Npower business electricity bill backdated from 8 years ago **WON**

[RMJ]

Can anyone please advise.

 

We own a commercial property that has stood empty for 8 years.

Prior to this we had leased the property to a small business and when they left in 2004,

we turned off the electricity at the mains and to my knowledge, it has never been turned back on.

 

I was unable to find out who the supplier was and I waited for someone to contact me to arrange for the electricity supply to be disconnected. No correspondence arrived until last week

 

After 8 years and out of the blue, I have received statements from Npower for the sum of £1,600 quickly followed by a ‘Final Reminder’ threatening legal proceedings.

 

I immediately contacted Npower Debt Recovery and it transpires that all the previous correspondence was sent to the wrong address which explains why I have never received anything. In addition, it transpires that these charges are made up of daily standing charges apart from a very small amount of usage for £50 which I cannot explain. The meter has not been read for 8 years.

 

Where do I stand with this?

 

I have never agreed to this tariff and I have no contract with Npower nor did I have any knowledge of this – it was the previous tenant that entered into this contract. I understand that the tenant notified Npower that he was moving out and gave them a final meter reading in 2004.

 

Also, Npower must have had my correct contact details all along to enable them to send the statements and ‘Final Reminder’ last week.

 

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

[2Grumpy]

They probably just put 2 & 2 together.

 

It will be difficult because you are not a domestic customer so the 2 year rule won't apply.

 

They will be using the "deemed contract" to say that you are their customer

 

Of course if they had written sooner then you could have told them otherwise sooner.

 

The £50 charge for electricity is probably so that they can charge for the standing charge for 8 years. If you haven't used any electricity then there probably isn't a contract. NPower would have difficulty taking legal action because they wouldn't have made any loss. You could always argue that if they had sent a letter to the occupier then at most you would have gone for a "no standing charge" tariff! ...

 

Perhaps it wasn't worth chasing for this account until they felt it was worthwhile ...

[sillygirl1]

If the property has stood empty and they have been notified of this then it is a a chasing bill, you need to write to them with proof that you did not have any occupancy of the property in that time and that you had told them this on several occasions.

 

They are almalgamating several old sytems into one and chasing older unidentified properties - my dad had one for a shop he had sold 25 years ago, he was able to prove he had no connection with the property, had sold it a long time ago and their predecessors had been notified of this.

 

There is a lot of this going on at the moment as they are trying to get as much money as possible before the governments cap their earning power.

 

If necessary get your local MP involved and the local Chamber of Commerce, they will have people who can help out with this bunch of chancers.

[RMJ]

Thank you for the replies - they are very helpful

The tenants gave notice in May 2004 and the meter was never read until last week. The small amount of usage might well have happened 8 years ago when the tenants were moving their things out after they had given a final reading. As far as I am aware, once we switched the meter off in 2004, it was never turned back on again.

If I had been contacted by Npower during these 8 years and I was aware of who the supplier was, I would have either asked for the electricity to be disconnected or had chosen a different tariff with no standing charges.

I will keep you updated and thanks again

 

[Arctic Polak]

Hi RMJ

 

Sorry to be a dampner but we have just had a similar fiasco where we had not been billed correctly for 5 years although we had paid the requested direct debit every month. Took it to the Ombudsman who found in favour but only had the power to award a max of £5k compensation, so the energy supplier gave us a credit of £12k and sandbagged the Ombudsman. After lengthy letters,emails and telephone calls between all parties we ended up with a bill of just over £91k less the £12k credit. Our supplier was a "gas" company.

 

Good luck

 

Mike

[2Grumpy]

Makes you wonder why they were so quick to send out the final demand so quickly after the first bill ...

[RMJ]

Hi,

Well – it appears that they had been sending the bills and statements to an incorrect address (in another county) and when I did finally received something from them last week and responded, they might have hoped that I would feel intimidated enough to pay up quickly and quietly if they send a ‘Final Demand’ with threats of legal action. As it happens, it was sheer luck that I received the final demand as that was also incorrectly addressed!

What I can’t understand is why they have continued to ‘supply’ electricity for 8 years when bills were unpaid and why they made no attempt to read the meter?

[RMJ]

Thanks to you all who advised. I am glad to say that Npower have agreed to write off the standing order charges of £1620 and I have agreed to pay for the small amount of usage so good result.

[sillygirl1]

Well done, once you know that they have very little 'power' themselves it is reasonably straightforward to untangle their system.

 

Enjoy the rest of this lovely evening.

[Dot1]

Well done that is a good ending.