@npowerhelp Npower Help

[Chris25666]

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.

[bohomiz]

Hello Chris

My name is Boho Miz and I am writing to try and help you out with your situation. I'm testing the waters here so please bear with me. Also, this might sound all over the place and I apologise in advance.

 

I too am with nPower and on a limited budget, and they were 'asking' for £67 per month from me, basically because I bullied them down to this amount as it was what I could afford at the time.

 

The outstanding amount of £583: what is the time period on that ie: 3 months? And what type of accommodation do you have? And if this is mainly gas usage how long did you have the heating on for? Sounds a lot to me that's all, unless you had the heating on all night.

 

I have to admit I had problems reading the email in your message, and without trying to sound stupid I'm confused about the £111 usage. Is that the new increased amount of £38 from £73? So the £222 that was taken would be for 2 months? Am I on the right track so far?

 

Do you have an online nPower account? If not then do set one up as it can and will help you. Have you ever taken your own meter readings or do you rely on nPower's reps and estimated bills? What I advise is taking your own meter reading once a month - either the first or last day of the month, and send them to them from their website, which is why you will need to register on it. They will 'total' it all up and amend your online amount.

 

Most importantly of all - CANCEL YOUR DIRECT DEBIT. I don't pay any of my bills via DD - I refuse to, but instead I pay directly from my online bank account to theirs and you can check that it has been paid by logging onto their website and checking under your 'bills and payment' page. Their bank account sort code and number is on the reverse of most of their letters so do take a look for it. Set up a new payee on your online bank account along with your customer/reference/account number and every month send them the required amount. Do not give them the power to take funds from your checking account. It makes me feel vulnerable which is why I don't do this.

 

Before you start paying this amount question, question and question again why they are charging this amount of money. Take a look at your gas meter and see if it is the old imperial meter (ft3 - cubic feet) or the new metric meters (m3 - cubic meters) because it has been known that they are not calculating the usage correctly. Also check a bill and make sure that the gas meter serial number is the same one on your bill.

 

If you go onto a search engine and type in something like 'imperial gas meter' or 'reading gas meters' it should bring up some good information sites. I typed in 'imperial gas meter' and the first link was to the Watchdog website for reading meters. I wouldn't pay any outstanding until this has been sorted out fully - just don't take their word for it.

 

I hope I've helped out a little bit. I'll bookmark this page and come back to it to see if you have replied/updated.

 

Fingers crossed!

 

From

Boho Miz