@npowerhelp threat of disconnection at my address for a company at another address

[ticket to ride]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for advice on the least painful way to deal with this.

 

We received a letter from npower addressed to a company at our residential address.

The letter is a threat to apply for a warrant to disconnect the electricity supply at this address.

The letter is addressed to "XXX trading as YYY" at our address.

 

We've lived here for two years and have not been an npower customer at any point.

Checking our "Meter Point Administration Number" shows we're a customer of another supplier.

 

About 100 metres away is the location of the company the letter should have been addressed to.

They opened about a year ago.

We started receiving letters addresses to them at our address about 6 months ago.

All returned to sender until we got the one addressed to them or the occupier.

 

Clearly the new company made a mistake opening their account or npower messed up not doing due diligence.

Either way, nothing to do with us.

 

Is it worth talking to npower customer services to explain this?

I will make one attempt to resolve it but don't plan on wasting more time.

My experience of utility customer service is not good for anything that deviates from their script

 

Can our address be taken to court for a warrant without any other attempts to clarify they're chasing the correct person?

 

Should I just turn up at the court on the date given with documentation to show this is nonsense?

The court is at the other end of the road and I work from home, so not a lot of hassle to do.

 

Any advice appreciated

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes you need to let NPower know they are writing to the wrong address and to be safe also attend the Court, if this hearing is still going ahead.

 

NPower should have a dedicated telephone number for the people dealing with disconnections.

 

Otherwise you risk your house getting disconnected by mistake.

 

You might also wish to advise the business what is going on, so they have a chance to take relevant action.

[ticket to ride]

I'll give them a call to try to sort this, but I don't hold out much hope.

 

The court threat is just npower saying they will apply for a hearing. Does the court have any obligation to contact me before a hearing for this take place or do I have to take npowers word and assume it is taking place?

[renegadeimp]

You will be notified well in advance of court, as theres a considerable procedure chain to go through.

[nottslad]

An Npower (or appointed) rep would need to do a face to face pre-disconnection visit and serve notice of the intention to apply for a warrant.

 

Have you been receiving bills from another supplier and is everything ok that way? You mention your MPAN has been checked etc - does the meter number associated with the MPAN match the meter number in your property?

 

There's a couple of options as to what may have happened - NPower supply the company up the street but have the wrong billing address etc or something a long those lines. Their system is horrendous and fault prone

[BankFodder]

I'm very sorry but what I'm about to say here will probably frighten you.

 

Npower are incompetent and they are the most complained of utility company in the country. We have found this to be so on this forum and statistics from the regulator confirms this.

 

Their customer service is rubbish. Npower systems are in disarray. They routinely blame things on the transition from one system to another system. Whatever the reason, the result is huge injustices and huge stress for innocent customers.

 

In terms of magistrates warrants to enter properties, we hear quite often – not only in relation to Npower – of people receiving visits from officials out of the blue who are apparently armed with a warrant even though the customer was never made aware.

 

From this point of view, you seem to be doing quite well in that you have already been informed about the possibility of a warrant. However, don't imagine that you will necessarily continue to be properly informed. Also, I can assure you that these warrants are applied for wholesale and that the magistracy – who have a responsibility to do far better – just rubberstamp them through.

 

This means that some Npower employee will turn up with a file of warrant applications – maybe 100 or so – with a time allocation of about one hour to get them all done. The employee will expect to have them all approved without any problems. And this is what normally occurs. There is nothing more than the most cursory scrutiny of any of the applications – if you are lucky.

 

If a warrant application is made without notice to you and then there will be little that you can do about it other than to complain after the fact. You can start to protect yourself a bit by making sure everything is down on paper. This means that you should write to Npower and explain to them exactly what the problem is and they are chasing the wrong person. I'm afraid that on current experience, your letter may well pass unheeded by them – but at least you will have a file of correspondence showing that you have done everything to act reasonably and to get in contact with Npower. This will help you later if you find that you have to get some compensation.

 

Also, in addition to your letters – not instead of the letters – you should get on the telephone to them and explain the situation. Get names and also reference numbers of conversations. It will probably help you if you do this more than once. Asked for email confirmations of what you have said – although this is unlikely to be forthcoming. The most important aspect of these conversations is that you will have first read our customer services guide and implemented the advice there. This means that you will have installed a recorder and you will get everything recorded and then backed up and added to your correspondence file.

 

If you do get a court date then you must absolutely attend. Do not leave anything to chance. Do not take the word of somebody at the court that don't worry the mistake has been recognised and it will be sorted. Insist on being there to address the magistrate and to challenge the application. At the same time, you can make an application for costs although don't imagine that they would give you very much. You would have to make a case for travel expenses and the loss of any income from work.

 

It's all desperately unfair and there is absolutely no incentive on Npower to get it right. They're like a nationalised industry – but with commercial interests.

[steviehowie]

Nottslad,

 

 

I dis agree, there is no obligation in law to undertake a pre disconnection visit by an energy company. That is just a [edited] to [problem] customers, time and time again.

I would refer the OP to Deer thread with npower and the stuff on British Gas posted recently.

 

 

Write , saying you have a dispute. No warrant can then be applied for against you. If npower do get a dodgy one , just throw them out of your home and refer to your letter of dispute.

