N Power Duel Fuel Charge - Am I Right??

tturnstill1988

Hi Everyone

After a bit of opinion and advice on an issue i am having with npower right now. Here is the story.

In May 2017 i exchanged on a house. The house had been vacant since Jan 2016... as previous owner died and family struggled to sell.

Even though i exchanged in May 2017, I did not move in until December 2017. During the 7 months in between, the property was empty, and with gas and electric switched off 'at the mains'.

In June 2017 I set up an npower duel fuel account. Even though i was not living there i thought i ought to sort out energy supplies early. I ended up setting up a direct debit in order to get a particular tariff. I did not take readings at the time as I was not near the property (i moved from a few hours away). However, npower added readings to my account that were labelled 'N Power Read'...

When i moved in in December 2017, i then submitted meter readings of gas and electric on the npower website. This flagged up that the gas reading i had given was lower than their original reading back in June 2017. Therefore it instructed me to call customer services, which I did.

I was told that, after weeks of 'investigation', the previous energy supplier for the old owner was not informed of the vacant possession and as such was 'estimating' quarterly usage as if the house was still in possession during Jan 2016 to May 2017. Therefore, when the energy was switched to npower by me in June 2017, the readings they sent npower were 18 month old estimates for a house thats laid vacant!! (and NOT 'npower readings' as was listed in my online account!)

Npower then said they will place my account on hold as they do not know what the bill should be, because my current gas reading is lower than the reading they had, obviously! (somehow the electric wasn't, but it wasn't much)...
I did tell npower that the property was still vacant until December 2017 and the lady on the phone seemed to take that into consideration and said they will come back to me.

N power then came back to me last week via phone call, around 6 weeks since last correspondence. They have told me that the amount due is about £630 and yes, that takes into consideration any direct debits i had paid them at the back end of last year..!

I said how on earth could it possibly be that much, and they have said that "we have worked out your usage between your december readings and readings we took this week and have averaged it out across the months from when you purchased the house in June 2017"

I said to her that i had previously mentioned that i did not move in until December, and the readings i sent in december were the first of my usage.. to which she just replied saying "well we can only go with the information we have been given and we have to work it out from June 2017".........


Now, this cant be right surely?
Yes, i probably should have checked the meter readings that they 'had taken' in June, but due to travelling it just did not seem worth the trip (oh little did i know!!!)...

Surely they also have a responsibility to take meter readings, no? Or at least not tell me they have?

Just want some advice on where i stand with this situation please? I told them that i will check the new bill (which she sent to me) and she will call me back this Thursday to discuss again.

I want to tell her why its not right (if it isnt) but really am not sure what to say :rotfl:

Any help appreciated, really! Thank you !!
:beer::beer:

tturnstill1988

For the record, i have just worked out what the bills should be, based on their rates, standing charges and vat. And using my readings when i moved in.

Currently they want to claim £536.91 electricity. I have worked it out to be £328.94

Gas i cannot work out, because they have not saved my previous reading on the account because it was lower, so that sgone !!!!!

So frustrated right now

nPower

tturnstill1988 wrote: »

Hi Everyone

After a bit of opinion and advice on an issue i am having with npower right now. Here is the story.

In May 2017 i exchanged on a house. The house had been vacant since Jan 2016... as previous owner died and family struggled to sell.

Even though i exchanged in May 2017, I did not move in until December 2017. During the 7 months in between, the property was empty, and with gas and electric switched off 'at the mains'.

In June 2017 I set up an npower duel fuel account. Even though i was not living there i thought i ought to sort out energy supplies early. I ended up setting up a direct debit in order to get a particular tariff. I did not take readings at the time as I was not near the property (i moved from a few hours away). However, npower added readings to my account that were labelled 'N Power Read'...

When i moved in in December 2017, i then submitted meter readings of gas and electric on the npower website. This flagged up that the gas reading i had given was lower than their original reading back in June 2017. Therefore it instructed me to call customer services, which I did.

I was told that, after weeks of 'investigation', the previous energy supplier for the old owner was not informed of the vacant possession and as such was 'estimating' quarterly usage as if the house was still in possession during Jan 2016 to May 2017. Therefore, when the energy was switched to npower by me in June 2017, the readings they sent npower were 18 month old estimates for a house thats laid vacant!! (and NOT 'npower readings' as was listed in my online account!)

Npower then said they will place my account on hold as they do not know what the bill should be, because my current gas reading is lower than the reading they had, obviously! (somehow the electric wasn't, but it wasn't much)...
I did tell npower that the property was still vacant until December 2017 and the lady on the phone seemed to take that into consideration and said they will come back to me.

N power then came back to me last week via phone call, around 6 weeks since last correspondence. They have told me that the amount due is about £630 and yes, that takes into consideration any direct debits i had paid them at the back end of last year..!

I said how on earth could it possibly be that much, and they have said that "we have worked out your usage between your december readings and readings we took this week and have averaged it out across the months from when you purchased the house in June 2017"

I said to her that i had previously mentioned that i did not move in until December, and the readings i sent in december were the first of my usage.. to which she just replied saying "well we can only go with the information we have been given and we have to work it out from June 2017".........


Now, this cant be right surely?
Yes, i probably should have checked the meter readings that they 'had taken' in June, but due to travelling it just did not seem worth the trip (oh little did i know!!!)...

Surely they also have a responsibility to take meter readings, no? Or at least not tell me they have?

Just want some advice on where i stand with this situation please? I told them that i will check the new bill (which she sent to me) and she will call me back this Thursday to discuss again.

I want to tell her why its not right (if it isnt) but really am not sure what to say :rotfl:

Any help appreciated, really! Thank you !!
:beer::beer:

Hi tturnstill1988,

Thanks for your message. Please contact us using the details on our profile page so we can help with your billing query.

Thanks,

Jen

Dobbibill

You should have taken readings when you first moved in.



No theyare not obliged to take readings in such a short space of time that you refer to.



How do NP know you are telling the truth? Readings should always, always be taken - without them it causes a huge mess.