NPower gas 'sculpting'

Grumpy4u

More Success!!

Well done and congratulations to Mick! I fully endorse everything you say (especially the thanks due to DD and Sterling) and hope hundreds more will join the battle. All it takes is some determination and a couple of letters. Go to it everyone!!

meggsy

BT, Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, NatWest and npower cause more complaints than most ....... this is based on complaints received by The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/

Sterling

Hi folks

Sorry for the leave of absence. Contrary to any speculation I have not received a hefty brown envelope from npower and/or Ofgem and pushed off to a luxury villa in the sunshine.

My absence from these hallowed pages was altogether much more mundane. On 18th June our internet connection died completely and stayed that way (except for very brief moments on 23rd June and 2nd July) until just recently. The position was made even worse by the fact that a thunderstorm on 3rd July caused a bolt of lightning to strike a tree and the overhead telephone line nearby, which as a BT engineer later put it “fried the line” virtually all the way back to the exchange.

This extensive damage took several very hardworking BT Openreach engineers over 13 days to repair, leaving us and everyone else affected unavoidably without a telephone let alone an internet connection in the meantime. By the way, due to being surrounded by hills, mobile phones don’t work in or anywhere near our house and a number of others have the same problem. I had no idea just how much I depended on all this technology until I had to do without it.

As you can imagine, it has taken me a few days to catch up, including with all the posts on this thread since I lost contact. I will be writing in more detail soon, but first I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Meggsy for posting a link to the Hansard report of (my MP) Mark Todd’s speech in the Parliamentary Adjournment Debate on 3rd July. Meggsy said in her post that it took some finding. I figure that if it took Meggsy (an expert researcher) a while to find it, it would have taken me forever. Thanks again Meggsy.

I find it very pleasing that npower has paid out such significant sums of money to Mick Steel, Grumpy4u and hvaghela, especially after that company has offered them every excuse and tactic it can think of to avoid making any payment at all in each case. I do hope others who were overcharged follow their excellent example and I suggest that they should do so without any delay.

Until now, I have held back my own claim, but despite the fact that I am pursuing a complaint against Ofgem regarding its ineffectual investigation into npower’s sculpting actions (of which I will write more later) I propose to commence my own claim against npower in the course of the next few days. It is of course my intention to keep this thread as fully informed as possible. I will of course be using (extensively) DD’s excellent guide on making a claim. It is a truly brilliant piece of work.

I share Carmine’s and Cardew's astonishment that Martin Lewis has made no public comment whatever as regards this matter. To me this is very much like the bank charges situation, where after Martin made people aware, the claims rolled in and the early ones got paid off in full because the banks did not want to test their position in court.

Mark Todd MP in his Parliamentary speech on this subject said

“As I have mentioned, the company [npower] produced material that was well nigh impenetrable. I read the five pages and, frankly, if I had been one of their customers I would not have been able to work out how it affected me. Most ordinary consumers presumably just trusted that whatever it meant, they would not be mistreated. Ofgem, at the initial prompting of Energywatch, instituted an inquiry into the practice that took nearly a year to report. When it did, it failed to condemn the company’s practice, merely expressing concern about the company’s failure properly to inform customers.”

Here without doubt Mr Todd encapsulated the whole situation. I, like everyone else, relied upon npower as a major company, regulated by Ofgem and licensed by the Government, to treat its customers fairly and honestly. When this issue came to light, I then expected that Ofgem would put matters right. Whatever happened to consumer protection? Time will no doubt tell (if it hasn’t already) if Ofgem is fit for purpose.

meggsy

Another interesting link DD, and Sterling welcome back to the forum

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/watchdog-muzzled-by-fear-of-energy-companies-1748281.html

and Ofgems short reply ...

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Pages/MoreInformation.aspx?docid=254&refer=Media/PressRel

DirectDebacle

Dear Sir

I’d like to make it clear that Ofgem has not watered down proposals to make energy bills clearer. (Watchdog muzzled by fear of energy companies - July 16). We will shortly publish final proposals on a package of measures to better protect customers including requirements that suppliers send them annual statements setting out the name of the tariff, annual consumption and how much they pay annually. This will arm customers with better information if they wish to switch. We have consulted widely on the package and there should be no doubt that the licence conditions accompanying it will be fully enforceable.

Our proposals have throughout been to introduce over-arching standards which will set clear expectations that suppliers will treat customers fairly at all times. The standards will also be taken into account when enforcing the licence conditions

Yours Faithfully Alistair Buchanan CBE Chief Executive Ofgem

So the proposals are not watered down. They were weak to start with.