 

 

If they notify you of a court hearing prepare your defence and seek costs for loss and expense and harassment.

Its a criminal and civil offence to cause a customer harassment. Perhaps the mods will provide the link to the necessary legalisation I have quoted on other threads.

You have done nothing wrong.

npower are the law breakers.

 

 

Stevie

 

 

An Npower (or appointed) rep would need to do a face to face pre-disconnection visit and serve notice of the intention to apply for a warrant.

 

Have you been receiving bills from another supplier and is everything ok that way? You mention your MPAN has been checked etc - does the meter number associated with the MPAN match the meter number in your property?

 

There's a couple of options as to what may have happened - NPower supply the company up the street but have the wrong billing address etc or something a long those lines. Their system is horrendous and fault prone

Edited May 26, 2016 by honeybee13
Pejorative word removed.

[nottslad]

I'm not 100% sure whether it is a legal requirement or not, however it is one of the outcomes of the Retail Market Reform.

 

What's important here is to advise the op of the best course of action to take to ensure their supply is protected, not to argue over who is right or wrong. I have been on this site for a number of years and assisted a great many people with their issues having built up knowledge over years working in the industry - I think you tried to suggest in another thread I'm some kind of troll, which is far from the case.

 

As Bankfodder has said we all know how poor NPower's system is, and the best course of action is to write and follow this up with a telephone call, attending court with the information if it does get that far.

[steviehowie]

I'm not 100% sure whether it is a legal requirement or not, however it is one of the outcomes of the Retail Market Reform.

 

 

Question: Where is the link to this document. I see no relevance to the advice you incorretly gave to the OP. Such advise was irresponsible and abhorrent?

 

An energy company cannot legally obtain a warrant for the installation of a prepayment meter, if a genine dispute is occuring between the parties. I have covered this very point in another thread. So why the confusion?

Thus, no pre- disconnection visit can therfore take place prior to the issue of a warrant. And yes Energy companies have been known to perjure them self to obtain illegal warrants.

 

What's important here is to advise the op of the best course of action to take to ensure their supply is protected, not to argue over who is right or wrong. I have been on this site for a number of years and assisted a great many people with their issues having built up knowledge over years working in the industry - I think you tried to suggest in another thread I'm some kind of troll, which is far from the case Due to the nature of your replies .I a responsibly asked , were you currently working for or in the past, have worked for EON .You did not reply Why?

 

As Bankfodder has said we all know how poor NPower's system is, and the best course of action is to write and follow this up with a telephone call, attending court with the information if it does get that far.

 

As Bankfodder has said we all know how poor NPower's system is ( I hope he was referring to all energy companies including the big 6 there is no difference between them), and the best course of action is to write and follow this up with a telephone call, attending court with the information if it does get that far.I would never advise any customer to ring any energy companies, unless they are automatically recording the call and such evidence be transcribed on to paper as soon as possible after the conversation and dated and inscribed with the parties names to the call and issues discussed and retained for future use in court. All commuications should be in writing at all times.

But notwithstanding same , if as you allege , you are not 100% sure, why offer such inproper and irresponsible advice? In a previous thread you where categorically sure. Now you are back tracking when its correctly pointed out the information is wrong.

 

 

The information you have provided to the OP is incorrect and scaremongering of the worst type. It the sort of mis-leading statement the big 6 make every day. So why not simply apologise and correct yourself to the OP?

 

 

The reason energy companies are repeat law breakers is Ofgem are failing to hold them to account.

 

 

Again I asked previous are you working for EON now or in the past? I still await an answer Nottslad.

 

 

Furthermore and under a separate thread , I have called EON's rep to tell the turth ( I will reply in due course to Malc late reply), to be honest ,accurate transparent and not to mislead. I believe your post was misleading on the specific matter of pre disconnection visits. So for a man professing to be knowldgeable of the industry, I find such statements unacceptable and not sincere.

 

 

If there is such legislation on pre disconnection publish it by making a link to the specific part of the legislation please.

 

 

Stevie

 

 

　

[nottslad]

Stevie, I don't see why I should dignify your questions with any answers. What is it to do with you who I work for? Perhaps you will tell me your position and employer?? I've made it quite clear in my profile where I've gained my experience. When I come on this forum I do so to assist using knowledge gained in excess of ten years experience in the industry (NB I am no longer working in a customer environment and for all intents and purposes in a completely different industry)

 

I try to give insight from the practicalities of what actually happens having gained first hand experience of suppliers processes. I'd be extremely surprised that a PDV wouldn't take place prior to a warrant application. Here's a link to one of the Ofgem documents - https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/57748/non-dom-disconnection-openletter-20-12-2012.pdf

 

My advice here is not incorrect. Suggesting the op checks their billing is correct would ensure NPower haven't erroneously transferred their supply (as could happen) and thus checking meter details on their bill is a good start before writing to Npower to complain.

 

 

The first post made on here was to try and find more information. And as you can see I agreed with Bankfodder's advice to write and complain! We know how large companies ignore letters or state they never received, so sending a recored delivery letter and following it with a call to check receipt etc is a good step as it keeps them on their toes.

[AndyOrch]

Thread now closed..it will reopen at the OP's request.

 

Andyorch