Mix Up With Electricity Suppliers

[lynzfa]

i moved into my house in april this year and powergen were suppliers.About 2 months after i recieved a letter from npower to say they were my new suppliers and i had to pay them £27 a month for my leccy,which i did.However last month someone came to my house from powergen debt collection section to ask why i hadnt been paying my bill and to offer to put me a prepay meter in so that i could pay my debt off at £5 per week.I explained that npower were my supplier and he said powergen were otherwise he wouldnt of been sent out.i rang npower and powergen and when npower checked the meter numbers it turned out they had the wrong meter supply number and werent supplying me.I was told i would recieve a refund which i am still waiting for.I never recieved any bills from powergen until then but now i have recieved one for £561.When i rang them to say i had never recieved a bill from them they said that my bills had been gong to a similar address about 20 miles away from me.They said as it is electricity i have used i still hjave to pay the amount outstanding.Is there anything i can do to get some sort of discount or something as it is there mistake that they have been sending bills to another address.If it hadnt been for them getting the wrong address i wouldnt be seven months behind on my electricity.When i finally get my refund i could pay that off my bill but as it was only 27 a month it is not going to kake much of a difference is it.Please help i have 3 young children and dont have the money to be able to pay 561 back.

[ozzywizard]

Not receiving a bill for 7 months is not illegal, If it had gone two years then they could not bill you further or not read your meters etc.

Have you checked the meter reads are correct ? . Anyways it seems here the mistake re 2 companies was from Npower so they should be sending your payments back to you fast with a possible apology, you could ask for a gesture of goodwill here.

Now re Powergen, they have made a big mistake in telling you they sent your bill to a different address. It would be better for them to say they had not sent one or they made mistake etc. They have claimed to of sent your bill to another address etc. Surely this is a breach of the DPA. They should compensate you for this. Ask to speak to a manager and threaten to go to the information commissioner.

Oh and im sure you will be able to spread the payments over 12 months.

[lynzfa]

thanks for that.who is the information commissioner though.dont want ot make it look like i dont know anything about it

[lynzfa]

i got an email from powergen to say they would recalculate my bill on the old rates to reduce my bill a bit as it was their mistake my bills were getting sent to a different address but this isnt gonna reduce it much is it. Is there anything else i can do as i am still gonna owe alot of money

[ozzywizard]

This could reduce it by anything up to half. Wait and see what the new balance comes out as. If they do not hurry give them 2 days as they do not need any more time than that.

[lynzfa]

i got my amended bill this morning from powergen.They now want £506.65.So it has hardly reduced at all.Is there anything i can do about this as i canot afford to pay this and it was not me that made the mistake in the first place

[ozzywizard]

If the bill is only going back 7 months then it could be correct as they by law only need to bill you over a one year period. It is kinda high for 7 months useage. they will let you pay it over 12 months. The other option os to go prepay on a prepay meter and have it set to 3 pound a week.

[ShootMePlz]

Now re Powergen, they have made a big mistake in telling you they sent your bill to a different address. It would be better for them to say they had not sent one or they made mistake etc. They have claimed to of sent your bill to another address etc. Surely this is a breach of the Data Protection Act. They should compensate you for this. Ask to speak to a manager and threaten to go to the information commissioner.

 

 

 

Yes this is a breach under section 7 of the Data Protection Act, which states that they company must do everthing within its power to maintain they security of the data, sending it to the incoreect address doesnt quite cut it.

 

Also on the amount of electricty used in your house, ask them for a written proof of when the meter was last read by them or there agents, also do you have the meter reading from when you moved into the property. You may find that the meter was not read for 5 months before you moved in and the only acurate reading they have is the current 1 that they based there bill total on, this could be for a 12 month period not the 7 months you are liable for, It would be unreasonable for them to put the total amount onto you, as you have not used it. You can also ask them to do a moniting of your meter if that is what they thing you use in a month, as that is very high. They will require you to read the meter several times over a 3 month period, once a week is best and then do a recalcualtion on current useage, this may not reduce the amount if it is found that it is a correct usage.

 

If you need a hand on working out your tarrifs PM me and I will take a look at it for you.

[rosiecotton]

Yes, do what ShootMe has suggested. It does seem a very high bill and I for one would be shocked if I used that much electricity!

 

When you do have a final figure that you can both agree on, I would suggest that as Powergen had made an error with their billing then you would be entitled to arrange a repayment plan to suit you. Yes, you will need to pay for what you have used (note, for what YOU have used, not previous occupants!), but it shouldn't cause you considerable inconvenience as it wasn't your fault.

 

As for Npower, give them a date in writing by which to refund you in full and threaten them with court action if they don't sort it out by that date.

 

Energywatch may be able to provide further assistance or advice.

