Hi

I had been with Npower for Gas & Elec up until Feb this year before I transferred over to Swalec.

The final bill was issued at the end of January from meter readings that I had taken, £98 for Elec and £101 for Gas.

I disputed the gas bill as I was £72 in credit at the time it meant my final bill was £29.

When i looked at my final gas bill Npower had charged 104 units (1145Kwh) at the higher rate and 100 units (1100Kwh) at the lower rate for 5 weeks of Gas into the quarter.
When i spoke to Npower about this the guy on the phone agreed that 5 weeks gas with 1145kw at the higher rate was wrong and said he would raise it with the billing dept, I heard nothing more until today and a final reminder from Npower stating I have 10 days to pay or the debt will be past to an agency.
I hear nothing for 7 months and suddenly its my fault the account has not been cleared, even tho Npower sent no letters informing me of the progress on the investigation of my final bill.

Anyhow I speaks to the billing dept today and explains it all over again and the guy says I am right and he will raise the issue but asks if I want to pay the debt now, which I did just to clear my name now I have nothing more to do with Npower.

I have gone and looked over the last 2 years worth of bills from Npower and being on a 2 tier tariff it is clear that they have charged me too much at the higher rate.

My tariff states that I pay a higher charge for the first 4572kwh per annum which is split into quarters (approx 1150kwh per quarter at the higher rate) then i drop to a lower rate for the remainder, this is what I have been seeing on recent bills.

However the last year I was charged 4900kwh at the higher rate and before I switched over to Swalec I was only 5 weeks into the quarter and Npower hit me with the higher rate upfront rather than spread it over the quarter which would of meant me only being charged approx 400kwh at the higher rate and the remaining 1700kw at the lower rate.

Am I right in thinking that they should be spreading the 1150kwh per quarter over the quarter, i.e 1200/90 = 13kwh per day, so if i was with them for 5 weeks of the quarter I should only be charged 13x35= 455kwh at the higher rate before dropping to the lower rate instead of the 1145kwh they have charged me at.

I know it sounds a bit confusing, but it basically seems they changed the way they calculated the last bill compared to previous ones so that they manage to charge me at the higher rate within the first 5 weeks of the quarter as they knew i would not be with them for the complete quarter.

Anyone else come across this.........

Hi

I understand your point and from your comments it sounds like you were on a nil service charge tariff.

Generally, these are billed in a suppliers system as the first 1145kwh or whatever per quarter are billed on the higher rate and any other usage after that amount is billed on the lower price. It will probably be explained that way in their standard T&C's which should be available on their website or on request.

Most likely the billing system they use will simply not take into account change of supply situations in these calculations and this is why this has happened. You could argue it, and you might get £30 out of it (1000 units at 3p diff between prices, however i'm unsure of their prices and you might want to check that on your bill).

Strictly speaking, there are no regulations on suppliers regarding how this type of tariff is billed so they dont really have to give you it, they may do as goodwill, but are under no obligation to do so.

If you did want to take it further i'd visit their website, look for their complaint handling statement or procedures, and write. "I'll get the billing department to look at that" is actually call centre code for "I'll tell you what you want to hear, get you off the phone, and do nothing"

I think you will find this is the notorious and highly dubious practice 'Npower Gas Sculpting'. They are pulling the wool over your eyes and many customers are challenging it.

I would normally suggest it but in this case it is justified to refer to you Money Saving Expert. Go into their forums (gas and electricity )and you will find a very long thread covering the issue.It is very informative and has attracted some excellent contributions and explanation of what they are trying on.

Good luck.

Thanks to you both, Gabriel that is exactly my situation, I phoned them tonight and asked to speak to the billing department and was told the dispute is logged and will hear something in the next 14 days once they have looked back over the last 12mths bills.

Like you say it will mean £30 back, not a great amount but if they did this to a large number of their customers they must be raking in an extra few quid a year.

Will let you know how I get on.

Back foot I read the article on MSE and yes this is similar to my case, I was charged for 4900Kwh of gas last year at the higher rate instead of the 4572kwh, so they have overcharged me.

I will see how I get on with the final bill and take it from there, at least I am not alone and hopefully this will get a mention in the national media.

It would add up if this is a more widespread problem they have with the annual amount, rather than an isolated case.

Some suppliers may process 50,000 transfers or so a month too, more in some cases or at peak times of year.

I would be interested to hear the outcome of this one..

G