npower

[mer]

hi everyone, cannot believe i have just found this site by accident. and i am finding my way around it, so much info!
i am really concerned about a letter i have just received from npower
recently we had our electricity meter read by a meter reader and now we have just received a letter saying that they think that they may have been billing us incorrectly, the day units under the night tariff and the night tariff under the day units.
so they have asked us to double check our readings twice in a day
we had a new meter fitted years ago, a digital one as they replaced the old one and it goes under rate 1 and 2
if it turns out to be wrong, i am so worried how much we will owe, bills have always seem pretty normal to me, as we work full time and not in the house alot in the day. hope someone can help

[Caspar]

Re: npower

At this point I would suggest you do as they've requested and wait and see what happens. At the end of the day it is their mistake, so there is no way they're going to suddenly present you with a massive bill. If you do owe them money they'll spread it over an agreed time period.

Don't worry! Things will sort out.

[marshallka]

Re: npower

If it comes to the point whereby you have to make a complaint here are the details of how to complain to n power and if necessary take it further. As Casper has stated, it is their mistake and not yours if its proved to be wrong.
http://www.howtocomplain.com/cgi-php...inorID=2&ID=49

[mer]

Re: npower

thanks casper, trying not to worry what with bills being high nowadays, can bearly afford what they ask via direct debit, if it is wrong just do not understand why one of the many meter readers did not pick up on this before hand! the old meter was so easy it said night units and day units on it, this one just has 1 and 2 nightmare!

[Amethyst]

Re: npower

I had a similar issue with my night rate and day rate units being switched. Do you have any historical bills, can you see where the switchover happened ?

On mine because the switch had happened part way through having the meter it had given us a huge bill of about £1900 for a quarter and our monhtly DD's had gone up because of it we got a lump back off it.

If you have old bills (or have access to them online) look at the day readings and see if they suddenly drop or leap out of sync. On ours the Eon staff had guestimated to make the figures look about right which made things terribly complicated.

But yes keep taking readings twice a day for a week and keep records as well as reporting them in, it will get sorted out. If there is a cock up and they have underbilled you they can only ask now for the last years money and have to allow payment over a certain period as you can afford.

[mer]

Re: npower

thanks amethyst, and thankyou for your welcome message.
what i am worried about is that this meter has been in our house for years! i believe npower put it in, i have some old bills and even rang them to ask which way round 1 and 2 was, how could this happen? do you think the meter was set up incorrectly? i will do as you say and keep readings, to be honest never watched it ticking over before as just read it when needed.
if it is incorrect does it mean we will have to pay back all those years?

[Crispybacon]

Re: npower

Hi Mer

First of all welcome to the forum!

I also had a similar issue (but with Scottish Power) a few years ago. Same sort of meter (Rate 1 and Rate 2 rather than day/night).

It seems their meters confused them as much as it did us!

We had to do a similar thing that you are doing with nPower. We had to take meter readings several times a day to determine which reading was increasing during the day and which was not (to confirm which was day and night).

We ended up with a £1100 deficit from over almost 3 years

However I was told by Scottish Power (or more to the point the nice lady who helped us) that if money is owed as a result of their error then they could only backdate up to one years worth of payments.

I'm not sure how true this is, but they certainly kept to their word on this and we came to a payment arrangement to pay the years backdated underpayments.

As this is their cock up I wouldn't worry about being presented with a massive bill that you are expected to pay immediately, and if the 1 year rule is correct which I believe it is if its a result of their error, then you shouldn't have to pay more than this anyway.

Hopefully someone more experienced in this area will be able to confirm soon. but keep taking those meter readings and take one step at a time.

Best

Crispy

[Caspar]

Re: npower

I believe that to be correct. They can only claim the past years bills and they have to be paid via a mutually agreed and affordable arrangement over as long as it takes.

Really do not worry, you may owe money, but nobody is going to set debt collectors or anything onto you as long as you co-operate fully which it is obviously in your own interests to do anyway!

[mer]

Re: npower

thankyou crispy bacon and casper, i will do as they say and will keep readings myself
i will keep you posted on this one, as it might help someone else at some stage, could well do without it though as have problems at work too, thanks all so very much you have put my mind at rest, so good to know there are good people out there!