Hello to everyone! I have just discovered this very useful forum and am in the throes of a 4-year long dispute with npower re our electricity bill.

To cut a long story short (if I can!) we moved into our house in August 2002 and phoned through a meter reading. Previously for a year the house had been let and before that used as a second home. We received quarterly (estimated) bills which were relatively small - which we paid in full - and phoned through meter readings in evenings after work using npower's automated system.

It transpired that their automated system wasn't processing our readings for whatever reason, so in August 2004 I phoned through a daytime reading on a day off. The person who took the call refused to process it as it was so high, and said she would send a meter reader out - who duly came in September, and in October we received a calculated bill for £1100 over and above what we had already paid!!! There are 2 of us, in a 2 bedroomed house, out of the house for most of the day! We contacted the regulator Energywatch, who advised us to contact npower and ask for their records of our move-in reading, as we were worried they hadn't processed this properly and that we were being charged for electricity used by previous inhabitants.

We sent this request to npower first by email - which they never replied to so presumably lost - and then through a series of letters and phone calls from 2004 until now, receiving a bizarre variety of reasons why they couldn't supply the info/random lists containing only estimated readings/letters with the second page missing, amid a succession of red reminders, cut off notices, threats to enter our property by force, and court summons. Eventually in 2005 we were offered a 10% discount (by then £130 on their estimated reading) and 2-year payment settlement, but they still hadn't supplied the move-in reading as proof that we had used that amount of electricity.

We have undertaken a series of meter tests for them and supplied them with daily and weekly meter readings on which basis they say that their figures are right (how can 24 hours be an accurate indicator?!). Pursuing the matter again via Energywatch, we received another letter from them, at last supplying the start reading, but accusing us of supplying no meter readings at all, and not paying the account(!). At this time their estimate of our usage is £2,600, but comparison of their estimate with an actual reading taken a week or so later shows that is way more than they have used.

Responding to them and to Energywatch, we pointed out that we had supplied a series of readings via their automated system, over the phone, by post, and via their reader, none of which were shown on the records they had sent us; and that as well as paying our bills on time until the dispute was raised, we had in January 2005 supplied a without-prejudice payment of £200 (four times the suggested monthly installment) which they had refused to cash until the dispute was settled. We also asked for compensation for

- our time

- the fact that we couldn't switch to a cheaper tarrif

- their lack of ability to supply the information promptly

- their failure to process meter readings supplied

- their failure to ensure the meter is read 2 yearly (on Energywatch's advice)

- the distress caused by the constant stream of threats, in the light that each time they told us our account was on hold until the dispute was resolved we would then - often within a week - receive another red reminder, cut off notice, or threat of forced entry.

They have now written back to us recalculating our outstanding amount to £2,300 on current readings and giving us a monthly usage figure (we are still not satisfied that this relates correctly to the move-in figure) but in compensation going no further than the £130 (now not close to 10%) and 2-year payment terms they offered us 18 months ago!

Obviously this is ludicrous and I intend to respond in the strongest possible terms. However, having discovered the wealth of form letters and legal knowledge on this forum, I am wondering whether I am missing anything that I could usefully add to the response.

Any advice gratefully received!

ebba7,

So far you have already done what I would advise in this situation in an attempt to resolve your complaint.

There are a few options left open to you as detailed below.

Have npower actually ruled out a meter fault as you say that at one point you did daily reads for them but don't mention anything about appliance lists. This would allow a comparison between expected daily average, from appliances used, and actual daily average, from meter reads.

I note that until recently npower asppear to have failed to read your meter. They are under an Ofgem license regulation to read your meter at least once every 2 years. This is something that in the past npower have failed to do as detailed here.

With you having supplied regular customer reads to npower I would suggest that they have deliberately chosen to ignore these reads preferring to continue to estimate your account. npower have a responsibility to ensure that your account is billed correctly and accurately, just as you have a responsibility to ensure that yor reads are correct, a responsibility which in my opinion you have met without fail.

I would write to npower to say that they have continued to irresponsibly manage your account and inform them that you will now seek to raise a complaint aganinst them with Ofgem via Energywatch. Contact Energywatch and let them know that:

You have not had a satisfactory response, and in some places it looks like conflicting information has been sent, to your complaint.

You now have no confidence in npowers ability to deal with complaints.

Npower have repeatedly ignored valid customer readings and failed to accurately rebill the account.

Npower have failed to meet their license obligations by not reading your meter at least once every 2 years.

Request Energywatch to raise a complaint with Ofgem on your behalf.

Many thanks, karnevil and installspark, for your helpful responses.

It's reassuring, karnevil, to hear that you managed to halve your bill - how did you do that? Even if our bill is right (which I dispute) a 10% discount offered over a year ago (of £135 off a bill of now £2290) and followed by a tirade of inefficiency and unhelpfulness seems ridiculous in comparison to the amount of time and inconvenience we have spent trying to sort this out (not to mention the threats of forcible entry to our house received on several occasions - once just before we were about to go away for a week!). However, pointing this out to npower in detail has provoked a laughable response - ie the discount of £135 we offered you 18 months ago still stands with no increase despite the prolonged nature of the dispute!

Installspark, you obviously know your stuff and have made some really useful comments that I will put into my next (!) letter, which I am currently drafting to npower. It is so hard when as an individual you are dealing with a sector where if you know the requirements and the terminology you can make a better case! I had no idea that Ofgem were over and above Energywatch and will definitely do as you suggest in the next letter.

Many thanks for all the help so far and any further suggestions welcome - I'll let you know what happens (but don't hold your breath - speed of response to date has been tortoise-like!)

ofgem will always refer you back to energwatch, if compensation is offered I would take it. The only legal requirement is that the supplier gives you as long to pay the bill as it has taken them to put the bill right. I know this is not what you want to hear, but after working for the company for 7 years in the sector this is the max energwatch will go on it.

If you feel your meter is faulty you could book an ofmat test, but if found to be correct you are charged £60