Help?

Animagdon

I'm new to this site so please bear with me and I apologise if I cause offence without realising!

Back in 2006 I bought my own house; I registered with N-Power for dual fuel and made a set monthly payment for each every month. I moved house in March last year and notified N-Power of my final meter reading and new address.

Over a year later I am still locked in battle with them as they claim never to have received my final meter reading even though they have my new address (and both were given in the last call from first house!). They're saying that all readings were estimates and now they can't go back into the property to take a current reading and work out the difference between that and my final reading (which I still have as I'm a hoarder and keep everything!!!).

Can they legally do this? Am I going to have to pay them £1300 because that's their best guess and through their incompetency they didn't take note of the final meter reading when I gave it to them?

Any advice on this would really be appreciated as it's causing me sleepless nights now.....they've lumped my old house 'balance' on top of my new house balance so the two are connected now and they're threatening to cut off my supply to the new house if I don't pay them :eek:

I appreciate you taking the time to read and help me! xxx

mute_posting

Personally, I think they are trying it on.

Not only should they have had your final readings for closing your account, they should have had some VERY similar readings when the new owner set-up their account - I mean who doesn't read the meters when they move into a property?

I think there is a service called energy watch that may be able to help, failing that I'd suggest the ombudsman.

Although not quite the same, when switching was first allowed, my folks (with much regret with the benefit of hindsight) moved to NPower, who subsequently swapped the off-peak and peak readings in their favour, didn't bill for over 3 years and then when they finally did, tried to bill the whole lot at prices 20-30% (IIRC)over the agreed prices (which had been given in the original joining letter, and NPower agreed they had never changed, but argued "we gave you the wrong price when you signed up")

That fine mess took years to sort out, first (after much argument) they agreed the figures had been swapped (as we could prove by old Norweb bills and final bill), next after about another 12 months argument, they agreed that we could have the electric at the price agreed, and finally after yet more arguments they agreed that the (substantial) debt could be paid back over the same ammount of time it had built up (getting on for nearly 5 years by this point IIRC)

HTH

MP

blueye

i had a letter from npower on saturday asking for £800. same thing i moved house in feb 2007 gave them readings and new address online, didnt hear from them until this letter, i called them asking how it could be so much as i used to pay a dd evey month, then was told the new owner hadnt given their details and the bill was for 8 months that i wasnt living there, then they gave me the electric reading that i sent them online to fax off to recalculate the bill, they claim they dont have a reading for gas just an estimate that was made on the 1st of march. if they didnt get the details i sent online how the hell did they get the electric reading? are they trying to do me over too?

Animagdon

Hmmm seems to me then that I need to keep on fighting and will definately take your advice MP and see if Energy Watch can help.....

I can't believe that there is no way this can be addressed and billing can be clearer! I don't understand the bills when they come in, I just look at the 'you owe us this' figure and if it's what I think is 'normal' then I'll pay it!!

Blueye I hope you get your situation sorted out soon too.....take comfort that it's not just you they're trying to screw and I could let you know how I get on (again!) with them and what energywatch have to say so you could maybe have some fresh information to throw at them in your campaign?

Thanks for taking time out to help me with this guys, much appreicated xx

UtilityMan_3

First stop, change supplier immediately! Balances can sometimes be transferred through "live" accounts on different addresses, but not company to company.

Changing supplier will release the threat of your supply being disconnected. This will also give you better leverage in future negotiations.

See also the thread regarding unbilled energy. If it's over 12 months unbilled, they can't chase it.

mute_posting

The problem is most suppliers will block switching requests when a "debt" exists (even if it doesn't / only exists on paper) so until NPower sort things out they will likely block any request to switch until their system shows no debt exists.

MP

Animagdon

I've already tried to switch supplier and Npower blocked it for that reason MP....they say until the 'debt' is settled then I can't move......I don't know the legalities around it so I can't really argue on that point, I just want it sorted so I can pay them what I do owe and then get rid of them for someone who is hopefully more reliable!!

UtilityMan_3

Just pay what you owe on your current property and ask for the balance to be set aside as "in dispute". If they don't allow the transfer, go to Energywatch, they will insist.