MSE News: Npower to pay £70m in refunds after billing blunder

Kronkston wrote: »

Well how come I have a letter saying they will taken a decision to send me a one off payment of £29.42.

So how was that arrived at?

Have a look at post #69 on the previous page which should be of help to you.

We were involved in discussions with CF who told us that it was being dealt with and would take time. What else you wanted us to do I don't know, but I'm certainly more than happy with what we did and don't believe that duplicating that work was the best focus of our campaigning resources

As far as I know in the 2.75 years the npower gas sculpting thread has been running it was mentioned in one weekly email. We are now in the situation of at least two other threads started by MSE'rs who were completeley unaware of this overcharging until npower notified them of it. Shows you how effective MSE were.

Now it may be the case that the hard won refunds are not being paid correctly and not one comment from MSE about this either. But if we do expose welching on the refunds I am sure MSE will not be shy in coming forward in trying to take the credit for that.

"Consumer Focus urges anyone who thinks they may be entitled to a refund but have not heard from npower by the end of November to call the npower helpline on 0800 975 7938. It particularly urges previous npower customers who have switched supplier and changed address to get in contact if they do not hear from the supplier (these customers may be harder for npower to track down).

How much can I expect to receive?
Payments will range from £1 to £100. The average payment will be £35 plus interest and VAT on top. This is a combined £63m of refunds plus 5% VAT and 6.7% interest.

Is the level of payment accurate?
Npower has worked closely with Consumer Focus to review its customer accounts and calculate fair payments for individuals. The watchdog said: "We think these payments offer fair recompense for overpayments customers made."
However, if you still feel you have not been refunded adequately you should contact npower's helpline on 0800 975 7938 in the first instance, and Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 for further advice if you remain dissatisfied.
Consumer Focus said that if you do dispute the payment, when you call npower you should provide your name, the address at which you were supplied with gas by npower in 2007, the period during which you were supplied, and where possible your npower account number from that period".

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2010

npowers full explanation of refunds here:

http://www.npower.com/web/PaymentstoGasCustomers/index.htm

We recently announced that we’ll be making payments to some of our gas customers

How did we calculate the payment amount?

We’ve taken the maximum possible number of higher-priced units a customer could have been charged following the changes made in 2007. We’ve compared this with 4,572 units per year using 12 month periods around this time based on the anniversary of the date they first joined npower. The payment amount is based on any excess higher-priced units, multiplied by the difference between the rate for the higher and lower priced units applicable at the time. We’ve taken the additional step of including VAT and a sum in lieu of interest in this payment.


Want to know more?
Yes please.

If you have any questions, or would like more details please complete the gas payment enquiry form.

Did that on 5th October. My enquiry remains unanswered.

More questions.

Q. I joined npower on 20/10/2006 as a pre payment meter customer.
On 1/3/2007 I became a standard tariff credit meter customer and was charged under the two tier pricing system. npower have told me my anniversary date is 20/10/2006. Can you explain why you have not used 1/3/2007? This is the anniversary date of joining the charging system that caused the problem and shows a much higher overcharge than you have calculated.

Q. I joined npower in June 2006. You have calculated that from my anniversary date to June 2008 you owe me £35.00. This is about half of what I calculate to be due. It appears you have calculated the payment using 2007 prices. All of the excess units were charged by you after the Jan 08 price rise. Why haven't you used these prices to calculate my payment. Are you not willing to fully refund me?

Q. I have been informed my date of joining was 6/2/2001 and that is the date used to calculate my payment. Two tier pricing wasn't introduced until 1/4/2003 and that is the date you commenced to charge my account under that system. Surely my anniversary date must be 1/4/2003?
Would there not be around 500k other customers with this date of 1/4/2003?

Q. Can you calculate this for me. If there were around 500k customers with a 1st April anniversary date and a maximum overcharge of around £70 per customer, how much would this come to. How much would be left of the £63m to compensate the remaining 1.3m customers?

Q. I was told interest is added at 6.66%. Why is it that this interest appears to be have been added to only one of the 3 years you kept my money. Should not the interest be compound interest and not flat? Why hasn't it been added to all three years.

Q. Why aren't you providing a precise breakdown of your calculations? I asked for one and was simply told I had been overcharged for 2010 units and that was reflected in my payment. No breakdown or calculations were provided. I calculate your payment is less than it should be but cannot check which method is correct.

Q. Are npower being totally transparent and honest with their refund policy?