Hi All, Hope someone can give advice, the thing is my Daughter has had a bill from Npower from a previous address amounting to nearly £160. She had to move out of her property in March 2013 because of domestic violence, as we now know her Ex also moved out of the property at the same time. My Daughter was rehoused in July of 2013. The thing is both her Gas and Electricity was supplied by Npower on a prepayment meter, as no credit was put onto the meter from March to July the daily standing charge was not being paid. She expected a bill for this, but not to the amount of the bill she has received, anyone else think this seems extreme.

This is a snip from my letter I sent to NPower. I contacted your customer services on the 25th July 2013 at 16:56 and spoke with one of your agents called Kevin. I called to discuss the letter you had sent me, threatening to obtain a warrant and enter my house. We discussed a number of options to clear the outstanding amount. The option we decided on was a call back from your Financial Solutions Department, this would be within the next 5 days. I never received the call and consequently my account was passed to Past Due Credit Solutions. I also have a copy of the original call which shows Npower failed. You have not done what you said you would by requesting a call back from your Financial Solutions Department. I had a call from them this morning (2 days before my NOTICE Complaint expired) The chap I spoke with was very nice but insisted their legal department are denying any wrong doing. Any advice on my next stage? As far as I am concerned they did pass my personal information to a debt collection company even though I asked Npower for some help as I am in a desperate situation financially. Thanks in advance. Buck Buck

theyve decided to make my direct debit £166 a month, it was £125 asked for the reason as my ussage has dropped not risen, They decided to RANDOMLY refund the amount the account was in credit, if they had left it in credit the direct debit would have been able to stay the same however they now wont put it back down.... ive told them i want details to put the credit back and then the debit putting down if not then i have to go through the entire swapping process AGAIN

Hi, have a £1000 debt with Npower - mostly from a previous property we rented. We are still with Npower now at a new property (also renting) They are threatening to cut us off or install a meter. Would there be any come back to switching electricty / gas providers & making an affordable repayment offer to Npower in line with other debts of £5pcm ? Thanks

You would think that Npower would realise there is an error and sort it out !!

Hi guys, I'm posting on behalf of my houseshare. Basically, we've just had a massive bill for the gas and electricity that was almost the same as our winter bill (only about £20/£30 difference). Obviously we're confused as to how that happened because we haven't been using our electric heaters or central heating for the whole duration of the latest bill. I've called npower, they insist that it's correct because we sent in the past week. However, we're still confused how we have managed to use that much when there are fewer of us than there were in the winter. Please advise. It could be nothing, but there's no harm in asking. There are a few things that has changed in between getting the 2 bills. We had our meter for electricity changed in March. The pressure in our boiler keeps falling, so there may be a problem. Lastly they've changed the charges. I've attached our bills. We'd appreciate it if you could take a look. Thanks in advance. Zoe[ATTACH=CONFIG]45352[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45353[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45354[/ATTACH]

Just after some help. These guys are after a debt at a different address. I called Npower and gave them my last meter reading and told them that I was no longer at the address. Months went by and I finally got a bill from them, however, I could not remember the reading but the supply date was dated a couple of months after my call. I obviously questioned this - again and again. Finally, Npower, through BCW confirmed that the meter reading being used is from the one supplied on the 10th Jan 2011 but they continue to send me letters claiming the same, wrong supply date, despite this call being for the sole reason of informing them that this was my final reading at this address. I've not had chance to check the meter reading as I took a photo of the meter which is on another, uncharged phone but the date sounds right. I was wondering, am I being unreasonable expecting them to at least supply me with a correct supply period? They are asking me to send them a copy of my new tenancy agreement and some other stuff, but surely, if Npower have said that the meter reading from the 10th Jan is the one they are using as their final bill it stands to reason that this is also the end supply date and not a date nearly 3 months later. Do they think that with a household of 5 I went a few months with no gas or electricity? In my frustration I also threatened to go to the FOS if they continue to not supply me with the correct details. Can I do this as they seem to think that because the actual agreement is regulated by the Energy Ombudsman Services then I cannot go to the FOS regarding their conduct? Thanks - Lee.

