Historic debt with Npower due to possible faulty meter

paulwhite1987

Hello, I really need help.

In our old house, npower supplied our electric on a credit meter.
The monthly dd was set at just £6 and we were still building a large credit on the meter which they refunded periodically.

It was based on actual meter reading and the occasional estimate.
Toward winter the usage went up so the dd was increased to £18pm.
Out of the blue an engineer visited to read the meter which meant the bill shot up to £260PM and caused an outstanding balance of £850 on the account.

O have been fighting ever since and we have since moved house and no longer with npower and this was back in 2016.

I went to the ombudsman service which resulted in them telling npower to used average consumption to work out a new bill which reduced the overall balance from the original £1200 down to £950.

I didnt accept this offer so it went to deadlock and now I have discovered npower have sent the full balance of 1200 to Lowell financial debt recovery.

I still believe this was caused by a faulty meter and I dont know what to do. Npower won't help and jist say to speak to lowell but I have not yet as that would be acknowledging the bill.

Is there anyway to get the bill cleared as they cannot prove what happened or do I have to pay lowel? And if I do, npower won't adjust the bill to the £950 

Please help 😓

Robin9

paulwhite1987 said:

.............
The monthly dd was set at just £6 and we were still building a large credit on the meter which they refunded periodically.............

That alone sounds most odd - £6 only just covers the standing charge - no way ae you going to build up a large credit.

You presumably have lots of correspondence and copy bills.  Post some with ACTUAL readings and charges from when the DD was £6  and also from  your final bill.

EDIT was this by any chance an old meter with the dials going in different directions - very easy for you and meter readers to get wrong.

MWT

paulwhite1987 said:

Is there anyway to get the bill cleared as they cannot prove what happened or do I have to pay lowel? And if I do, npower won't adjust the bill to the £950

It sounds like they do have proof in the form of the reading from the meter reader who visited you...

To be frank, £6 a month and still building a credit just isn't credible and suggests as Robin observed, that you were only paying the standing charge and little else.

I assume you have bills from that period and together with the meter reading it should make it clear what is owed, but I suspect that having been through the Ombudsman process and perhaps unwisely rejecting the reduction, you may now be stuck with the original bill.

... but providing what details you have, especially your own meter readings from that time and a bill or two might help us help you to understand what has happened...