I've had a lot of problems with NPower recently but today they sent me a bill for the period from February to August. They sent me a letter a month or so ago apologising for the delay in sending the bill but they were having problems with the billing system. However they have the following readings showing on their online system for the day rate (the night ones look more reasonable) 24/01/2012, 6983, usage 0, submitted by NPower 07/02/2012 - 7000, usage 17, submitted by Customer 08/02/2012 - 7000, usage 0, submitted by NPower. 13/08/2012 - 8124, usage of 1124 units, submitted by NPower 24/10/2012 - 7240, usage of 99116 units submitted by NPower The current bill is only to August but is for 1124 units (8124 - 7000) when the actual usage is currently showing as around 7300. In reality there is a dodgy reading in there (8124) which is why the bill has gone up this quarter. The more recent reading of 7240 is more reasonable, but it seems NPower have interpreted this as the meter having "clocked" (gone back round) as it's lower than the previous value hence a usage of 99,116 units is now shown. So I'm not looking forward to the next bill which will include this. I suspect someone at NPower is just making up the readings, since the meter is inside and they've not read it in years (I get a card from Lowri Beck I think it is from time to time saying they tried to read it but I was out and when I get this I submit my own readings, but these don't appear on the NPower site). I tried to call their customer services line and got a recorded message that they are all on a training course and to ring back tomorrow (this was before their closing time of 8pm). I tried instead to get through to their complains department but having been in a queue for more than an hour without anyone answering the battery in my phone gave up.

A Summary judgement was obtained against my son in the sum of £130,000 by an energy company . they have issed these bills saying that My son was responsible backdating 5 years of electricity as they think my son was unable to sublet his premise therefore they now deem him responsible from 2005 to 2010. They have already been paid for a lot of this electricity by various third parties whom technically my son leased the premises too. Further more my son was threatened by his father to have the lease in his name. The lease also had an asignment to it which added on another party to the lease who was actually responsible for the bills. My sons defence was nil as Claimants have ignored our attempts earlier to sort this matter out. The energy company solicitors served papers at different addresses where my son no longer lives. I have tried to keep him from the stress of this matter. Also the electricity company have used estimated readings and instead of 7p charged 17p and have failed to mention that they have received many many payments for the same electricity We have evidence from one company that ran the business that in 2006 to 2008 they paid in excess of £40,000 . . At no time did my son ever run or have anything to do with the property. I attended a hearing on 15th October apparently the solicitors have served papers for a year and a half but my son did not have them they have lied about the bills overcharging and charging for same electricity twice. The district Judge said my son had no defence (I had in actual fact put one in thinking they didn’t stand a chance but it was rubbish can I get into trouble for this) They issued summary judgement only because my son has failed to deal with some points . It was always understood with the brewery that the business was sub let they even admit this in a letter. They are now claiming for 5 years worth of electricity at over inflated estimated reads they have also failed to give full and accurate information to the courts I want to know how we can get the summary judgement set aside as my son did not defend himself. The Judge was very angry that my son did not attend. (He was ill anyway but also I had not told him too). I dont think they will accept anything less than a top argument and I dont have the money to defend this. Any assistance will be appreciated.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223658/Homeowner-mis-sold-gas-nPower-salesman-person-win-harrasment-payment-energy-giant-sent-10-debt-collection-agencies-him.html I say well done to David Osborn and the judge concerned. Hope Ofgem taken some action. Although this case does not set any precedent as such, it may be worth noting that a case against the OC for harassment may succeed, if their errors have caused DCA's to get involved.