changed my mind on posting this

Good morning everyone. I will try to be as brief as I can. I moved into my current property the end of November 2012. The letting agency automatically put us on the standard npower tariff. The payments were set up but we was told quite late what our actual tariff was by the letting agency. In the middle of January I decided to change the tariff to an online tariff because it was substantially cheaper. I was told the change would take place with 28 days. Months have gone by n they still haven't changed my tariff over. I called a couple times and expressed how disappointed i was with the company but they didnt seem to care. WHat they also forgot to do was actually take the money out of my account each month!! It is only recently they were taking random amounts like £18 and £56. We had arranged a DD of £100 each month. I have now moved over to EDF and am happy with the service they provide. My problem is that Npower are tryin to charge me the standard tariff prices when it should have been changed back in january and have caused me alot of stress and arguments with my partner. They are demandin all the money and have said my bill is available to view online but I AM NOT ABLE TO ACTUALLY ACCESS IT. Maybe that is because I am with a different energy company. I want to make a formal complaint but I do not have a clue how to go about it! HELP PLEASE!

Hello, Please could someone give me some advice? My Mum is in £600 debt with her electricity and NPower are therefore making her get an electricity meter. They are coming to fit the meter on Monday. She's trying to pay the debt off, but is on a state pension (she's in her sixties). I am concerned about a pre-payment meter being fitted as she lives in an isolated part of the Dales, and I don't want her to be at risk of being out of electricity if she's short of money when the cold weather comes. Also, £600 sounds a lot for her to owe, given that she's living alone and only heats the lower half of the house that she rents. Any advice? Thanks, Alf

Dear CAGers This for a friends relative who is 76 and lives in a flat. Following the death of her husband this lady has gone into arrears to a moderate amount (I think around £1,000). As she only receives a state pension and housing benefits she has limited means. A gas meter reader visited the property on the previous Friday and merely read the meter with no other comment or documentation. A man has previously visited the property (around Feb/Mar) and for want of a better description 'bullied and intimidated' a small payment from the lady in question, in addition to her regular amounts. He intimidated her to speak to an unknown person to make a payment using his mobile phone. This action really distressed this old lady and has made her more than a little scared. Last Monday, 3 men turned up at her flat. The first the lady was aware of it was when she heard her front door open and saw a man standing there. She told him to get out and he did so - after some fuss. He did not ring the door bell nor make any attempt to alert the resident he was there before he entered. There has been no warning letter, nor personal visit as I believe is required in this instance. Whilst they were there my friend had a pre-arranged call on her mobile to gather family tree information where they record the call and use this lady's knowledge to progress their family tree. A recording of a lot of the events exists and is actually quite distressing even for a non-interested third party. The main man (same as Feb/Mar) claimed to have a warrant, but the piece of paper flashed in front of the lady did not look like a warrant (she has seen some before). He also did not give her a copy, nor allow her any time to gather reading glasses, let alone actually read it. It appears they claimed to be there to change the GAS meter to a pre-payment type. Whilst the call was on, the lady so terrified by this man that she said she was going to call the Police. Almost immediately following this (and hearing the lady was speaking to someone on the phone) the ELECTRICAL power to the property was turned off, the mains supply switch being located outside the front door. One can only assume that the man in question believed the lady was on a cordless phone and wanted to stop her from communicating with the Police. I received a call from my friend and jumped to the CAG board and discovered the Police will consider this a civil matter, but procedures must be followed to have the right to enter a property. The call continued and it appears three men were there, considerably taller and bigger than this 76 year old lady. The main man then tried to claim they had the right to enter and HE would call the Police. A stand off ensued lasting a few hours. During this stand off, various attempts were made by (what sounded like) the main man to poke metal devices through the letter box, fiddling with the door lock and loud voices. As another method of intimidation what sounded like a power drill was brought up and whirred near the door. The lady in question was getting really distressed and does keep her correspondence and payments fairly well organised. She had no advance notice of these people CLAIMING to be from npower GAS turning up. The mains electricity switch was returned to the ON position before they eventually departed. The police did not attend. No documentation was left identifying who was there or why. This has left the lady quite shaken and does not know what to do about this. On Wednesday a letter arrived from (I think United Utilities) stating they would be visiting the property on the PREVIOUS Monday. What exactly would be the procedures they have not followed? As this three-man team claimed to be there for gas, did they behave correctly in switching off the electricity supply? If they have not followed procedures, would the man's entry into the property be considered burglary? What legal avenues are available? What documentation should be present and left to read and refer to? How can this lady prevent that particular man from turning up again as he frightens her? As always, any help on these matters is greatly appreciated. Thanks

