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@npowerhelp Electricity Meter Nightmare
jambokaos87 posted a topic in Utilities - Gas, Electricity, Water
Good afternoon all, I hope that the good posters in this forum will be able to advise me on how to resolve a problem that my neighbours and I are experiencing with the electricity meters for our flats. Please bear with me while I give you the background to this problem. In our apartment block (total of 9 flats, 3 on each floor) our meters are in a locked/coded room, with the management company's logo on the door. Residents are given full access to the room. On Monday 16th July 2018, I experienced several power outages. When I investigated further, I found an electrician working inside the locked room on behalf of one of my neighbours, who were having power issues of their own. He turned off the isolator fuse switch underneath the meter that was clearly labelled for flat 125 (my flat is 137). This cut the power to my flat completely. Their electrician explained that the meter that is labelled to my flat is actually supplying electricity to flat 149. The meter that is labelled for flat 141 is actually supplying electricity to flat 125. My neighbour in flat 149 is unsure which meter should be theirs. Chances are my neighbours and I have all been either dramatically overpaying for our electric or massively underpaying. In the case of my neighbour at 141, he had what he believed was a pre-paid meter. This meant that even though he was topping up the meter, he was actually paying for 125! From speaking with the neighbours about this they are all with different suppliers: 125 - British Gas 149 - Spark Energy 137 (myself) - nPower 141 - British Gas I first notified my management company (I am the lease holder of my flat) about this on 16/07. They were adamant that it was my energy provider's (nPower) responsibility and nothing to do with them. nPower then confirmed that the MPAN for the meter labelled as 137 was registered to my flat, completely ignoring what I told them about it being physically incorrect. Interestingly, speaking to my neighbour 149, Spark Energy are adament that my meter is registered to them but for 149. Since then I've had two nPower meter people out. The first one was a complete waste of my time. The second basically replicated the issue and said that there was nothing more that he could do. After a 3 hour phone call to nPower on Friday morning the manager I spoke to (who was dealing with my complaint) said that the only way to resolve this would be to get an electrician in myself. I do not have the money to pay for the no doubt large 3 figure sum involved to put this right. I've also been told by several people (including a Customer Service Agent at my DNO) that a private electrician wouldn't be "allowed" to change any of the cables. I've also confirmed with my neighbours that we are unwilling to pay for something that isn't our fault and has likely been the case since the apartments were built in 2006. What would you recommend to do next? Really don't know how to proceed. Thanks Jamie -
Opened: Feb 2018 Investigation into Iresa and its compliance with its obligations under its gas and electricity supply licences READ MORE HERE: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/investigation-iresa-and-its-compliance-its-obligations-under-its-gas-and-electricity-supply-licences-slcs-14-233-234-25c-slc-0-october-2017-275-278-2716-and-chsr-2008 -
Hi there, I really hope someone can offer some useful advise on the problem ill outline below We live in a small 2 bed flat and have recently been told we have over £1200 outstanding electricity bill (this is on top of the estimated usage we have been paying each month). The flat is heated by gas and hot water by gas, gas usage has remained as estimated. This number comes from the electric metre readings, when we moved into the flat our agency transferred the account into our names and provided a metre reading (september), we have our own from january this year as well as one from April this year done by a EDF representative. I will attempt to show break down of electric usage below: 21st of September reading: 39987kwh (from our agency, with a photo) 28th of January reading: 46160kwh (from us with a photo) 30th of April reading: 46863kwh (from us and EDF with photo) So when we work it out, between 15th of september and 28th january we 'used' 6173 kwh, or over the 135 days that equals to 46kwh a day. From 28th of january to 30th of april we used 703 kwh, or over the 92 days 7.641 kwh a day. Very little has changed in terms of behaviour in the flat in this time, as previously mentioned heating is gas and so a winter shouldn't effect this, furthermore the usage in the last 3 months is consistent with estimated usage for the flat. We really believe that using 45kwh a day in a gas heated 2 bedroom flat is completely impossible for us and do not believe we have used this electricity. I am posting this for advice as we do not know how to deal with this as we don't understand what we can do. As the last 3 months data appears to show normal usage it makes it very hard to prove if we wanted to investigate the meter being faulty or even someone stealing electricity.
