Npower - Britain's Brightest Energy Company

pebx99

I applied for a sign online dual fuel account with Npower through the
Moneysupermarket.com website on 1st May 2007. Npower successfully transferred my electricity account on 06/06/07. However, they have repeatedly given my gas supplier the wrong Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN). I have given them the correct information around a dozen times, in various wasted telephone calls and e-mails; and Energywatch have also spoken to both suppliers to make sure that Npower has the correct MPRN. On every occasion (around a dozen), the transfer fails because Npower gives my current supplier the wrong details. Their latest letter (dated 10.10.07) confirms that they have again failed to transfer my gas account. While all this nonsense is going on, I am losing out on dual fuel discounts with both suppliers. So, instead of saving me money, Npower are costing me money. And, of course, they also failed to advise Moneysupermarket.com that they have transferred the electricity account , so I have received nothing from them either. There is no chance that I will ever see the £30 dual fuel cashback. On the advice of Energywatch I have referred the matter to the Ombudsman for their comments. I have now advised Britain's Dumbest Energy Company that I will be taking my electricity account away from them.

Rich1976

I am having similar problems with transferring my gas and electric to Npower. The main concern is that for some reason my house has 2 electric MPAN Numbers, one of which is de-energised the other is not. Unfortunately it is the de-energised MPAN Number which is appearing on Npower's systems. They have admitted this and keep assuring me it will all be sorted. My current electric company have the other MPAN Number and therefore are not even aware that Npower are to take over the electricity supply. I have logged a complaint with Npower as I don't want to be in the position of both suppliers thinking they supply the electric.

Terrylw1

Hi Rich,

If you are transferring to Npower they just need the correct MPAN. By any chance did you used to have 2 meters - 1 normal rate & 1 for off peak metering? If so, you can blame your current Supplier since they are supposed to disconnect the duisused MPAN so this doesn't happen when you transfer!!!

Npower just need the correct MPAN so why don't you advise them of the correct one for them to register it? They do sometimes pick up the wrong MPAN, they shoudn't when 1 is energised, 1 is de-energised.

This problem may also relate to your supplementary data held in MPAS. Sometimes it gets crossed when you have 1 of your meters removed. This then causes lots of problems changing supplier as your new supplier looks for the data that matches your meter and registers it. Your old supplier have the data crossed, causing this.

If you post back a bit more detail, maybe I can help you understand why it's going wrong.

At the moment, I'm leaning more in favout of your current supplier doing something that has caused this. Seen it many a time.

Terrylw1

Hi Pebx,

Thats a right pain!

However, your old Supplier can only object to the transfer. It's the service in between, Transco, that would fail the registration if it were incorrect. So, thats a bit confusing. The MPRN is tied to the address so have you got a difficult address or live in flats in London/Glasgow where flat addresses are not the best in the postal format???

Rich1976

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Hi Rich,

If you are transferring to Npower they just need the correct MPAN. By any chance did you used to have 2 meters - 1 normal rate & 1 for off peak metering? If so, you can blame your current Supplier since they are supposed to disconnect the duisused MPAN so this doesn't happen when you transfer!!!

Npower just need the correct MPAN so why don't you advise them of the correct one for them to register it? They do sometimes pick up the wrong MPAN, they shoudn't when 1 is energised, 1 is de-energised.

This problem may also relate to your supplementary data held in MPAS. Sometimes it gets crossed when you have 1 of your meters removed. This then causes lots of problems changing supplier as your new supplier looks for the data that matches your meter and registers it. Your old supplier have the data crossed, causing this.

If you post back a bit more detail, maybe I can help you understand why it's going wrong.

At the moment, I'm leaning more in favout of your current supplier doing something that has caused this. Seen it many a time.

I have told them about 6 times over the last 3 months. Apparently the electric meter is connected to the wrong MPAN Number. The MPAN Number it is connected to is registered against a plot number rather than my house. The house was only built 7 years ago so am not sure why 2 meters have ever been registered.

