rolling contracts - advice please sorry very long!

[birchave0]

this is for my mother in law, she has a small farm which she runs a small business from. She has her electricity from Npower and receives one bill for both the domestic and business use.

 

Her bill came in the other day and as it looked quite high she asked me to look at it. She is currently being charged 17.9p per unit and a daily standing charge. I said I would have a check around the net and see if we could come up with a better price as I think it's very high.

 

The best I could find was 8p a unit so I called Npower, informed them I was calling on behalf of MIL (she is 72) and asked them why her unit price is so high, and can they do a better price?

 

They claim that she signed a 5 year contract in 2003 so the price would be held on the unit price for that period, I don't know what that price was. When the contract expired (October 2008) they claim they wrote to her in June/July 2008 to explain the contract had ended and her unit price would now be going up.

 

Now I know for a fact she's never seen such a letter. They say because she didn't contact them the contract became a rolling one, which she is now tied into for another 12 months. She should have had a letter in June/July this year advising her the contract was going to roll again into another twelve month period, she says she has received nothing.

 

I have asked them to send out a copy of the original contract as I have never heard of anyone being tied into a 5 year contract!

 

However, here is a question. My father in law died in 2006, everything, including all the utility bills were all in his name, not hers. If anything was signed it would have been signed by him, not her. Therefore surely when he died the contract would have become invalid and then terminated????

Instead, all they have done is change the name on the bill.

 

I'm a bit pi$$ed off with them because all they could offer was a drop to 14p a unit which is still really high. I already had a run in with Npower when the company I work for wanted to change suppliers and they pulled the old "rolling contract" card out. It turned out there was never a contract and I managed to negotiate a new price plan of 7p a unit

 

so any advice??? Will i just wait and see what turns up in the post???

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Take a look at the energy ombudsman web site, Energy Ombudsman : Home the information contained might help with any complaint

[birchave0]

thanks for that. Npower have written to say they do not have a copy of the contract

They still think that by sending out a copy of the supposed reminder they claim they sent in July 09, that she is tied into the contract until next October. I don't think so.

 

If they have no contract to produce, how are we to know a contract ever existed? So how can they claim she is still tied in????

 

I will go off for a read.....

 

cheers

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Have you considered the energy ombudsman, suggested earlier

[nottslad]

If there is no contract then they cannot tie you into it. Attempt to change suppliers and if they block it take them to the ombudsman

[birchave0]

I'm going to ring them today, as you have said, if no contract exists then how can she be tied in? Also how can you roll a none existing contract??