Annual statements eh. Why not just require them to issue simple, comprehensible bills instead.

How will an annual statement explain the differences between the myriad of tariffs and enable customers to make better informed switching decisions.

Who did they widely consult with.

We have seen Ofgem in action with their enforcement of licence conditions. I expect the energy companies will be quaking in their boots.

What is wrong with Ofgem just telling the energy companies that they can only have one tariff for gas and one for electricity. They can then compete on a level playing field for price. That way I might be able to tell who sells the cheapest energy.

Upwind

DirectDebacle wrote: »

What is wrong with Ofgem just telling the energy companies that they can only have one tariff for gas and one for electricity. They can then compete on a level playing field for price. That way I might be able to tell who sells the cheapest energy.

I fear that such a common sense approach would then override the ability for energy companies to muddy the water and ensure that customers are able to make a straight forward choice between providers that is based on easily understandable guidelines and thereby make an informed choice.

Furthermore, you also have to consider that if things were to be made so straightforward, there would be less requirement for the large contingent of Quango's types (in Ofgem) to monitor and oversee the unnecessarily complicated world of energy supply and the myriad of options that are currently ‘offered’ to us. This particular ‘Defender of the Consumer’ (or Gentleman’s Club) costs the taxpayer £30million pound per year and appears to be both toothless and pointless. A cynical observer might enquire if Ofgem’s lack of direction and application to the task in hand was in any way connected to the fact that many Ofgem employees were previously employed within the energy sector? Or that they were awarded a large pay rise (allegedly in the region of 15%) in these recession hit times? It has also been reported that this particular ‘Cash Cow’ supports a CEO on £260,000 and a Chairman purportedly on £145,000 (for a 3 day week!!!!)…… Now, I wonder where this particular position was advertised?

The sooner that we dismiss these autonomous bodies and replace them with a totally independent workforce that are not already ‘in bed’ with the energy companies, the better for all concerned.

DirectDebacle

Mick_Steel wrote: »

The sooner that we dismiss these autonomous bodies and replace them with a totally independent workforce that are not already ‘in bed’ with the energy companies, the better for all concerned.

There may be some aspects of Ofgems work that they do well. Consumer protection, unfortunately, is not one of them. As consumer protection is one of their basic raison d'etre, this is a serious shortcoming.

It is rather strange that it is impossible for a domestic consumer to make direct contact with the very organisation tasked to protect them. All such enquiries (at the time of 'sculpting') were directed to Energywatch. Energywatch was not a consumer but merely the vehicle through which consumer complaints could be passed to Ofgem.

It is odd then, that as Ofgem decided to investigate the complaint that Energywatch made and forwarded as evidence, copies of consumers complaints, that Ofgem did not contact those consumers. After all they were the victims and witnesses that would possess the evidence Ofgem would need to collate and examine in order to establish if there were strong evidence against npower.

It is plain from the evidence that was submitted that had Ofgem bothered to contact witnesses then it would become obvious to Ofgem that the 'tariff' year of May-October, 2007 was not the only period that they should have been investigating.

Ofgem did not contact witnesses. Neither did they ask Energywatch for any more information or clarification of either the submitted complaint or evidence.

Ofgem did however enter into prolonged discussions with npower, of which there is little in the way of records, minutes or notes. Ofgem had little understanding of the issues involved before, during or after their discussions with npower. The result of their investigation was therefore flawed and somewhat perverse.

Ofgem continue to have a reactive rather than proactive approach to customer protection. Their reactive measures are mostly inadequate.

It would appear they are failing miserably in their duty of care to consumers and this part of their remit should be removed from them. Their existing powers should be transferred to another body and these powers should be strengthened where necessary.

Rather than set up another quango the duty of consumer protection in energy matters should be transferred to Consumer Focus. At present this organisation is not set up to deal with such issues. It therefore requires to be beefed up in order to undertake this task.

I am sure there is the will at C.F. to undertake such a role and certainly they would view matters from the consumers perspective rather than from the industry interests, as Ofgem appear to do.

If this latest fiasco by Ofgem isn't enough to provoke a shake up of their regulatory role, then would someone please tell me what it is.

1carminestocky

I've always wondered if workers who work for Govt-backed regulatory bodies are precluded from at any stage in the future working for any of the companies they have regulated. I get the distinct impression they aren't, you know, lol. T'would be a good idea IMHO.

Cardew

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Ofgem had little understanding of the issues involved before, during or after their discussions with npower.

That reminds me of Winston Churchill's put down of Lord Charles Beresford:

"Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said."