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Opened: Feb 2018 Investigation into Ovo and its compliance with its obligations under the gas and electricity supply licences READ MORE HERE: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/investigation-ovo-and-its-compliance-its-obligations-under-gas-and-electricity-supply-licences-standard-licence-conditions-31a-and-25c-slc-0-october-2017
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Good evening to everyone, i am new on this forum and i am pretty frightened. I received today 2 letters that are 100% the same from Wescot. They are after the Address Verification and in the same time saying if i am the person above to call asap the number. If i do not answer by 30/11/2017 they will assume the contact information they hold about me are correct. Now to tell you the story. It started in 2014 when i moved to UK for study. I rented a house with 3 other people. The electricity bill was supposed to come every 3 months. When it came, it came as well with the old debt from the previous tenants, which was on the house number without a clear name. We tried to call the gas company but the situation was far from being solved. While i was away for my Christmas holiday the other 3 people somehow spoke with the gas company and gave my name and i started to appear as the guilty for all the debt. An important point is that the name on the letter is different than my passport name and it was since the people provided it to the gas company, it has 3 different letters. Now after 3 years The Wescot company is chasing me. In the first letter they didn't point what is the problem yet. Tomorrow i will go to speak with the citizen advice bureau from my town to seek some answers. What should i do now? -
Hi , we are a micro business. We have an electricity supplier for a few years and pay a monthly account . Suddenly an unknown electricity supplier contacts us and insists they supply us with electricity . They use the wrong name to address our business. They have a very large bill for us. They refuse any questions... stating the 'data protection act'. They constantly harass us with telephone calls. They sent a caller around to collect money and informed us they will get a warrant to cut off our supply. They have no idea of our electric meter number. They have no idea of our current supplier account number. They are very intimidating on the phone. How do we stop them applying for a warrant of entry ? -
Hi and thank you for taking the time to read my post, I believe I may have an issue with my Landlord supplied electricity. I am posting here in the hope that you kind folk may give me advice on my maths, assumptions and possible action, The situation: I live in a building that is subdivided into 9 self-contained flats. The Landlord is responsible for paying the electricity bill for the whole building, there is a regular usage meter on the outside that records the usage for the whole building. The Landlord has installed payment meters into each flat, in order to credit these meters we have to purchase £5 disposable cards from the Landlord which are inserted into the meter to credit it. The rates: The meters are currently set to charge 55p for every kWh of electricity used. I do not know what supplier, per unit price or standing charge the Landlord is paying as I have not yet confronted him about this as I would like to make sure I've not made any mistakes or overlooked something. The problem: I believe I am paying over double the price I should based on my usage. I have kept a tally on the amount of cards I have bought over a 3 month period and I have spent £265 on electricity cards. This works out to a usage of about 482 kWh per quarter. If I were getting my electricity directly from a supplier, say British Gas for example, using their Standard Tariff information on their website it quotes 12.28p per kWh with a standing charge of 26.01p per day. A quarter is 91.25 days on average so that's a standing charge of £23.73 per quarter and £59.19 of usage making a total of £82.92 with VAT that comes to £99.50. I figure this means I'm paying roughly 250% more for my electricity than if I were getting it direct. The concessions: Many of the tenants of this building are quite old. They do not use modern devices like computers and the like and I imagine have quite low electricity usage. This being the case, the Landlord would have to increase the price per unit in order to cover the standing charge he is paying. But seeing as I don't actually have the information regarding the other tenants and the Landlord's billing I am only speculating here. In any case this arrangement would be very unfair on a higher user like myself. I also understand that payment meters are generally more expensive than straight billing, but 250% more expensive seems somewhat overkill. Issues: If I confront the Landlord about this, and he is overcharging for profit, he would have been doing this for a long tome and has gotten used to the extra money by now. If I drop this on him and force him to lower the rates on the meters, he is not going to be particularly pleased about it. Yes he may be stealing money from me, but human nature being what it is, he's been doing it so long he probably believes he is entitled to do this. It's going to cause bad blood. Resolutions? Ideally I would like to do away with the Landlord meter and have my electricity supplied directly. I've