70ian

the same thing happened to me when I tried to switch to Npower - gave them my MPRN at the point of application and another 3 or 4 times over the telephone. Complained via energywatch again after they failed to transfer my gas (due to lack of MPRN) and transfered by neighbour's electricity account instead of mine. This was despite the fact they had the correct meter point numbers for both gas and electricity (I checked before I applied to switch). I gave them another chance and yet again they sent me the form letter asking for my MPRN details. They are incompetent and their account management system is rubbish. I've since switched to another supplier.

Terrylw1

Rich1976 wrote: »

I have told them about 6 times over the last 3 months. Apparently the electric meter is connected to the wrong MPAN Number. The MPAN Number it is connected to is registered against a plot number rather than my house. The house was only built 7 years ago so am not sure why 2 meters have ever been registered.

Ah ha, thats explains it.

It sounds like 1 has been replaced with the other. This sometimes happens on new build sites where a) your Supplier can't find you at all and agrees to get a new MPAN or b) the other was a temporary supply and gets replaced by a fulltime supply and a new MPAN requested.

Any redundant MPAN should be disconnected. This is not Npower's fault, it's your current Supplier (or the Supplier who first accepted your property if different to your current)

Whats needed to resolve it:

- your current Supplier needs to change you address in the MPAS system to match your address, not the lot address. They achieve this by emailing the Distributors MPAS service. They will then send them a dataflow back to confirm the update, usually takes about 7 days or so.

- Npower need to then request to supply the MPAN held by your current Supplier. The de-energised MPAN must have your address on, so NPower are requesting it as they should not request the plot address knowing it doesn't match.

Once your current Supplier has changed the address, thats easy. Just tell Npower to ignore the de-energised one thats extra telling them you have 1 meter supplied on MPAN XXXXXXXXXXX by your current Supplier. If the other MPAN is spare, your current Supplier if they have it, can eaily logically disconnect it to stop this happening.

There's also a chance that you have a bigger problem with the MPAN's being crossed. Only your current Supplier can resolve that prior to transfer though.

Is your meter number attached to both MPAN's?

Sadly, this one sits with your old Supplier. They are supposed to disconnect MPAN's that are no longer in use if the supply doesn't exist like this. It stops customers getting stuck in the middle of these problems.

Incidentally, your current Supplier gets your address confirmed in their registration of you so they knew you were recorded as a plot address and failed to resolve it. So, if you get to the Energywatch stage,a lot of this sits on them.


P.S. it's not Npower's system. Only your current Supplier and the Distribution MPAS system have your details. The new Supplier puts a request to register you into MPAS who then inform your current Supplier. This means that Npower can only register, they can't sort any of the other problems out for you.

magyar

Just a note on the dual-fuel discount: you should be able to ask them to backdate this to the date that you requested the transfer. Npower pay £80 on the anniversary of your switch, so they can change that to any date you want.

Alternatively, you should be able to go back to your previous supplier and ask them to pay you up until the date you actually switched.

Regarding the £30 to Moneysupermarket, you could try and get compensation for this, too, but in practice online deals are hard to get inforced.

Terrylw1

Thanks Magyar, whilst markers go on for duel fuel discounts on an automatced basis, I seem to recall their staff can manually enter a date to get around these problems as you stated.

Their duel fuel discounts checks were generated out of an umbrella system rather than their billing systems which may get around the issue if it exists on their new billing system.

pebx99

I'm afraid you can't believe them. I complained to EnergyWatch several times, and received the reply that they were aware that there were two MPRN for my address and that they knew, and confirmed by letter, what the correct one was. They applied to my current gas supplier again with the WRONG details and the transfer was rejected. I'm afraid they are completely stupid.

magyar

pebx99 wrote: »

I'm afraid you can't believe them. I complained to EnergyWatch several times, and received the reply that they were aware that there were two MPRN for my address and that they knew, and confirmed by letter, what the correct one was. They applied to my current gas supplier again with the WRONG details and the transfer was rejected. I'm afraid they are completely stupid.

Corporate stupidity is very common in the sector, I'm afraid. I can only say that my experience of npower has been no better or worse than any other company I've been with.