nPower and the new meter fiasco !

Videoman

Hi Everybody !
I will keep this as short as possible!
It started in Nov 2014. I have made an E-Mail ( my email) ONLY account with nPower, so that me and the wife can manage the account for My 85yr old MIL and she will not be concerned about bills/letters etc.. We had a new single phase electric meter installed on 2nd Nov 2014. Readings were taken etc.
When it was due, new meter readings were taken by myself or a meter man would call.... but each time the bill arrived, by email, it was estimated. I rang and told them the numbers and asked for a new 'proper' bill. Another estimated bill would follow and so on.... We did not get a proper bill and I would not pay because of this, for obvious reasons. My MIL became worried to death that she would be cut off, sent to court and have 'men calling' because I would not let her pay for something that was not correctly invoiced. I had rang nPower at he end of July and Lee Belshaw told me that they had another 90 days to put matters right, and that ends on 28 August 2015. I must raise ANOTHER complaint at that point if nothing is resolved and I must not be concerned by bills and letters until it is resolved. You try telling that to a 85yr old lady who has always done as 'authorities' have told her !
I rang as requested on 28th August and told them I wasnt happy about this on-going problem.... they apologised. On 1st Sept they then sent a paper-bill, addressed to MIL at her house !!! It stated she owned hundreds of pounds! ''Just pay it and let them have it, I dont want the police coming here'' she pleaded..... It really is a horrible situation!
On 21st Sept 2015, I received a letter acknowledging my complaint. Then, without any further conversations between myslef and nPower, I had a further letter dated 24th Sept saying 'As we've agreed, your complaint has been closed...no need for you to do anything'. As you can imagine, I was slightly miffed !!!!!!!!! I rang them AGAIN on 29th Sept 2015 and told them so ! I also learned in this conversation with Paul Giles that nPower STILL had my MIL as a duel tariff elec meter !!! 44 weeks after installation of a single phase meter and after loads of phone calls to them!! I had to read out the meter number to him as he didnt believe me !! He said he would have to send a man to check it was a single tariff one... we arranged a date that did not coincide with me working away ..., yeah you've guessed it.. A man arrived while I was away!! -- CONFIRMED, single phase meter... Bill please??! narghhhh.. Now that they had confirmed it... they have another 56 days to put it on the system ! Thats ANTHER 56 days of me trying to convince my MIL that she will not be without heating as the winter approaches !!!
By November 25th, I had the 'Eight Week' letter about the Ombudsman service. They were 'still working on my complaint' they said in a Dec 1st 2015 letter.
On 22nd Jan 2016 they sent me a letter saying 'we have being trying to call you'... so I called them and all it was was the payments team trying to get money out of me for a estimated bill, again. I received another letter on 28th Jan 2016 saying 'we've reopened your complaint' , how nice!
Another 'reminder' letter was sent, addressed to my MIL about her outstanding bill, again, hundreds of pounds. Her quote to me was 'well.... that looks ok, just pay it' ... Now I have had to fend off this kind of subservient behaviour for 15 months now because of nPower, along with the 'will I be cut off, will I have to go to court' type of things.
On 2 Feb 2016 , Nicole at nPower Complaints offered me a goodwill gesture of £30... I flatly refused this offer. I told her that we were only obliged to pay for the latest 12 months fuel as THEY have 'cocked-up' basically. She said that they dont agree regarding the back-billing. She told me it would have to go to Stage 2 Complaints. Nice :-)
On Feb 16th 2016, Ms Ward from Complaints Stage 2 rang and again disputed my back-billing request and offered me (what she thought was too much) a £75 Goodwill Gesture. She asked ' what would you like me to do with the offer ' ...Honestly, that's what she asked !! I was a gentleman... and refused once more. Stage 3 will have to contact me now....
My belief is that, as its taken 15 months before this was resolved, can they only bill me for 12 months ( 80% of 15 months ) If so, I need at least 20% reduction on the back billing alone... and THEN take off the Goodwill Gesture too. Goodness knows how long that I have spent on the phone with them, it was 25 minutes yesterday alone!
I hope that I have not bored you with all this and I would appreciate your thoughts on the 'legals' and not 'policy' or 'moral' thoughts on this situation. I can honestly say that trying to keep my elderly MIL mentally comfortable over this period has been horrid... but she knows that I am doing the right thing, but it goes against elderly peoples way of life... Thank You. :think:

[Deleted User]

So when the bill arrived did nt anyone spot the day and night readings, when you should ve had a single rate bill. even if they were estimated. Another look at the bills meter serial number would ve confirmed that there had been a minor hiccup with the new meter, for whatever reason, not being registered correctly. I would accept the £75 and move on.

dogshome

I'm afraid that the 'Back Billing Agreement' is unlikely to apply because NP were sending out bills, even though they were estimated and based on the wrong meter readings.