tried to look into the laws on this but I can't really find anything that is specific or even related to my situation. The only things I tend to get when I do a search is for switching electricity suppliers. Also having the meter reduced to a more reasonable rate, say, 22p per unit would be ok. Or even, I would be willing to pay the landlord a flat fee per month to cover my share of the standing charge and have the meter set to the actual price per unit with VAT that he is paying. What do you think? I am going to ask the Landlord to look at his electricity bill soon. If he does show it to me, then I can explain this issue to him with actual irrefutable numbers and math. But what should I do if he refuses to show it to me? Anyway, thank you again for reading this and thanks in advance for any replies. Regards Col -
Hi all, I'll be brief. We moved into a new property a couple of months ago (we're renting), and the agency supplied to the EOn our gas and leccy meter readings. Last week we received the first bill with the estimate consumption and, we thought, it looked reasonable. We then checked the meter reading ourselves for the first time and... SHOCK! The meter reads 27***, while the starting reading (two months ago, bear in mind), shows 21***. From where the meter is placed, it's pretty hard to read the little digits displayed, and we think that the second digit (the "7") got read as a "1"... if you look at a digital display from the top at an angle it's pretty easy to confuse a 7 for a 1. Try it Anyway, looking at the previous estimate AND knowing that the property has used 27*** kWh of electricity in 7 years (when the meter was replaced and zeroed - there's a label on it), suggesting that on average it should not consume more than 3800 kWh PER YEAR, this seems to be a meter reading mistake through and through. My question for you all is... what are we supposed to do? We certainly don't want to pay 1200£ of leccy for a reading error! Thanks a lot Paolo -
Hi Guys, I'm was a customer of GB energy, and after finding out they're I bust followed the advice to take a meter readings. However when I went to get the electric readings I found that my meter doesn't display the numbers and is faulty. GB energy will not respond and Ofgem keeps cutting me off when I try to phone them. Any advice please? -
hi does anyone know much about this, how does it work re switching. apparently some suppliers may or may not accommodate? have read that such (econ 7) meters wld be treated as one and the same re invoicing even though there are 2 meters with different MPAN's. ie one supply charge (not one for each meter), and one rate, for both as if one meter. but, one supplier says that each meter will attract its own supply/standing charge? anyone any info. thanks.
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Taken from the BES Utilities website: This is positive news, what do we think? -
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Supplier EDF, UK Power look after the underground cables, we called EDF regarding our supply ,the lights in our cottage are dull and not at any specific time of day, UK Power came out and installed a test meter, for 1 week, the result was we are only getting 210volts up to 220 volts, they allow 230volts as an acceptable supply level not the 240volts that most of us accept as the norm. The result will be at some stage a new cable will be installed in our country lane but no idea when. I asked UK Power, did this mean that we have to have our cooker,fridge/freezer on longer to achieve what would be accepted as normal cooking, freezing, times etc, the engineer stated yes that would be the case, but if you are thinking of claiming any form of financial refund from your supplier, forget it we will not entertain it, I think this is unacceptable, as it means our electricity bills are higher as the appliances are on for longer due to inadequate supply. Any body with knowledge on this subject,your thoughts would be appreciated FS -
Hello, Was wondering if anyone could steer me in the right direction please - have gone up against creditors and DCA's before but now I am having to try and deal with British Gas. I live in a very rural area and have been here for approx. 10 years - in all that time British Gas have been to read my electric meter a grand total of 4 times. They have been happy for me to pay a fixed amount over the years increasing and decreasing sometimes and to be honest as the amounts suited me due to income I just continued to pay. a couple of months ago I was shocked that a meter reader turned up then a massive bill was provided to me - I queried it and was told it was correct because a person had read it - I asked if someone could check if the meter was working properly - this request has conveniently been ignored. While this is ongoing I have continued to pay and have paid a higher amount - I have advised BG that I can pay this amount moving forward each month - they have advised cannot accept as not enough and they need to speak with me to come to an arrangement. Any thoughts please as I cannot afford any more at this moment in time. Thank you. -