On 23 march I logged into my account and paid an estimated bill around £500 and submitteda meter reading I had taken. I then a couple of days later logged on to see a revised bill so I sent this: Npower site 27 march2013 Account number&*&^%$££”!” You have don it again. You do notsend notification via email or letter for a bill. I have to log on tofind a bill awaiting that is paid in full. You estimate everything soI supply reading and you send a reminder out to me of outstandingbill. Well what happens when you over estimate and I have paid billyou take it off the next bill. So I will employ your policy and waituntil the next bill to pay out standing charge that you would nothave had any idea of unless I informed you. Useless is yourcompany as you have failed with the simplest of things and that is toissue me with a bill until a reminder. I was received areminder letter from Collects Direct dated 3 April 13 but fell on mydoor step on 8 April 13 stating “We got in touch recently to remindyou that your bill hasn't been paid yet” This is untrue as I didnot receive any correspondences from either Npower or CollectionsDirect. I called Collections Direct and the following was said: I asked when the emailswere sent out? 3 dates supplied and none sent at all and I checked myspam filter, This has been an ongoing problem with Npower I alsoconfirmed email address. I have paid my bill andthis needs to go onto next bill as this is taken from my meterreading. I would pay next billdate which I was informed would be the 10 May 13. I asked why they do notplace notification on the bills when the next bill is due so an up todate reading can be undertaken? Reply “we only have to read metresonce every two years” I also asked why mymoney is not given back to me when I over pay due to theirestimations been two high? Reply “because you have not asked forit” I asked what my rightswere? There were no response to this question. I stated that I hadmade an offer and no Judge in their right mind will go against this. I also agreed for themto contact me via telephone then informed them that I record allconversations. I was informed that aletter would be following dated 13 April 13 stating charges I wouldincur. This letter arrived today 25 April 13 dated 19 April 13stating I have 7 days from letter date to pay or they have the rightto enter and that extra cost will follow stating £315.65 per fuel. I had made an offer topay as above but I get the feeling they want me to go Direct Debitand simply want my bank details. I did state that they have never hada problem with me paying my bill. I have also given meter readingsafter paying a bill and never had such a response from Npower. I am considering makingan offer to pay £1 per month via cheque starting 10 May but I do notwant to do this as I see this as a bullying tactic. Although if thisstops them reporting me to Debt Collection Agency and moreimportantly Credit Reference Agency and Fraud Prevention Agency asstated in their letter then I may do this. I am also consideringletting this run its cause and go to court as failings are beenexploited but I need reassurance, experiences and legalities tofollow this rout. Any advice greatlyreceived and pointing me in the right direction where legislation orNpower procedures may help.