I have been with Npower for several years now, I live in a three bedroom ex council terraced house with no gas supply so everything runs on electric. I have 2 meters, a standard rate meter and a low rate meter - this goes through a timeswitch. When I moved into the house, I had been on a prepayment meter for several years and then for a few years paying via direct debit, and I believe if I remember correctly that I had an opening credit balance when I first moved in. Since then the monthly direct debit charge has increased exponentially, unfortunately I dont have old bills to hand but I am currently paying £240 per month for my usage and according to Npower I have a debt of £600+ and rising. I have been negotiating for several years now every 3-6 months as the Npower computer sends me direct debit increases that have at times been over £400 a month - and I have to call and get them manually reduced to the measured usage (with no debt repayment) - and even whilst paying £240 a month my debt is steadily increasing. Several years ago I complained that the meter must be faulty, Npower customer services informed me that they are hardly ever faulty and said I would have to pay to have the meter checked. As I couldnt afford it at the time (with the bills and debt) I never got it done, I sort of buried my head in the sand and just paid the direct debit, of course this affected my normal lifestyle quite dramatically but as the only energy supply I had I couldnt risk disconnection - my child is disabled and I dont think I would hear the end of it if she lost her pc for example. I always thought the usage was crazy as my mortgage is less than that per month (I live in a cheap area!) - but I have had a debt in the past at a previous address that Npower almost disconnected so I just paid up. After the most recent letter telling me my monthly direct debit would be increasing to £378 a month I again negotiated with customer services back down the "normal" monthly amount of £240 - and I demanded a meter test - I explained with my bills what have I got to lose. The most recent Npower advisor I dealt with was very amiable and I think went the extra mile to help me out - but still couldnt see the plain fact the meter was broken - but at least this time there was no talk about repaying the debt - just about controlling it a little. I have been taking my own readings semi regularly for the past three years - but they all seemed to show the same details too. I also got the advisor to send me previous readings - put these in my spreadsheet and tried to interpret the graph - looking for a spike or some thing that marked the change (we had a surge a few years ago - set fire to my shed blew up a lot of my white goods) and I also have a small substation next to my house in a garage block (its an odd thing - has my address on it!). But the readings all matched; I sort of set myself thinking I must be using the power somehow and began rationing it, every white good that was destroyed was replaced with AAA rated appliances - our shower blew up and I never replaced, the heating has been switched off for several years now and we have been living like energy nomads - even using candles in the bathroom. I thought somehow there must be a big hole for electricity under my house and it just kept eating it. And of course Npower advised me that must be the case (not literally) but they didnt think that my usage was odd and blamed it on the current price increases. The meter test happened, initially they couldnt fit a meter but they sent a portable tester - another extra callout so another charge that would be applied if the meter wasn't faulty. But it appears I have been right all along. The technician who performed the test told me he had never seen a meter as faulty, he quoted a 2% tolerance fast/slow was allowed on the meter - but he then explained that at times our meter was running approximately 300-500% quicker than normal, but then dropping down to -20 to -30% slower than normal. So over recent years I have paid in the region of £6-8,000 to Npower (no exact figures to hand!) and I dont think I can determine what has been used or not - can the meter be tested to find out how much has been used - or if the meter is that screwed up what will happen next? I am sort of expecting NPOWER to send me an increased bill - its traditional. Advice please!!!

I have a case due to be heard on November 7th. Npower already failed to provide some documentation and the court allowed them time to send it. Then the court asked for a witness statement from Npower within a certain timescale which they did not comply with. I wrote to the court requesting judgment only for them to grant time to Npower to submit the papers by October 24th. Does it seem the court is biased and ignoring its own orders or am I wrong?

Moved into my home 2 years ago, originally got a huge first bill from npower, but not untill being here for 9 months. I contaced them to say the bill was unusually high and after several months of trying to convince them it was wrong they finally reduced it as it seems my night and day readings were the wrong way round, i have night storage heaters. They were then demanding payment from me which i could not make, the bill has got higher and higher, in april they agreed i could pay £200 per month but i cannot manage this, but they will accept no lower, help, im worried they will be here to cut me off soon

NPower is making me pay 12 months usage within a 9 month period - i.e. 3 months early? NPower estimated what my future usage would be between May 2012 and May 2013. They then set my monthly charges to pay off this estimate by Feb 2013. This means I will pay 12 months (May 2012 to May 2013) in a 9 month period (May 2012 to Feb 2013) When I confronted NPower with this they kept referring to different parts of the (confusing) bill as an explanation. Eventually, having argued away all their arguments, there was no other conclusion but the fact that they are making me pay early and they refused to change it. Why is this? Is this ethical? Are they doing it to you as well?

Hi Can someone help me? I have been with Npower for approx 18 months and have always paid by direct debit. I have missed the last two monthly payments due to not having the money. I went to reset my direct debit up and they refused as they had passed it to someone else to collect the debt (approx £470). They told me I would need to pay approx half of the balance, telling me £250. I said that I would pay £130 and could pay a further £80 in 2 weeks. They agreed to this. On Friday, i called up to pay £80 and they rang through to Npower and Npower requested the meter readings to which i gave them. Once they came back they refused to let me set up any arrangement and told me i have to have a meter or it would be referred to an official debt collection company. After arguing with them, i gave in as I had no choice. They then told me the only date they could do was 1st August and I told them I couldnt do this date as I had to work. Any other date that week was fine but they said no. So again I had to agree. Having had a 45 minute conversation with them i got off the phone ANGRY! Can I change suppliers so I don't have to have a meter put in and call Npower and tell them i will make an arrangement to pay of the balance? I will then hopefully go with a new supplier. Can anyone help? Thanks

