repay the credit in my account when I moved house.
I eventually took them to the small claims court and they resisted the claim to the end with every possible fatuous argument to avoid their responsibilities (such as claiming the data protection act meant they couldn't pay me??!) . . . I eventually got paid when I sent the bailiffs round to their head office and I kind of felt it was my duty to see the case through on behalf of all those who were deterred by their disingenuous and bullying tactics.
I encourage anyone else to pursue them with some vigour and not to be intimidated by their 'legal team' who bluster but do not appear to have the glimmerings of any legal training. . . .

And there we have it:

The energy regulator is quite content to continue to licence a business which, even when found guilty by the civil courts of an act of serious financial misconduct, refuses to abide by the court's decision such that the customer actually has to go back to the courts to send in the bailiffs. Nothing more sleazy, more obstructive, and more arrogant is to be found than NPower's behaviour in this case . . .

. . . And yet, today, it STILL continues to rake in the £millions.

Thanks for your post -- much appreciated.

It seems to me that what we need to hear is information from as many MSErs as possible who actually have instituted court proceedings against an energy company and been successful.

As things stand, the pool of knowledge / experience upon which others can draw is anything but deep, yet given the Regulator's shameful inertia and the Energy Ombudsman Service's dismal record, it has become obvious that consumers should go to Law themselves rather than rely upon what is laughably known as UK consumer protection.

NPower should not be in business in the UK. As simple as that. And nor should those others whose conduct reeks of the same contempt towards the Law, the Regulator. . . and the customer.

Cardew

Hern wrote: »

It seems to me that what we need to hear is information from as many MSErs as possible who actually have instituted court proceedings against an energy company and been successful.

Perhaps to most disgraceful episode by NPower was the Sculpting/seasonal weighting scandal. See link for the shortened version. (just read the first and last page to get a flavour):


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2762108



Almost single handed a MSE poster(Direct Debacle) took NPower to court and as a result virtually every gas customer received a refund.

Hern

Cardew wrote: »

Perhaps to most disgraceful episode by NPower was the Sculpting/seasonal weighting scandal. See link for the shortened version. (just read the first and last page to get a flavour):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2762108

Almost single handed a MSE poster(Direct Debacle) took NPower to court and as a result virtually every gas customer received a refund.

Cardew: sincere thanks for flagging this up. Somewhat shamefacedly, I have to confess I was entirely unaware of the efforts made by DirectDebacle all of -- what? Five years ago? -- and other MSErs who, it really should be said (even though you won't say it yourself) included you yourself. The debt owed to DirectDebit and to yourself and others so comprehensively involved in exposing that issue -- and in DirectDebit's case, taking NPower to court -- is beyond quantification.

As I now find myself drawn into this issue by dint of a sustained encounter with an energy supplier whose operating licence should in my view have been stripped from it long since, the information you've provided here is of great relevance. What is depressing, however, is the realisation that this allegedly well-regulated business sector has been dysfunctional. . . for years. And that it really is about time a concerted effort was made to end the scandal.

Again: sincere thanks for your post and all your efforts.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

I agree with everything Cardew said in Post #23
"... most disgraceful episode by NPower ..."

DirectDebacle spent a vast amount of time helping all of us.

My approach, here at MSE, was to 'stick to the facts' in the hope that Ofgem (and others) would come to 'their own conclusions'. I tried not to impute motive.

I feared that if I was expressing my opinion too loudly it would detract from my position which was: here is another scandal that should be halted.

So, I took the 'deliberately naive' / face value approach that the Energy Market is effectively Regulated by Ofgem.

Sadly, most of my fears - about the scale and scope of the issues at npower - were realised.

I did hope that Ofgem would respond quicker.

I judged that the best use of my time and effort was to 'draw the facts together', to assist those inside npower and at Ofgem who were trying to 'stop the chaos'. I did this, in part, by editing the first post in the thread:

Warning: npower accept new customers without sending them a Contract
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4273611

and by linking to other threads - as more and more issues came to light.
That thread is now closed but the facts remain in the public domain.

I have, however, been able to edit my post in:

Add your feedback on energy supplier Npower
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4415573

which has had >77k views.

I had no financial incentive and there was no point, in my case, of going to law (IMHO).

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

backfoot

NPower being fined is a good thing. They deserve it. The escalating fines, however, do not seem to change the trend of incompetence from themselves or many of the others operating in this market.

There is often a common thread which is first an ill managed change process followed by the inability to link the customer facing staff with the Change Management.

Consequently , we as customers, explain our issue and either get it resolved or often don't because there are no available fixes other than manual intervention. The source of the problem still persists and more and more customers get affected causing a domino effect on flailing Customer Service staff.

Sitting around this is a Regulatory Process which allows it to continue , often for years, before anyone accepts there is a systemic issue. Individual customers are encouraged towards the Ombudsman whose offices further complicate and lengthen resolution, while not resolving the source issues, which is usually an IT glitch.

The Regulator is a totally reactive body some years behind the game and only really involved in designing and setting up a framework of rules and penalties to be applied well after the event.

We really need a more proactive Regulator with boots on the ground to take strong action to stop new customer gains or incorrect billing while significant problems persist..

From my own knowledge , Scottish Power are exhibiting totally flawed billing processes, which I can personally resolve , but which will currently be affecting many customers.

When I asked about the wider context of these problems, I was told 'nobody knows what is causing the problem':eek:

It just shouldn't be happening.