Hi My girlfriend asked me to write this post on her behalf. Ok, She used to live in a one bedroom flat From April 2010 to April 2012. Her electricity was supplied by Npower. On moving into the property the meter reading were submittef by the landlord. When she moved from the property she informed Npower. Here is a breakdown of whats happened. Please remember this was a small one bedroom flat and the following correspondence was received in her new home. -Receieved letter from Npower stating final balance on account is £137.00 Please pay now. -Receieved letter from Npower stating the final bill (estimated) is £ 1800.00. -Threatening letter from DCA. -A second threatening letter stating court action if payment isnt made. - She called Npower and said something is wrong and submitted meter readings. Npower state they will investigate. -Weeks later another bill from Npower stating her final bill is £2899.00. -Another threatening letter. -Another call to Npower advising them that this bill is wrong. Explained that she lived alone in a small one bedroom flat and submitted meter readings again. Npower said they will look at it again. -Turns out that an engineer had come out and set the meter to 0. -Recevied a letter from Npower stating the bill is now £856.00. -Sent a letter of complaint to Npower. -Received a patronising letter back from Npower stating this is the correct bill and she does not have to pay this all at once. -She sent another letter saying she can only pay £20.00 per month. Payment card receieved despite asking to set up a standing order. -Called Npower stating she would like to pay by standing order. Npower provide her with the details -Standing order set up with the bank. -Payment of £20.00 made to Npower on 01.04.2013. via standing order. -02.04.2013 letter from Npower stating you must pay your bill within 7 days. Can these people really get away with bullying!!!!!!!

Hi all, I have requested British Gas to take over my electric and gas meters as i'm currently paying in excess of £50 a week alone in electric to NPower for our small 2 bedroom house. I'm a single mum of two teenagers and self-employed. Business is dead at the moment so our sole income is tax/child tax credits. I can't afford gas, in fact I only put money on my gas card when the cold is unbearable as we only use the gas for heating purposes, a couple of weeks ago I put £15.00 on the gas card that only gave us around £4.50 of gas. The bill for my gas is currently at £300.00 because i'm not putting money on the card weekly, just when we need it desperately. I'm livid that I have a bill so high for something we seldom use. There is apparantly a daily fee for having the pre-payment meter in the first place. I only requested it in the first place so I didnt have yet another large bill to pay out for and wanted to remain in charge of what we spend. As you can imagine with all of our other daily living expenses we are on an extremely tight budget and I'm finding it more and more difficult to survive. British Gas sounded very good and said they were cheaper than NPower but will they allow me to change suppliers if there's a £300 bill on my gas pre-payment meter? I'm becoming desperate! I did call NPower and said something must be wrong but they said the meter reading sound right, we dont have anything running longer than it should and I have become very strict on leaving lights on/standby etc but it's making no difference.

We took out boiler insurance with Npower after being hounded in the evenings to switch over. Loads of nice talk with big promises. This was in 2011 and we have never missed a payment nor have we claimed. We moved abroad in July 2012 for employment and stopped using Npower as a supplier but continued with the boiler insurance. Npower then continue to take the £17 per month even up to this February 2013 when we had a boiler break-down which they then declined to attend to because the house was rented. I then wrote a complaint on their official website and was told that I would get a response within 24 hours. Still waiting 3 weeks later! I then tried to call and was told that the queue was 29 minutes long. Great customer care so far! I then wrote a letter of complaint and received an email in response. The response told me that the policy did not cover rentals so therefore the claim was not attended to and yes they had continued to take my monthly payment of £17 which was now getting cancelled and No I could not expect a refund for the 7 months as this had to cover tests and administration! I have read a number of blogs and this appears to be a common problem. Take the customers money and then refer them to page 602, clause 59d of their terms and conditions which states they really cover very little! In my view Npower are underhanded and don't understand how they get away with this behaviour in a 1st world country. I will never use them again and recommend that anyone reading this message does not either. Please tell 13 friends who will then tell 13 friends and so on. These people do not deserve our custom!

