Overpaid gas, best plan of action?

Cardew

I think we are getting at cross purposes here.

There is no doubt IMO that NPower should have carried out a review and automatically sent you a refund and reduced your DD; especially as gas prices dropped easrlier this year.

The much maligned BG have always reviewed my four accounts each year and often given me unsolicited refunds.

Compensating for lost interest is another question altogether; and I don't think there is any case for that to be paid.

I also don't think your analogy with Tesco, or indeed ‘abuse of trust’ is valid. As you state, there is no question of them not refunding you; it is a 'c*ck up' rather than a conspiracy, and you have played your part!!

hollymcr

Cardew wrote: »

There is no doubt IMO that NPower should have carried out a review and automatically sent you a refund and reduced your DD; especially as gas prices dropped easrlier this year.

We're agreed here!

Compensating for lost interest is another question altogether; and I don't think there is any case for that to be paid.

We disagree here, although I accept that my case is weak!

I also don't think your analogy with Tesco, or indeed ‘abuse of trust’ is valid. As you state, there is no question of them not refunding you; it is a 'c*ck up' rather than a conspiracy, and you have played your part!!

It wasn't the best analogy, but for a different reason: if Tesco overcharged me they wouldn't tell me they'd overcharged me on each bill they subsequently gave me, showing it as a "credit".

However, I don't think that's the point. If, for example, npower had deliberately overestimated the meter reading and charged me on the basis of that, you could equally claim that it was just up to me to check the meter so the overcharge was my fault.

On the other hand, my complaint was really that the poor control over this at npower's end was in contrast to what I (wrongly, I have learnt here) perceived to be much tighter control when it was in npower's interest.

Also, the post was less about what I deserve, more about what I might be able to get. If someone advised me to ring (eg) Sky and say I wanted to leave in order to have them offer me a better package, it wouldn't be because I "deserved" a better package, but that I "could get" a better package. That was the spirit in which I originally posted (although that was not clear, I agree).

espresso

hollymcr wrote: »

Also, the post was less about what I deserve, more about what I might be able to get. If someone advised me to ring (eg) Sky and say I wanted to leave in order to have them offer me a better package, it wouldn't be because I "deserved" a better package, but that I "could get" a better package. That was the spirit in which I originally posted (although that was not clear, I agree).

OK, please let us know what you manage to get out of them.

Cardew

hollymcr wrote: »

Also, the post was less about what I deserve, more about what I might be able to get. If someone advised me to ring (eg) Sky and say I wanted to leave in order to have them offer me a better package, it wouldn't be because I "deserved" a better package, but that I "could get" a better package. That was the spirit in which I originally posted (although that was not clear, I agree).

No problems with that approach!!!!

I would stress their failure to carry out a review.

I doubt you will get interest but you just might get a 'goodwill' payment!!

hollymcr

espresso wrote: »

OK, please let us know what you manage to get out of them.

Well I've got to the bottom of it...

My last real meter reading was in May, prior to that for a long period they'd just used estimated readings (and, it turns out, wildly inaccurate ones). So according to my account back in May prior to the reading my account was in debit (and in line with comments here they weren't chasing me). This explains why I hadn't noticed the credit building up!

Then they took a reading and corrected for the over-estimated usage, giving me a massive credit which just postdated my last bill, so this bill was the first to show it.

So my error was not the failure to check the bills (which I had done but thought nothing of them) but my failure to check the meter readings were accurate.

End result: credit of £480, monthly payments reduced from £44 to £20 (which sounds low to me but that's what they worked out for me). No interest or other benefits but having got to the bottom of what caused it, it just felt like "one of those things" and I didn't ask for more.

espresso

hollymcr wrote: »

Well I've got to the bottom of it.............

Thanks for the explanation and good to hear that you have now resolved the issue.

Although it may seem a bit sad, lots of us take regular meter readings to simply keep on top of the billing and to keep an eye on usage.

Cardew

hollymcr wrote: »

End result: credit of £480, monthly payments reduced from £44 to £20 (which sounds low to me but that's what they worked out for me).

Glad you got it resolved.

With a £20 DD it looks like you will build up a debit balance and get a nice interest free loan!!

For some years with BG my account balances swung from credit balance and reduced DD(+ rebate) to debit balance and hiked DD. It evened out over the years!!

Looks like you might be getting the same treatment!

oldwiring

hollymcr wrote: »

Good advice, certainly.

However, monthly payments of £44 suggest an annual spend of £528, so to be up £480 I've almost paid for a whole year at their predicted rate. Looking now at the figures, my annual spend is more like £350, so monthly payments of about £30 and a full reclaim of the credit balance would seem fair to me.


I'll let them do the maths when I speak to them tomorrow and see what they come up with.

Points taken but the supplier may look at the position that will obtain at the end of the 12 month charging period coverd by your DDs rather than that as now.