Powergen Incompetence

[emma81]

We moved into a One bedroom apartment in April 2006, from new. The electric was provided by powergen. They had set the account up at £40 on DD which was fine. THen the bills started coming in. Recently my Direct Debit was increased to £148 pound per month which they agreed to reduce to £108 for a year repayment to clear the arrears. I had paid around £450 in the time I had been there, and they were saying I had arrears of another £400!! I couldnt not believe it. There just had to be a mistake. At that time I had no access to the electric meter cupboard. THey were adament that they had made no mistake, the systems were correct and meter was read and it was basically my "High" usage. I Still didnt believe this for a second but had no way to prove otherwise. Until I spoke to the managing agent and was given the code to access the meters, on providing the rate 1 and rate 2 (day and Night Economy 7) readings they umm'd and rr'd the agent said there may be a problem! I was transfered to the timings department....who rang me back and also denied there was any wrongdoing on there part, and if anything my bill should go up! I was then transfered to a nice lady in the consumption Department who took control went into great detail about what appliances we had in the apartment and who how often we used those applicances. I gave her the readings i had given her colleague (Which she never passed on) she went to input...when she recognised a problem on checking further she stated we were on General Billing 1 Rate not Economy 7 2 rate tariff. It would appear my bill is going to be slashed in price! I am not happy and have written a complaint letter to there office in Nottingham where I expect a response in 14 days explaining there failures..compenastion for the way I have been treated in the whole matter. What do you think my chances are of getting anything Consumer Forum Reader?

[BankFodder]

You may be offered some derisory credit amount against your next bill but nothing significant.

Your best bet would be to take some time to write out a succinct chronology of the whole story and then complain to the regulator.

The more work you put into your complaint and the more structured your complaint is, the more effective it will be.

I had some complaints against Brit Gas a couple of years ago. I routinely record my calls to these kinds of people.
I gave the recoring to the regulator. British Gas finally wrote of a £300 bill - instead of the £20 customer care credit which they originally tried to fob me off with and which I rejected.
At one point I told them that I would accept £200 but only if they stopped causing more problems otherwise the cost would go up to £300.

You have to explain to their staff that they are being paid for sorting out their own mistakes and you are not going to have to suffer the injustice of doing it for free.

They don't like the logic - but then they don't like it up 'em either.

[emma81]

I have many points to raise, I have sent the letter off yesterday to their Nottingham address. I will see what they reply with and go from there. ON checking with them again today whether everything is now ok, and having my direct debit reduced eventually after being told they didnt have enough time to notify the bank of the amount change. I rang the bank they said they dont need to know the company has to do it. An agent eventually managed to do it "a back way" he described it as. I thought I would do a seach on Uswitch as a disgruntled customer. Needless to say Powergen could save me the most money!! on an online tarriff, I rang back and asked why I wasnt offered this at the beginning, they said "we dont actively promote this tarrif" as "we would be all out of a job" they switched me on to it, this afternoon I then get an answerphone message left to say I cant have it as I dont have Gas in my property. I rang again they said I couldnt have that one but I could go on an Electric Only online Tariff!! I have no confidence in this company at all!! I dont trust my bill in any way, even though now I can track and keep tabs online.

[emma81]

I completed an Online Energywatch complaint, I rang powergen this afternoon, they were in reciept of this complaint from energywatch. Even up to this point of intervention they were assuring everything was fine. However it is now apparent that they have not backdated the Tarrif charges and rates back to the start, now this has been done....outstanding current balance is £200...but I am still not convinced by the amount. My confidence has completely gone in Powergen. I am hoping I will get some sort of conpensation now energywatch are involved and highlighted major errors. In the letter Energy watch have asked powergen to explain the following:-

1. Please demonstrate the accuracy of the account.
2. Please advise whether the consumer was billed for an incorrect tarriff
3. provide a breakdown of the charges on the account
4.Advise wheather the account has been rebilled from april 2006 onwards at the correct tariff.
5. address the level of customer service provided
6. address all issues raised by the consumer in attached complaint.

OH...Within 10 days to!!