Hi this is my first post here. Can anybody help me with npower. I did pay monthly by direct debit £73 a month. In January they took, without warning £222, which I immediately got the bank to take back, as this made overdrawn (and I don’t have an overdraft) and it would have meant I could not pay my rent. I contacted them and they said £222 was the new monthly amount and they said they informed me of the increase in November, they hadn’t. I am on a fixed tariff and my usage hasn’t changed so why should my monthly direct debit triple? I looked at my online account and it said I was £440 in debt. I read my meters and saw they had overestimated my electricity, so I put the real reading in and the debt went down to £232. I also sent the reading to person from npower I was dealing with. He came back saying I owed npower £583 even though my account still says £232? So I argued with him and got this email today, maybe I’m a bit thick but it makes no sense to me what so ever. “Please accept my apologies for the mistype. Your balance is £582.93 > following the amended bill being produced. The difference in the amounts > advised and the actual amounts on your account is £0.28. On our systems, an > amount of £232.00 was showing as being outstanding as more than 14 days had > passed and this balance had cleared however since the amendment to your > accounts bill from £583.21 to £582.93, this will have now updated your > online account to show £231.72 again showing a difference of £0.28. > With the amendments made and the incorrect information provided to you, I > would like to increase my proposed offer of resolution to your complaint to > reduce the balance to £500.00, a total reduction of £82.93 and to spread > your balance over the following 12 months which would require a monthly > payment of £42.00 on top of your ongoing usage of £111.00 totalling £153.00 > per month.” So they are proposing I go from paying £73 a month to £153 and it still doesn’t explain why he is claiming I owe more than my account says? I’m on a low income and I assumed monthly payments would mean I would avoid a big bill. I just want to leave npower, but it seems they have trapped me.

Hi all They whacked one in eventually, owe them a fortune but as I understand it whatever I put in they take 70% and give me the 30%. All I have in the house is heating, no other gas appliance, dont use hot water just have a shower. Put £10 in last night, gave me £3 of credit. Timed how long before cut of time, 5 hours and 13 minutes of central heating then it ran out. Set the heating to 15 last night, had it on for 3 hours then turned everything off including combi boiler(modern) Turned back on this evening(same setting), 2 hours13 minutes later and boooom it ran out ! Is this the average ? Regards Eggy12

I would be interested in hearing from anyone that has had dealings with kenneth Radley Davies the paralegal at RWE npower. I personally have found him to be ill mannered, as garold01 has too, who was driven to suicidal thoughts because of this paralegal. Are there any others people who have had bad experiences with this person? Please feel free to personal message me if you don't want to make something public. I am putting together a complaint about the paralegal to the Office of Fair Trading regarding this person and npower on debt collection methods being used, which also include using false warrants to get locksmiths to 'break and enter' to change meters while the locksmiths believe they are operating under a 'real' Court Warrant and in reality they are not! Any information good or bad relating to debt collection methods appreciated!

I have a HUGE story regarding npower and our bills but in short..... They keep threatening they are going to apply for a warrant of entry, can anyone that has perhaps dealt with this please tell me the process and how long it takes etc Thanks

hi there I have lived in this rented house for 3 years, I have had escalating bills for the last year and a half and even tho I came to agreements to pay, after every review they became so high I now cannot afford to pay what they are asking. The origonal debt was £258 and is now £1200. In between all this added debt, I was trying to set up an AFFORDABLE payment plan, they would not accept what I had coming in and what I could afford to pay out so I wrote a letter complaint to one of the directors of NPOWER and agreed to accept my payments. It was all ticking along nicley and then my JSA was stopped because I went into hospital and they changed me over to Employment and Support Allowance, which in turn affected my rent payemnts etc. Then out of the blue with no warning NPOWER merged both my accounts for GAS and ELECTRICITY. Instead of paying two direct debits they now tried to take the whole amount out at once in Dec 2012. Back to square one, letters threats of entry. They have tried telling me I need a meter fitted, but I can bearly afford to heat the home now, without the added cost of the meter billing. Plus I am a private tennant, the landlord has told me he specifically does not want a meter fitted. The reason they were separate in the first place was if one DD did not go through I could easilyring and pay over the phone, but with the JSA mix up and the ESA payments be lower than JSA I could not afford to pay the DD. Any idea what to do next please all help would be greatly recieved.