Hi, I'm hoping someone can offer some help! (and sorry it is so long - I don't want to dripfeed) In January, I moved into a new build property. I contacted my previous suppliers (SSE) and asked them to move my account over to my new property - a simple process, I hoped. I was wrong! In March they came back to me to say that they couldn't take over my account, as British Gas had me classified as a business address. I then spoke to British Gas Business - advised them that the house is indeed residential, that I wanted it corrected to show this and a bill so I can pay my balance with them before moving back to SSE. They also updated my address, which they had completely wrong. They advised it would take 6-8 weeks in order to change the profile of my address, and for a specialist team to recalculate my bill. Also, that they would freeze my account, and to ignore anything that came through the post from British Gas Business, as the residential team would be taking over. During this time, the letters starting rolling in - a bill of £1500 for 4 months electricity, and letters advising that debt collectors would be coming to the property; that they were disconnecting me in 7 days, that they were adding £100's of charges on my account in late payment fees. During this period, I called BGB, who advised that it was still in process, and that there was a backlog. When I got the letter advising of disconnection, my partner got quite worried, so I called BGB. This time their adviser said that they tried to call me twice on my mobile to advise that I needed to sign a contract before I could be moved over to a domestic profile. As I hadn't answered their calls, they had cancelled my switch. (No letters, emails or voicemails left to advise of this) - the reason I didn't answer is because I work! During this call, I was told I now needed to pay £1750, or they would be continuing with their threats of disconnection and bailiffs etc - despite the fact they were still billing me for business tariffs. When I mentioned that residential prices would leave my bill to be less than half of this, I was told that "You can make an estimate of your bill and pay us that" - surely it's their job to bill me correctly, but never mind! Finally, after asking for escalation to a manager to lodge a complaint, I was told that they would again freeze my account, and pass this to a complaints team to handle - this is when I requested that everything was to be conducted through email only. Over the last couple of days, I have had an email from their complaints team regarding this. They have now moved my profile over to domestic; however will not recalculate my bill unless I sign up to a contract for Electricity with them. Also, they admitted to me that they were informed in February that the property was domestic, but just continued to bill me as a business. What else can I do to get this resolved, other than signing a contract with them? I feel it is grossly unfair to be expected to pay double the amount for my electricity supply, because their systems incorrectly had me assigned as a business. Equally, I don't want to be tied into a contract with a company who have treated me so appallingly. -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36674221 But.... and -
So, despite all of the bleating, the hype, the threats, the smooth posting on these forums and elsewhere, BES utilities have been found to be in breach of several obligations of required industry standards. This will come to no surprise to a large number of people who had dealings with this shabby company and in particular it will come as no surprise to the victims who have suffered from the unjust bullying that they have received at the hands of BES utilities and which in some cases have even destroyed their businesses and their hopes and ambitions. I see that as usual, not only as a regulator taken his time in sorting this out, but the resulting sanction amounts to a mere slap on the wrist and produces no real motivation that any utilities company to do any better. Part of the reason for the limited sanction is that apparently BES utilities cooperated and also admitted the breaches – even though, there were only denials elsewhere. Of course, it makes business sense that when you've been caught out that it is best to put your hands up as quickly as possible and it seems as if this is what BES utilities have done to the regulator despite being in denial to their customers and elsewhere. It has now been left to BES utilities to approach their own customers with proposals of redress. Will they go about this in an honest and decent way? I'm sure that we will find out eventually on this forum and we invite all victims of BES utilities to come here and tell us whether they have received an approach and whether they are satisfied with the way that it is being handled. For people who are looking around for somebody to manage their energy supply, frankly we suggest that you avoid BES utilities for at least two or three years until they have established a track record of straightforward straight-dealing. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/investigation-bes-and-its-compliance-its-obligations-under-gas-and-electricity-supply-licences-standard-licence-conditions-7a-7b-7-14-and-21b-and-consumer-complaints-handling-standards-regulations-chsr-2008 BES utilities have previously come onto this forum in denial and also to assure us of their best intentions regarding their customers. I wonder if they have the bottle to come onto this forum now and to apologise and to explain to their victims what the next step is. -
