Cannot afford massive bills

Leavemealone

OK, I will be as brief as possible. A few years ago I 'switched' to NPower using USwitch. They said payments would be £74 a month, however, after one month they upped this to £120. Around this time I noticed my use was escalating and despite various checks both official and personal no one could tell me why. My quarterly bills went from between £200 and £300 per quarter to over £500 per quarter.

I am a single pensioner, in a Council owned home with solar panels. I religiously follow the suggestions for getting the best out of solar system. I do not use a tumble dryer, and am very frugal with my heat source pump. I got into debt of just under £2000 quickly despite paying what I could afford and NP quickly followed on with threats as per normal.

Eventually in my distress I requested they turn off my supply until I had cleared the debt. They did not even respond. Eventually after one really large bill I had to telephone them. They were pretty stern with me and being disabled and deaf could not always tell what they were saying.

Anyway the upshot that I apparently agreed to was that they would request a payment of £57 for my State Pension.

This took a while to come through, and in that time with no action on my behalf, my bill suddenly went back to £176 for the next quarter. I contacted them again, but was told the retention of £57 had already been set up with the Benefits Agency and sure enough the next week £57 was taken, at source from my Pension Credit.

Then the next week it was taken again, and then I was told I had agreed to them taking that amount per week, not per month and so it stands!

Being disabled in my 70,s my Benefits are 'means tested' and I cannot believe it can be correct to take so much - I am devastated - however not the end of the tale......

Last week I was speaking to the owner of the next door house which had been vacated in August 2019 and she was telling me about the renters and how they had left the house in a wreck and owing thousands of pounds in rent, also the police were involved about the theft of various items from the home, and this got me thinking, the quarter after they left was when my bill suddenly reduced!

There are no signs anything had been tampered with, but it did get me thinking. - I know there is nothing I can do now, but I believe that this is possibly the answer to the question of my power use suddenly going up - I cannot say for sure that this started at the time they arrived, but it certainly dropped when they left!!
Is there any way I can try and get this £57 per week reduced or, will I have to put up with it until I die ?

Again, apologies for the long first post.

[Deleted User]

Hi,


wow, that block of text is hard to read, so gave up.


Think you're implying you're paying to much for energy.


Are you providing regular meter readings to you're supplier, so bills not based on estimates?

Number-6

Re next door - Can you get someone to check in your loft, or any other potentially shared areas, that the ex neighbours have not wired into your supply ?
If so you should be due some money back as the electricity was stolen.....

Robin9

Leavemealone - it is a bit of a ramble.

Forget £'s, payments and DD - lets have actual meter readings and dates please.

Go back 12 months - were you in credit or debit then ?

You say switched to nPower several years ago. Are you still with nPower ? What tariff are you on ?

Is this Gas and Electric (if only electric is it E7 - or E10 etc)

Essmum

First of all do you claim Warm Home Discount?
Are you providing regular meter reads? And reading the correct meter? Check the number on your meter matches the number on the bill.
Ir may be time to put in an official complaint as to how your account has been handled. As a vulnerable customer they should have offered to help you and £57 a week is not sustainable if you are only on a pension.
Give them a call and see if you can have it lowered.

harrys66

Hello,


Unfotunantly npower are probably one of the worst providers out there when it comes to customer service/care, plus they are quite expensive in comparison, if your out of debt then please MOVE away ASAP



Have you signed up for priority service so that they HAVE to read your meter regularly, so no bill shocks in future .....


https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/extra-help-energy-services/priority-services-register-people-need


https://www.npower.com/ui/forms/priority-services-register.html


If your not signed up for priority, and not given advice by npower to do so I think you should start to question them why you havent already been moved, and if not happy with there answer go to the ombudsnam

Pete99

Your best bet might be to go to your local citizens advice or failing that your MP, and while you're in this position I would read the meter daily at the same time of day so that you can see how much you're using each day.

elsien

Have you or they tested your meter to see if it's working correctly?
If you can't afford or didn't understand the £57 a week make a formal complaint then escalate to the ombudsman.

D_M_E

You need to get an electrician in to check the wiring, particularly in the loft or anywhere where the adjacent tenants could have had access and tell the sparky to disconnect anything that looks even remotely suspicious.

There may be someone in your area who will do it for you for free - ask your coun cil, they may know of someone, or a charity organization might have information on who could do it for you.

As for the £57 weekly, this is far too much to be removed from your pension, did they get any form of written agreement to take this, and is/will it actually be removed?

Have you written to them and raised a formal complaint about their shabby performance, treatment and responses given when you raised your concerns?

matelodave

I'm guessing that if you've got a heatpump that you might need a lesson or two on how to use it properly and to make sure that the flow temperatures or hot water aren't set so high as to utilise the back-up heater - it should be below 50 degrees..

Frequently councils and housing associations just shove in a heatpump because they can claim grants and RHI payments but they often just replace an existing boiler without upgrading the rest of the heating system. They don't set them up properly, they can also be undersized and they don't advise tenants how they should be used.

You really need to work out how much energy you are using (in kwh not £££), what tariff you are on and ensure that your system is set up correctly.

You would help yourself greatly if you read your meter(s) at east once a week so you can see what you are using and when - if you dont monitor it you cant control it. You should also be checking your energy bills to ensure that you aren't getting estimated bills. If you are then get them corrected with actual meter readings.

If you are having real problems then have a chat with the CAB who should be able to give you some advice

Leavemealone

Thank you all for your replies, I will make notes of all suggestions and do what I can to implement them. Being physically disabled there are some that may prove too difficult. I have requested a 'smart' meter for years, but just keep getting told I am 'on the list' I always get someone to read the meter whenever it is requested by NP, and they did send someone to 'inspect the meter' a few weeks ago, and the readings were up to date.

I apologise Frugal I had thought I had double spaced the paragraphs, but it appears I did not.

They are actual readings only one 'estimate' in 2 years, but back on track now. I think I am already on a 'special tariff; they said something about be on a vulnerable list if there are any power cuts.

The pension office tell me they go by the amount that NP have told them I agreed to, even though it is higher than they would normally agree, so yes, back to NP but think all in all I will have to go to CAB have to make appointments now and they are around 3 months wait! so a lot of £57 will go out prior to that so a frugal 3 month s ahead.