Hi All Does any kind person have a contactable email address for Npower customer service? I have literally just joined them (accounts already gone through the switching process about 3-4 weeks ago) and I was quoted a direct debit charge of £15 monthly (am a very low user and this would be about right). Now the imbeciles have sent me a letter saying they are going to charge me £72 a month!!! Made up of £12 elec and £60 gas. Any fool can see this is incorrect. I spent a while filling in the contact form on the imbeciles' website with the above info, but upon trying to submit the form, the imbeciles tell me that my account does not match any on their system. Well I have checked the info several times, tried and tried again, added zeros, left out spaces to no avail. Apparently, my account does not exist. So, as I refuse to spend MY money calling their 0845 or 0871 numbers - and I suspect it will prove useful to have written evidence of conversation with imbeciles - has anyone got an email address, pretty please? I am already thinking of switching - AGAIN!

Hi guys, I will try to explain my situation the best i can and hopefully somebody may be able to give me advice. Over the last several months ive not been working due to depression and other health issues, ive been burying my head in the sand about my bills. Now im feeling a bit better i need to tackle this problem before it snowballs even more than it has already has, my debt was passed on to power2contact with an extra charge of 23.50 which im guessing is because of this. my current debt is 190. After reading online about power2contact i got a bit worried about the way they do things so i decided not to contact them and ring npower instead asking if i could get a prepayment meter fitted to pay my bill, im now unsure if this is the best way of paying off my debt and if it will be better for me in the future. Im currently in a one bedroom flat so im on the lowest tariff and i rarely use my gas. I understand that the meter will charge 34p a day/£120ish a year also taking 70% off any payment i make towards my gas reducing my debt this way. I honestly dont know what to do for the best now and for the future use of gas. Whenever i try to speak to npower about this i get flustered and forget questions or dont ask the right ones and come away from the call no better than when i started. I hope ive posted in the right place and explained myself so you guys can understand, any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks

npower (September 2010) Investigation into compliance with obligations under the gas and electricity supply licences (Standard Licence Condition 25) Ofgem is investigating whether npower is complying with obligations under standard licence condition 25 with respect to telephone and face-to-face sales activities. By way of background, following this, Ofgem put in place a new version of standard licence condition 25 with a view to helping domestic customers make well-informed decisions in response to telephone and face-to-face sales activities. In particular, there are new requirements for domestic suppliers to provide estimates and comparisons during face-to-face sales activities (with effect from 18 January 2010) and to secure the achievement of an objective in respect of both face-to-face and telesales activities (with effect from 21 October 2009). In summary, the objective requires domestic suppliers to take all reasonable steps to ensure information provided is complete and accurate, understandable, appropriate and not misleading, and that sales activities are conducted in a fair, transparent, appropriate and professional manner.

Hi Guys, I have a slightly complicated scenario here and I was hoping someone could refer me to a similar situation so I can assess the outcome. The Property - It is a family shop which we have owned since the 70's. - It originally had domestic accommodation on the first floor, and commercial on the ground. - The energy has been supplied by MEB since the start of time (i think) till nPower took over - We have been using a Pre-Payment Token meter, since the start of time and is located in the cellar of the property - The original account happend to be on my wife's name The Situaton - We began full scale refurbishment to the property in/around 2010 - The property was completely striped out with all the foundations exposed - I was not sure who the energy supplier was and merely contacted every energy supplier I could think of to find out - I found out it was nPower and requested them to move the meter - They advised me that this is not their responsibility and i should contact the local electricity board (western energy). They then set up a new Business Account under my name. - Following that, they accused me of not paying my bill. This followed by letters requesting £5000, which i refused to pay. I protested that it was a token meter, they didn't believe me. They requested a warrant from the magistrates court, entered my property and removed the fuses from my meter. - Then they reduced the debt to £250, and then waived the charges. - But due to the fact they removed the fuses, my building work halted, as access into the property required the electric shutters to be opened. Now, Their Domestic Department has confirmed to me that my meter is a token meter, and even provided me with all the details regarding its specification etc. When the Business account was made, I do not understand why the info from the domestic account regarding the property was not transfered. They have sent engineers to re-enter the property and re-fit the fuses, but their engineers refuse to do so due to health and safety. Their engineer was happy enough to enter the property to remove the fuses but not happy re install them, or analyse the meter to confirm to them it is a token meter. The property condition has since deteriorated, but this is because the building work has halted. Has anyone come across any similar situations? The business dept are disputing what type the meter is, they claim its a Smart meter but i know it is a token meter, and so do the domestic department. Any advice or suggestions would be deeply appreciated Thank you