Hi, I moved into a one-bedroom rented flat at the end of December and got my first electricity bill toward the end of January, totaled at approx £180. I knew I had used the heating a bit excessively over the past month as January was cold, however I was still surprised to see that I am charged £140 for heating only (at around 10p per kilowatt). The other thing was that I am charged with two standing charges - 25p/day for electricity and 75p/day for "Band 5", which I found goes to the developer of the building and is based on the size of the property. This means that I have to pay £30 a month in standing charges even if I don't use any electricity or heating at all. I switched everything off immediately and had an engineer coming over to check the meter, which he tested and found it is working okay. The meter readings are transmitted electronically to the supplier so when I got the bill I compared it with the current instant reading and it was about right. However, I only have the first reading at the start of the tenancy for the electricity only and not the one for the heating, which were provided to me by the agency, so I wonder if there is a way to check if the one for the heating is also correct? I watched the meter for a while and noticed that with thermostat set to 18-19 degrees and heaters open at max, it rolls 1 kilowatt per about 10 minutes. Some quick calculations later and I found that if I use the heating for 2.5h per day it will cost me around £40 without the standing charges, which will nearly double my bill. I have spoken with an advisor at another supplying company and checked with them if there is any way to switch, however they couldn't help much. I understand that if I switch suppliers, the whole building will have to switch too as part of the scheme. I also understand that I have little control over leaving the scheme (if this is even possible), as I am only a tenant and not the owner of the property. Is there anything I can do to reduce this bill or fight this before it takes me to bankrupt? My tenancy is on a 12-month basis and leaving the flat earlier is hardly an option. Thanks in advance, L -
This may be of some use to consumers when dealing with complaints made to their energy suppliers: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1898/contents/made -
I have recently discovered that the clock on my economy 7 electricity meter is seven hours slow. I use my high power useage appliances like washing machine and tumble dryer at night to take advantage of cheap rate power charges. I now discover that all that use is being charged at peak rates. I have no idea how long this has been happening for but the meter was installed in 2008. I have recently changed supplier and I have asked them to come and check the meter. They cannot come and look till the end of May. I also have an outstanding balance with my old supplier that i have been paying off. If the check confirms what i have found what can I do about the overcharging that may have been happening for years? My current supplier says they I can query it with them when the meter check has been done. I have raised a dispute with my old supplier but surprise surprise they arent being very helpful. They say my current supplier must supply them with amended readings if it is found the meter is faulty. It all seems very complicated! -
Hello all any advice would be appreciated Had a visit from someone claiming to be from Scottish Power yesterday morning asked to see his badge which he held out still attached to lanyard. I asked to take it for full inspection he refused. Was suspicious as I am not an SP customer but with SSE/Ebico but realise im in a Scottish Power area. I let him look at meter and he then stated it had been tampered with and bypassed. I could not believe what I was hearing. I regularly put money on my key (it was a modern prepayment meter) my usage is fairly light due to my health I have a chronic arthritic condition so mobility is an issue and as a result spend a large amount of time in bed. I do keep a close eye on my power usage as I often have to rely on family to put money on it. I couldn't believe what I was being told and the usage has always appeared correct and stated this to the SP guy. He then produced a pad and started saying I can deal with this right now who is your supplier?. At this point I began to worry I was being spoofed and asked him to leave he replied by calling me a thief accused me of tampering with the meter and began threatening me. I closed and locked my door and immediately called the police NE number two officers came within fifteen minutes and confirmed the meter did appear to have been tampered with. SSE came and changed the meter within an hour and left with the police. here I am about to speak to SSE after doing some research on the issue am worried I will be hit with the blame and bill for this. To clarify its a private let and the owners agent tells me its not the landlords problem and the former tenant abandoned the property owing rent I have been sole occupant for nearly four years. Thanks in advance for any advice Phil -
Ofgem Investigation into BES and its compliance with its obligations under the gas and electricity supply licences (Standard Licence Conditions 7A, 7B, 7, 14 and 21B) Publication Date: 30th October 2014 Company being Investigated: BES Commercial Electricity Ltd (electricity supplier) and Business Energy Solutions Ltd (gas supplier) Ofgem are investigating whether BES (encompassing both licensees) is complying with the requirements of conditions 7A, 7B, 7, 14 and 21B of their gas and electricity supply licences. We are aware of a high level of complaints made about BES and have also received a referral from Citizens Advice. For more link is here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/investigation-bes-and-its-compliance-its-obligations-under-gas-and-electricity-supply-licences-standard-licence-conditions-7a-7b-7-14-and-21b