Hi everyone, My partner and I currently have a back log of approximately £300 with nPower that they are chasing us for. We are on a standard meter and get billed every 3 months by post. My partner is a full time student and I am the major wage earner. In July of this year I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder and have been signed off work with a significantly reduced income since then. We want to pay but cannot afford the £300, nPower are next to useless at helping on the phone. Does anyone please have any advice as to how we could approach this matter? Thank you all for your time and help/suggestions you make. Kind regards, timetoshine

In October I received a letter from npower informing me that their prices were to be increased. The annual bill, I am on Sign Online 24, for my electricity was forcast as being 17.8% higher and my gas bill 15.5% higher, their figures. Both substantially more than I thought was being advertised! I have since recieved a further notification informing me that Sign Online 24 will be discontinued on the 3rd February 2013 and that I will automatically be transferred to Go Save S. When I calculated the comparative costs for the new tariff, guess what, it is nearly 7% higher than the revised Sign Online 24 tariff. If I am going to be caught with higher costs, can anyone tell me which of the utility suppliers are not foreign owned? At least my money might stay in the UK.

Good afternoon I have a bit of a situation going on with Npower currently. I switched to them for electricity after a sales person coming round and pressuring me into it. My payments were £50 to start off with which was about right for my 1 bedroom flat (I live on my own). However over time the payments were going up and up until i was paying £70 a month. Unfortunately last year i became ill and had to leave my job. There was a period of a few months where i could not afford to pay them anything so i built up a bit of a debt. Then i set up a payment plan with them for £96 a month (£70 usage and £26 to cover the debt) - They insisted that this was the minimum they could accept, even though i showed them proof of my benefits of £204 a month, to cover everything. However i paid it although it was a big struggle and this left me in arrears with my rent shortfall of £170 a month. However a couple of months ago they sent me a letter with my 'new payment schedule'... of £245 A MONTH!!!! i called them up and asked why, they couldnt seem to tell me apart from insist that it was correct and that they couldnt accept any less than that. I told them i was poorly and couldnt possibly pay any more than i already was, but they wouldnt budge. So in the end i switched to Southern electric, who have given me capped payments of £40 a month, based on my usage!! I now have a final bill from npower of over £700, demanding payment within 7 days. I have no idea what to do and where to even start. I now have to prioritise my rent after almost being evicted so i have very little to offer them. What i would like to know is:- 1. I believe this bill is not accurate - i have printed out all my online bills and some say ESTIMATED, what can i do about this? 2. Once i have sorted out an accurate bill, can they take me to court if i make an offer of payment by standing order and if so what is the minimum amount i can offer? Just to sum it up i am not disputing that i owe them something, as i had the debt there before my payment plan, BUT i kept up with my payments, and now that i am with another company, the only thing i should owe them is the remainder of the debt pre payment plan, as i had paid them up until i left them for my usage. So i have no idea where they are getting this figure from!!!! Any idea how i can proceed? I am finding this very difficult as i get very tired because of my health and i just cannot think straight. Thank you:smile:

Have just had a call from npower asking me for a meter reading over the phone, I told them that I would do it tomorrow as A) I dont know who she is and b) it is FREEZING outside so I wont be going outside until I have to. I said to her that the meter reader was so rude the other day that I wont be letting anyone I dont know, read the meter anymore, she then told me that my meter HAs to be read by LAW, oh really? Can anyone confirm this? ta very much:smile:

In addition nPower has agreed to issue £10 vouchers to affected customers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20625462 The abandon calls came just weeks after nPower were fined £2m by OFGEM for its poor handling of customer complaints http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/8859221/Npower-fined-2m-by-Ofgem.html