DirectDebacle

Below are the Management Team responsible for ensuring that investigations are conducted correctly. I believe Sterling has received pages of meaningless management speak from Sarah Harrison, carefully crafted to avoid answering any of his concerns set out in his complaint against Ofgem.
It would appear that collectively they have slightly less detective ability than a sniffer dog with sinusitis.
The exception may be Irene Hurrel. If she didn’t invent the ‘tariff’ year she probably wished she had. It would have earned her fortune during her time advising energy suppliers how to circumvent the law without actually breaking it.
Maxine Frerk, who has a degree from Cambridge in mathematics, is apparently unable to calculate the length of a year.

It is a testament to the contributors of this thread that this mystery has been unravelled for her.

I wonder how many of them are on less than £100k per annum.


Corporate Affairs

Sarah Harrison
Tel: 020 7901 7299
Sarah was appointed Managing Director, Corporate Affairs in April 2005. The Corporate Affairs division is responsible for corporate communications, Ofgem’s work in Scotland, consumer and social affairs, governance and enforcement, industry code modifications and licensing.
Sarah joined Ofgem in September 1999 as Communications Director. From 1994 – 1999 Sarah was the first Director of ICSTIS, the UK industry regulator for premium rate telephone services. Sarah’s earlier career was in government and public relations consultancy.

Maxine Frerk
Tel: 020 7901 7291
Maxine is the Director of Governance, Consumer and Social Affairs within the Corporate Affairs Division.
She is responsible for ensuring that Ofgem's processes are robust to legal challenge and consistent with best regulatory practice; for managing relationships with key stakeholders including consumer bodies, fuel poverty lobby groups, other Government departments and other regulators. Her team leads on consumer and social issues. They also provide a centre of expertise on enforcement and competition law matters (including mergers).
Maxine joined Ofgem in February 2003. She was Head of UK Regulation at BT. Previous senior positions with BT include Head of Corporate Strategy and Head of Telephony Pricing and Commercial Policy
Maxine has an MBA from Cranfield and a degree from Cambridge in Maths and Management Science.

Charles Gallacher
Tel: 0141 331 6000 / 020 7901 7345
Charles Gallacher is currently Director of Corporate Communications and Scotland. In this role he leads Ofgem's Corporate Communications team and its Scottish Office. The Corporate Communications team based in Millbank provides media and Government affairs support for the organisation. He splits his time between Ofgem's offices in Millbank and Glasgow.
Charles has been a civil servant for some years and has worked throughout the UK and Northern Ireland in senior operational and policy roles in a number of departments including the Department of Work and Pensions and Ministry of Defence.

Mark Feather
Tel: 020 7901 7437
Mark Feather was appointed Associate Director Industry Codes and Licensing within the Corporate Affairs Division in January 2007.
In managing the work of the industry codes and licensing directorate, Mark is responsible for overseeing the development of policies on code governance and ensuring that Ofgem adopts robust processes in assessing code modification proposals. Mark is also responsible for managing the processes and policies relating to the administration of Ofgem’s licensing regime.
Mark has also retained Associate Director responsibilities within the transmission directorate of the Networks Division for the ongoing management for the reform of the arrangements under which parties obtain access to offtake points on National Grid’s gas transmission system. This includes the assessment of various Uniform Network Code modifications that have been raised in this area.
Prior to moving to Corporate Affairs, through his work as Associate Director, Transmission, Mark was responsible for managing the development of offtake access and financial incentive arrangements on National Grid as part of the Transmission Price Control Review which was completed in December 2006.
Previously Mark was Associate Director, GDN Sales. In this role Mark was involved in managing the regulatory consultation and consent process associated with Transco’s gas distribution network sales. This included assisting in the development of policy on the regulatory, commercial and operational framework for the divested industry structure as well as the management of a number of the Impact Assessments and decision documents that Ofgem issued on DN sales.
Prior to this, Mark worked as Ofgem’s Head of Gas Trading Arrangements. Mark’s work in this area was focused on the introduction of the long-term entry capacity auctions for Transco’s transmission system as well as other aspects of wholesale gas market operation including security of supply, gas balancing and system operator incentives.

Irene Hurrel
0207 901 7148
Irene heads the legal and better regulation teams in the Corporate Affairs Division of Ofgem.
Before joining Ofgem in September 2003, Irene spent eleven years with a City law firm, where she specialised in energy and regulatory law.
Irene graduated from both Edinburgh University in 1985 (with a MA in English Language and Literature) and London University in 1990 (with a MA in Modern Turkish Studies). Irene was admitted to practice as a solicitor in 1994.