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Ofgem Investigation into npower and its compliance with Standards of Conduct (Standard Licence Condition 25C), Standard Licence Condition 27 (provision of final bills), and the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Complaints Handling Standards) Regulations 2008 Publication Date: 19th June 2014 Company being Investigated: npower Ofgem are investigating whether RWE npower is complying with the Standards of Conduct (SOC) (SLC 25C) of its gas and electricity supply licence and with the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Complaints Handling Standards) Regulations 2008 (‘Complaints Handling Regulations’). On 4 July 2014 the scope of the investigation was widened to include SLC 27.17 and 27.18, in relation to final bills. More info: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publ...complaints-handling-standards-regulations-2008 New Standards of Conduct: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publ...clearer-fairer-energy-market
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Hi, Just joined because I have a specific question I'd like to ask. Hope it is ok to post this here. I think my electricity supplier has miscalculated my bill, and I just want to check that I am working it out correctly. I'll try to give as much info as I can. I moved into my current address on the 18th June 2014. I have one of those dual meter things, but I am paying the same tariff on both. The readings when I moved in were 11664 and 24844. The readings now are 12572 and 26660, and the tariff is 12.62p per unit and an additional 26p per day (both including VAT). So I get 26660-24844=1816 for the night meter and 12572-11664=908 for the day meter, which adds up to 2724 kWh. So, 2724*12.62p=£343.77. Plus the daily charge (228 days) of 228*26p=£59.28, totaling £343.77+£59.28=£403.05. Since I moved in, I have paid £385 (£50 a month and one month at £85), I am expecting to be £18.05 in debit, but they are telling me that since my last estimated bill in November of £220.95 that I owe £344!!! I phoned them about this, and she ran the argument that my November bill was only an estimate -- which I understand - - but since I have worked out my bill from when I moved in (with actual un-estimated readings) I think I should have only been charged the £403.05 in total since June? Is this correct? Have I calculated my bill correctly, and if so, what should I do to challenge them? Also, if they are correct, can they demand tho whole amount of money at once via direct debit, or just increase the payments? Thanks in advance. -
hi, i'm not sure where i stand with this, i got my warm home discount, which i'm grateful for..my electricity supplier is EDF, when i phoned to enquire whether i could get a refund of the £140..they said no..it was government money and it was not for me to spend on things as I please, but its for energy needs..they said it wasn't mine really..i enquired about them keeping it as they are making interest on it and he said that no, they're not making money on it..is this normal? i was paid my warm home discount last year..surely this is okay? any pointers or insgihts appreciated thanks. -
My mum has a small business, a shop. Recently she contacted her energy supplier (one of the big names) and negotiated a (hopefully cheaper) new contract. Within a day or two (Tin Foil Hat time) someone contacted her about cheaper electricity and a few days after that she received a letter from BES Commercial Electricity Ltd. It's possible they had been hassling and cold calling her for a while. This letter claims she entered a verbal agreement on the phone. She called to question this and the 'customer services' dept told her they will be taking over the supply, the changeover is in process and will cost £400 to stop from happening now. The tone of the letter is quite threatening, as was the phone call with the customer services department, especially for my mum who is now nearly 70 . So I’ve Googled BES and can’t find a lot of nice things said about them online. Which is what led me to this forum. It would appear this is all standard practice for them. My understanding is distance selling regulations aren’t applicable to business, even if they were the standard 7 days is over. Unfortunately my mum doesn’t remember exactly when or what was said during the call (she’s had a few health issues, an operation, complications then fell over and broke her arm so has had a lot on her mind). I think I’ll just write them a (recorded) letter telling them their services are not required, if they believe a verbal contract has been entered then to provide evidence and a full recording / transcript of this verbal contract. I’ve told her NOT to hand out bank details, and call her current supplier and tell them she wants them to remain her supplier. Are we doing the right thing? Can they just grab the supply? I've read so many nightmares on the internet today just want to make sure I am going about this in the right way.