I am with Npower, and I would like to voice a warning with all consumers concerning their bills being estimated before the price rises. The practice used by Npower and undoubtably all the big energy companies, is to underestimate your bills whilst you are still on the pre-price rise rates, this means that when your rates increase, the energy that you had already used (and should have been billed at a lower rate) would then be billed to you at the higher rate. I noticed this on my last bill and immediately called to give the accurate reading. The phone call lasted several minutes as the receptionist at Npower tried to persuade me to leave the bill as it was and not to worry about changing it as " you can have it added to your next bill, you don't need to worry about it now " I had to insist on him taking the correct reading. On recieving the new bill a few days later, they omitted to put the new electricity reading and only altered the more insignificant gas reading, meaning that the well underestimated electric reading stayed the same. I then rang them again, and it took a full 25 minutes to get them to re-issue a correct bill including the up to date electric reading. Their reason given for the wrong reading initially was that the meter was actually read by one of their own contractors. On being told that the contractors did not have a front door key to our house, therefore he could not have read the meter, the receptionist said " Oh, your meter is not on the outside of your house" then went away for a few minutes to speak to his supervisor leaving me on hold. On return to the phone, he apologised and said that it was " A clerical error " and told me that the bill would be updated and sent out in a couple of days. When the new bill arrived, it showed that there had been a shortfall of £48 on the electric. That meant that if I had not insisted on a correct reading for my bill, it would have made the shortfall increase to approx £60 with the new inreased rate. I would imagine that they are doing this to all customers bills, so beware and check your readings now !

My electricity supplier is nPower though I think that Scottish Hydro are responsible for the infrastructure. Last Thursday, 8th December at 12.50pm, like many in Scotland that day, my electricity supply was cut off by a falling tree caused by the strong winds. The power was not reconnected until 00.55am on Sunday morning, so I was without electricity for 60 hours. Am I entitled to compensation from either nPower or Scottish Hydro or can they claim that it was a force majeure?

Okay I've been paying bills through something called 'bill payment system' with my bank Halifax. This was setup over 5+ years ago. Basically I make a bill payment for Electricity/Gas/Council Tax etc and they just keep a record of it so that I can make the same payment again without having quote the sortcode/account nos and reference nos each time. Until recently June 2011, All my bill payments for electricity had been received without any problems. I got a bill in October 2011 and paid it by contacting my bank, like usual automated menu driven. About 7 days later I got a reminder about non bill payment from my electricity company Npower. So I checked with my bank and learned that the 'bill payment to electricity' had infact somehow gone to Eon my gas supplier. I contacted Eon and they confirmed they had received the overpayment and that my account was now in credit and agreed to use this for future bills. I assumed that this was an error on my part when selecting the option over the telephone to pay the bill. Anyway I then contacted my bank again and got them to make another payment for electricity and not gas and making sure the correct option was selected this time and just forgot about it. About another 7 days later I got a second letter from Npower - collections department about non payment and they would enter my home etc etc. Now I was getting really "£$% as I've never had problems before and having been paying my bills like this for over 5 years for all utilities. Again I checked with my bank and found that again the 'bill payment' I made had gone to 'gas' and not to electricity. I got the bill payment details from my bank which I've had in place for years to check with Npower. I contacted Npower and tried to confirm what I currently had from my bank but they said they didn't recognise the sort code or the reference number that my bank gave to me. But for all these years Npower have been accepting the monies I have been paying for the bills including June 2011 bill. Instead they kept pointing to the sort code at the back of the bill letter which was different to what I had in place. What I want to know is why didn't they notify me that the sortcode/reference no had changed. They wouldn't admit the change. Another point. I can't believe that I made the payment twice to the wrong company, I think the payment must have bounced or something which my bank are not telling me, So instead what they did is pay it to Eon my gas company instead. Nobody is admitting to anything. As a last resort contacted my bank and updated the bill payement system for Electricity to the new sortcode and reference no from my latest bill and made the outstanding payment that was due. What I want to know can Npower make changes like this without making customers aware. Also luckily in this case the monies went to another company on my list of bill payments - Gas. But what if it went somewhere else that I could not track as my statements from my bank only show 'bill payment - Gas' and the amount debited. Who's responsible for chasing and getting my money back, Halifax or Npower? Do I have a case here?