When the meter was swapped from an ECO7 to a Standard meter, the meter change crew should have left behind a card showing the readings on the old meter as it was removed, and the reading on the new one as it was installed.
These cards are often just tucked inside the meter cuboard, so if you don't have it look around the meter.
(With the card's readings and what the meter reads now, it should not be too difficult to work out what is owed.)

WRITE to NP heading the letter Complaint, enclosing a copy of the meter card left by the change crew and meter reading taken on the date of the letter.
When you do get a correct bill, then that is the time to negotiate a compensatory payment before you pay it

Videoman

Yes, of course we noticed the estimated day and night units... hence the 20 darn phone calls to them ! i didnt pay because they were estimated bills and I and the meter men were giving them actual readings. There was no need for them to over-bill my MIL.

Videoman

Thank you for the reply about back-billing. So, when does back billing take effect? In theory, they could have been sending bills for a ridiculous amount, say, £35000, with me complaining for 15 months and you say that even though they were incorrect, despite me telling them that they were wrong, back-billing would not apply? When does it apply ?
As for the COMPLAINT issue... the CORRECT readings have been on the system since day one... its just that they would not accept a SINGLE reading for the elec. We have a presumably 'correct' bill now... hence the phone calls over the past week.... hence the £75 offer...

Videoman

Can you believe it ?? I have JUST had a phone call from the same lady as yesterday to advice me that as I had queried the 'back-billing' she has had another look at the account and she says it doesn't look as though nPower 'picked-up' on the new meter change until 18 Jan 2016 therefore taking over the 12 months since it was installed. It was just a courtesy call to let me know that she is sending it back down to 'billing' to take another look. ... Never say 'never', eh...... well, not yet. :-)

Wolf3

Videoman wrote: »

Thank you for the reply about back-billing. So, when does back billing take effect? In theory, they could have been sending bills for a ridiculous amount, say, £35000, with me complaining for 15 months and you say that even though they were incorrect, despite me telling them that they were wrong, back-billing would not apply? When does it apply ?
As for the COMPLAINT issue... the CORRECT readings have been on the system since day one... its just that they would not accept a SINGLE reading for the elec. We have a presumably 'correct' bill now... hence the phone calls over the past week.... hence the £75 offer...

i'm afraid that is correct, the back billing agreement only applies when an energy supplier hasn't provided a bill for at least 12 months.
The complaint goes back a fair while and it would appear NPower shouldn't have closed your initial complaint raised prior to Aug 2015, as its still not been resolved, my only advice i would give you is to read their complaints handling policy https://www.npower.com/home/help-and-support/contact-us/complaints/complaints-handling-policy/ and be prepared to provide some offer on what you consider to be a fair offer of "goodwill" they can provide to resolve the complaint based on your time and cost, otherwise take the matter to the ombudsman when your able to do so, if they wont accept this offer.

WRITE to NP heading the letter Complaint, enclosing a copy of the meter card left by the change crew and meter reading taken on the date of the letter.
When you do get a correct bill, then that is the time to negotiate a compensatory payment before you pay it

I would say your already way down this route so no need to raise a further complaint

gardner1

Op your first post is way to long....I gave up after 2nd paragraph

brickwallplushead

Hi, Just a quick question on npower billing. Over the last few years I have had three refunds listed in my npower statement and on each occasion the refund amount has appeared in the Debit column and the account balance has been reduced by the same amount as the refund. Has anyone else noticed this in their billing? I have complained but the replies are a poor attempt to fob me off.
In my last bill it stated in large letters "We've refunded £176.28 to you" but what npower did was take that out of the account. Do they need a dictionary?

Videoman

Thank you Wolf3. You are quite right, I am a fair way down the route and I do have a letter from nPower, sent to me in December 2015, saying that '' you can now contact the Ombudsman as your complaint has not been rectified in the past eight weeks'' .... that was over 12 months since the new meter had been installed. I am awaiting Miss Wardles' ( Complaint Stage 2 ) reply before I write/phone them :-).

dogshome

Hmmm - The Ombudsman won't take on any complaint that is more than 9 months old
Whether this 9 months runs from the date you first made complaint to the supplier, or 9 months from the time the supplier says " Take this up with the Ombudsman", I know not - Better phone them and ask