Npower - 2 years of hell

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  • brianposter
    brianposter Posts: 1,291 Forumite
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    edited 30 December 2018 at 4:07PM
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    Suppose you get a new meter in early Feb. overreading by 60 %. The reading should go up for Feb and probably again for March, and then go down as temperatures rises and daylight increases.
    Why would you describe a slow and sure rise? December,Jan,Feb,March could be a continuous rise, but surely you would notice the drop in April.
  • David2Prit
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    Suppose you get a new meter in early Feb. overreading by 60 %. The reading should go up for Feb and probably again for March, and then go down as temperatures rises and daylight increases.
    Why would you describe a slow and sure rise? December,Jan,Feb,March could be a continuous rise, but surely you would notice the drop in April.

    I believe you are going off this comment
    Slowly but surely we started to see a dramatic increase of the price of our bills. From when we were paying on average £40/50ish (one bed flat), started to become £100, sometimes £200 plus.

    Maybe I shouldn't have used slowly and surely, but it was to do with the "dramatic" increase. One month where it's higher, hmmm okay, better reign it in a bit, consecutive months, slowly but surely realised we had a major problem.
  • OPMDaze
    OPMDaze Posts: 84 Forumite
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    It really shouldn't be the case that we should have to keep checking meters because these companies can't be trusted. Amazes me as well that there's a huge percentage of people ripped off that are pensioners.Almost as if they're targeted.
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,037 Forumite
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    David2Prit wrote: »
    So just gone through all payments made to Npower for 17/18 and stands at the moment at £2044.71


    I think we should firstly get the billing correct!


    From 28/02/2017 to 29/10/2018 you were originally charged for 14,339kWh day and 9,280kWh night. This was revised to 9,028kWh and 5843kWh respectively after the adjustment of 5,311/3,437kWh for the 58.8% meter over-read.



    Thus the cost should be:
    9,028 x 14.79p = £1,335. + 5,843 x 7.55p = £441 + 608 days @ 30.95p standing charge = £188
    The total is £1,964

    Now in post#27 you state that you have paid Npower £2,044. Thus you should have a credit balance of £80 for the consumption up to 29 October 2018.

    Yet Npower in their email state you have a revised debit balance of £1,151.90.

    This is the major discrepancy that needs to be sorted.
  • David2Prit
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    Cardew wrote: »
    I think we should firstly get the billing correct!


    From 28/02/2017 to 29/10/2018 you were originally charged for 14,339kWh day and 9,280kWh night. This was revised to 9,028kWh and 5843kWh respectively after the adjustment of 5,311/3,437kWh for the 58.8% meter over-read.



    Thus the cost should be:
    9,028 x 14.79p = £1,335. + 5,843 x 7.55p = £441 + 608 days @ 30.95p standing charge = £188
    The total is £1,964

    Now in post#27 you state that you have paid Npower £2,044. Thus you should have a credit balance of £80 for the consumption up to 29 October 2018.

    Yet Npower in their email state you have a revised debit balance of £1,151.90.

    This is the major discrepancy that needs to be sorted.
    Yah, true.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    B13blues wrote: »
    It really shouldn't be the case that we should have to keep checking meters because these companies can't be trusted. Amazes me as well that there's a huge percentage of people ripped off that are pensioners.Almost as if they're targeted.

    Trusted to do what? The 2 yearly meter reading obligation was removed from Supply Licences by Ofgem in April 2016. Suppliers no longer have to read meters: the Licence requirement is now an obligation to ‘obtain’ a meter reading once every 12 months. There are safeguards for consumers who can be bothered to sign up to a supplier’s Priority Services Register. Non PSR consumers should either get into the habit of reading their meters or they should opt for a smart meter.
  • brianposter
    brianposter Posts: 1,291 Forumite
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    edited 30 December 2018 at 9:21PM
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    Cardew wrote: »
    I think we should firstly get the billing correct!
    ..........................................................

    This is the major discrepancy that needs to be sorted.
    I am quite happy for you to pursue this line of reasoning but the first thing to be decided needs to be whether the 58.8 % general reduction in consumption is appropriate. From the figures provided by the OP this looks unlikely.
    You cannot get from 60 to 200 pounds with a meter that is only 60% wrong.
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,037 Forumite
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    I keep coming back to the second point I made in Post#23.
    Here is last month when the new meter was installed:
    Day
    0 Our estimate
    31 October 2018
    303 Our reading
    30 November 2018
    303 kWh at 14.790p £44.81
    Night
    0 Our estimate
    31 October 2018
    63 Our reading
    30 November 2018
    63 kWh at 7.550p £4.76
    In November 2018 with the new meter you have an actual(i.e. not estimated) consumption of 303kWh day and 63kWh night.



    Now November is one of the colder months of the year, but whilst not the coldest is certainly above average. Thus you would expect the consumption in November to be more than one twelfth of annual consumption.



    However even if we considered your November consumption to be the monthly average, it would indicate an annual consumption of 3,636kWh day and 756kWh night. This is way below the Npower estimate of 5400kWh day and 3504kWh night.



    Most importantly the Npower estimate is derived from the ‘corrected’ consumption from 28/02/2017 to 29/10/2018. IMO this raises the possibility that the old defective meter could have been over-reading by more than 58%.


    Or of course the new meter is under-reading.;)
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,037 Forumite
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    I am quite happy for you to pursue this line of reasoning but the first thing to be decided needs to be whether the 58.8 % general reduction in consumption is appropriate. From the figures provided by the OP this looks unlikely.


    Agree completely! This is what I stated in post#4
    Could it be that the amount the meter over-read was variable and at times greatly exceeded 58.8%.?
    and in my latest post#39 again raised that possibility/probability.
  • David2Prit
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    Cardew wrote: »
    I keep coming back to the second point I made in Post#23.

    In November 2018 with the new meter you have an actual(i.e. not estimated) consumption of 303kWh day and 63kWh night.



    Now November is one of the colder months of the year, but whilst not the coldest is certainly above average. Thus you would expect the consumption in November to be more than one twelfth of annual consumption.



    However even if we considered your November consumption to be the monthly average, it would indicate an annual consumption of 3,636kWh day and 756kWh night. This is way below the Npower estimate of 5400kWh day and 3504kWh night.



    Most importantly the Npower estimate is derived from the ‘corrected’ consumption from 28/02/2017 to 29/10/2018. IMO this raises the possibility that the old defective meter could have been over-reading by more than 58%.


    Or of course the new meter is under-reading.;)

    Tell you what, if the new meter is under-reading I’m gonna shoot myslef :rotfl:
    But aye, those are the figures given by myself at the time, and I know them to be correct.
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