It is about time there was a concerted and organised way to deal with energy companies fleecing us. I think that we need to organise a mass exodus from one company, Npower for instance. If we left one company en-masse, surely it would force that one company to bring down its rates to encourage customers to re-sign as without customers it's business would fold. Obviously, it would need to be a well organised exodus, but I am sure that once word got around and this forum has the power to that then a date could be set for people to act. What do you all think ?

Can you help please? I signed up with NPower Home Care for boiler care approx 5 months ago. The boiler was 'checked' by one of their sub contractors approx 3 months ago who completed the paperwork and passed the boiler. My boiler has now stopped working, one of the 'Home Care' team came out to check it and said he would not have passed the boiler it should have been condemed. I explained it had been passed by one of his colleagues 3 months ago. He informed me the parts for the boiler are not available anymore and I would most likely need a new boiler. He left and ten minutes later one of the customer services team rang to inform me that they were cancelling my contract immediately and I would be reimbursed the £15 a month I had being paid. The reason they gave was that it was a sub-contractor that had initially come out to check the boiler and he should have told them the age and make and they would have refused to cover it. I stated my case that this was not my problem I had continued to pay in good faith, they said they were continuing to cancel my contract with immediate effect. I am now without a boiler and cannot contact their complaints department who promised to ring me today. Can anyone advise me please, the property was due to be rented this week and I cannot let the tennants move in until I have a boiler fitted? Is this a breach of contract, where do I go from here? Thank you

I have been browsing this board and I see that a lot of posts here relate to Npower. I've been fighting with that institution since June last year and recently sent a complaint to Energy Ombudsman. The complaint originally refers to the amount that was charged in error for utilities used in a property that I have vacated roughly 9 months ago. The amount was then refunded to me and then added again to another bill. In a word, Npower claimed back its own refund. As I know that some people here have experience in dealing with Energy Ombudsman I wanted to ask how their complaints procedure usually works. Following the advice that I received from Consumer Direct employee, I have sent formal complaint form and dozens of documents and letters that I have exchanged with Npower to Energy Ombudsman enquiry email address. Energy Ombudsman accepted my complaint and sent me a form to sign in order to start the investigation. Today, I have received a phone call from a member of Npower Executive Complaints Team. The lady stated that they have issued the refund in error made some other mistakes concerning my bills from my previous property and the outcome is that I owe them £300 pounds Funny. I would like to ask two questions: Is it a normal procedure? The Energy Ombudsman's website says that they will let me know about the outcome of investigation. I was expected to be contacted by the Energy Ombudsman not by Npower employee? I have really bad experience with that company and I feel that they are trying to do something behind my back, again. Shall let the Energy Ombudsman that I was contacted by Npower? Due to professional reasons I'll be moving to another city soon. I'm going to close my dual fuel account with Npower and sign up for some decent supplier. What could be the outcome if I just leave it like that? From Your experience, is it possible that they will be chasing after me? If so how and when?

Hi, I'm really worried and don't know what to do!!!! I have been with Npower for about a year now on Sign Online 16 for gas and electricity, paying £24 (in total for both) by direct debit. I am a student living in a 1 bed flat so thought this was about the right price...Apparently not!!!! I received a bill the other day saying that I am £589 in debit, and they need to increase my D/D to £218 a month (which I assume takes into account the £589 owed). I do query this amount owed, as I don't believe it possible one person could use £805 (which includes £216 already paid from beginning of the year)!!! I phoned NPower straight away and said there is no way I can pay £218 a month, They asked various questions regarding help with the payment i.e any benefits?, children under 16?, etc. Of which I can't claim for any as I am a student and don't have any children, not aged over 60, etc, etc. NPower then proceeded to tell me that they can reduce the monthly amount down to £122 a month or I can get a prepayment meter installed. I haven't agreed to anything as yet as I know I can't even pay £122 a month and query how they can drop a payment amount by £96 in 5 mins of talking. Also, I received a 'For information only' bill back in February, which when looking at it showed I was in debit by £56.56 for electricity and £228.06 for gas, which I assumed was what was left owing on the balance for the rest of the year as I didn't receive any letter saying they needed to adjust my D/D amount. I'm so confused and don't know what to do. There's no way I can pay back this amount (if it is legally owed) within 10months (as I am in rented accomodation and my tenancy runs out end of July). Does anyone have any advice?Please!!!