[Guest Ruthie P]

hey guys, i probably shouldnt admit this but I work for powergen....

please go to energywatch about your lack of refund from npower, you will be suprised how quickly you receive it! as for your consumption it seems high to me, take 7 days worth of readings at the same time of day and call them and ask to dispute your consumption. They will be able to base a new start reading on your current consumption and bill you up to date more accurately. Any bills that are withdrawn and rebilled are done as fairly as possible through price increases and all prices are taken into account, this is done automatically and not manually, obviously they cannot bill you to an actual reading for every single price increase as the logistics of getting a reading are far too complex, however, the more readings you have the more fairly your consumption over the price changes can be done. Powergen are flexible with payment arrangements, I think that if you follow my instructions your bill will reduce more than it has already, unless of course that is a true reflection of your consumption. you will need to negotiate a payment arrangement with them, if youre looking for compensation though it is unlikely you will get a large discount and arrangement, its usually one or the other. Push for it though, ask for a manager, we are not allowed to refuse to let you speak to one... unlike other companies... hope this helps

[ozzywizard]

Get the managers name to be sure they are a manager, it is possible you get an advisors colleague or an advisor that has been at the company longer but holds the same position that the person does you get through too.

[lynzfa]

thanks for that i recieved a refund from npower this morning as well as another bill from powegen for now £632.and want payment immediately.they came out and read the meter on the 26th so are sending me a new bill.its getting higher and i dont know what to do

[Guest Ruthie P]

lynzfa, you need to speak with them, get the exact details and pm me if you like and i will try and help you as best i can. as mentioned before, i work for them so have quite a good idea of how threy work and their policies.

[lynzfa]

i have spoke to powergen and they said the bill i got for £632 was correct as it is the amount outstanding from april when i moved in until the date they read the meter.i still think this is quite alot and i have been told i have to pay this and the only way they will do it is by coming out to fit a prepayment meter which i dont want and the landlord doesnt want.what can i do as i am obvioiusly getting nothing else from npower for their mistake and powergen arent doing anything about the mistake they made either

[ozzywizard]

Your landlord has no authority in the instalation of a prepayment meter. So the only 2 ways to stop this happening is to pay full outstanding bill or put it in dispute. If in dispute they cannot force collection. Maybe at this stage contact energywatch.

[Guest Ruthie P]

lynzfa did you ask to dispute your consumption? I know that the bill seems high but without you asking them to dispute it there is nothing they or you can do. Phone them and ask them to look into it correctly, working out your average consumption over 7 days. They should do this for you and if you need to, ask for a breakdown of how they calculated that your consumption is correct (if they still say it is). If you still feel it is wrong after they have looked into your average then you may have an slt test carried out (standard load test). This means they will come and check your meter by putting a certain amount through and checking that it is registering correctly. This will be chargable if the meter is functioning correctly and there is no issue. My feeling on this is that its probably your start readings or something they arent picking up on. Ring them and ask for a manager, take readings over 7 days give these to the manager tell them what kind of appliances you have and ask to be told exactly all the payments you have made onto your account. If the bill is right youcan find out how much each of your appliances use daily how many payments you have made against your outstanding balance which may make things more clear for you. The meter is owned by your local distributor and they have the right to enter the property to put in prepayment meters so if thats how you want to pay the debt the landlord cant really argue.

[ozzywizard]

There is a £50 charge for an SLT and a £75 charge for check meters if the meter proves to be accurate so best not to go there. Also regarding the 7 day read, this in my opinion will not work or prove a thing. This time of year the nights are earlier and colder, you use your lighting, fires, methods of heating and even your kettle more, so an average consumption for the next 7 days certainly does not give a true record of consumption as the first 7 days in July

[Guest Ruthie P]

This is true ozzy, however, the charge is at the discretion of the energy supplier and they are more likely to offer you a free slt if they think you are going to go to energywatch. Energywatch complaints are something they DO NOT want and will go to almost any lengths to avoid this! As for the consumption query, the time of year is taken into account when working out the average consumption.

 

To add to this they (this is what I have done) offer a free slt to prove the meter is ok on the grounds that you make payment once it has been proven to be correct, this can either be through a monthly payment or prepayment meter. I think the issue here or the way I understand it from lynzfas previous posts is that they dont agree with the amount of consumption used. How else would an energy supplier prove that the meter is fine unless they do an slt test or a check meter. The 7 days readings does help, it shows if there are daily fluctuations in consumption i.e today lynzfas consumption was 33 units tomorrow is 800 with nothing different being used!

[lynzfa]

i am gonna do the meter checks for the next seven days and contact powergen with the readings to see if they think there is any sort of problem,hopefully they will find something as i think it is very high for seven months supply of electricity