We have a small detacted house. 4 bedrooms, 3 of which are small singles. There is
also 2 small reception rooms ( lounge and dining room ). We recently moved into the house.

Our electricity and gas is with npower.

We recently got a 3 month period £850 bill for the electricity and a £770 notification
for the gas (come back to the gas shortly).

With the electricty, it was the biggest bill I'd ever rec'd. I'd expect £400+ (as we have
a very young family and the washing machine is always on) but not £850. We know the price of power
has gone up considerably recently.

We immediately thought there was an issue with the meter and contacted npower customer services.
Got to say that the result was one of the rudest conversations we have ever had with any company.

We basically said that the bill was high and we'd like for the meter to be checked. In a nutshell
npower said no. We talked more and they then said they write to me about coming out to inspect the
meter and tell me about the charges involved in that. That was 6 weeks ago and there hasn't been
anything from them at all.

It turns out the bill is ours. We checked with the estate agents for initial readings and yes, the
bill reflects what we have used. Let's just say that we have gone around the house taking out halogen
light bulbs. Where there was 15 ( kitchen ), there is now 2. Let's say the landlord likes his halogen
lighting - he should of warned us about the costs but lesson learnt, not shifting responsibilities here.

And if the electricity is high then we'll accept the gas bill may be high too. We don't think we have
the best boiler in town in this property.

Why are we writing this thread?

Okay, for the electricty we paid £450.00 immediately to get the bill down. We then agree £200 a month
for the rest of the year with n-power. We missed last weeks first £200 direct debit and just got a letter
from n-power telling us that they are taking action so that they can fit a prepayment meter.

Why did we miss the payment? The gas bill. Out of the blue, with no bills whatsoever a door step collection
agent turned up at our property and demanded £770 for the gas supply. Got on to the phone to n-power and
explained that we had not rec'd any bills from them.

In this call we were basically told that n-power are the world's best company and that we were liars. It was
a real difficult call but we was given no choice (this company is really good at threatening customers) but to
pay the phone bill in full. We demanded that the gas bill was sent to us so that we could see what we are paying
for - that was about 3 weeks. Guess what, no bill!

So in the matter of approx 6 weeks N-power have had £1250.00 off us - almost all of our wages after rent has
been gone to n-power. It's a good job we had food in the cupboards and in the freezer otherwise we'd have been in
trouble.

I know I have to call n-power today to sort out the electricty bill but I am expecting them to demand the full
£400 which is outstanding.

We tried to move the electricity account to British Gas so as to get the costs down but n-power rejected the
change of supplier until the outstanding bill is cleared. Nightmare situation for us.

These bills will be paid and we will be moving to a different house as the place we are living at is too expensive
for us.

But can also say that we'll never ever have any dealings again with npower.

nPower accepted a £100 payment and have allowed us to set up a new payment plan of £200 per month for the electricity.

Get paid next week and will be calling them immediately to pay off the outstanding £300 balance.

Meanwhile, we will try to switch suppliers again.

Firm believe that all the utility companies are as bad as each over.

Sure we'll get a npower employee posting to this thread telling us just how great they are!

NPower rule. Not!

Sorry for all the typo's in the last post ;-) Sure you understand what understand the message though.

Sorry for all the typo's in the last post ;-) Sure you understand what we are saying though.

Keep away from this Company if you can.

To be honest you live in a very large compared to average houses, which will have attached the high amount to heat and live in. Inregards to plans npower has within its rights to fit a prepayment meter, think its in their terms and also if payment isnt made within 14 days of a bill they can pass you to an agency to collect.

I would do a 7 day meter test taking daily reads, if they increase by about the same then there is nothing wrong, weekend will be higher however. It is very unlikely that both gas and electric meters would be wrong as they are independant and more likely to be your usage / boiler / settings. Have you contacted energy effiecency?

All suppliers will test meters, however if their is nothing wrong with the meter you are charged as its not the supplier requesting offgem test them.

I have been with them for year and never really had a problem, except now and again estimated bills which I just called up and gave a read with my meter been inside.

I've used them at my London house for years. They email me an estimated bill for gas and elecy every 3 months, I email the correct readings, they email an amended bill which I pay online.

What could be simpler?

Couldnt agree more, think the poster is just trying to cease responsability

Thanks for the reply. Our house is quite small, it just sounds big.

Understand that npower expect the bill to be paid in 14 days. They reminded us of that about 10 minutes ago on the phone but they also need to understand that many will struggle to settle bills excessively large bills.

Also, no company has the right to act agressively or in a threatening behaviour.

npower should listen to customers when they are told that no correspondence for a service is being rec'd.

Going to write to npower about the gas bill not being sent out and if that doesn't work then we'll take it further.

Cease responsibility? We have accepted responsibility and paid approx £1300 already.

We only earn 30K a year and have 3 very young children. So that payment is a lot to us!

Whats your postcode?

A pre-payment meter would solve the bills problem though or even an online account

Wow, that's a high bill for a family home! That works out about 3.5K a year in electricity(300 pm) and 2.5 K in gas (200 pm)!

Have you checked what you are using the electricity and gas on? What appliances do you have. Yes the washing machine uses a lot, but it would probably be worth investing in a new energy efficient one for the amount you are using it and it costs in electricity!

I would take to reading the meters every day, maybe multiple times during the day.

Is there anything else connected to the property that could be using your electric / gas as it's almost like you are powering two homes! (Or a secret swimming pool / sauna / jacuzzi you don't know about) How accurate was the meter readings when you moved in? Did the agent really take the readings when you moved in or from the landlord?

However the real problem is NPower. That is clearly not acceptable behaviour and they have bullied you into paying the bill, and is certainly worth writing letters of complaint to as many people as you can think of. There are other members on this site who could give you advice as to the letters to write, and contest the bills. I hope you have a receipt of the payment that you have already made.

One tactic that you can have when dealing with these companies is to demand an up to date bill, with the latest meter reading and that you will pay by direct debit installments when this is set up and your monthly usage figure is worked out.

If anyone else turns up on your doorstep, be strong and refuse. Ask them to leave, and say that your bill is in dispute (they can't send it to a debt collection agency if this is the case, but you must have notified them that this is so - in a letter)

If they won't leave tell them you are phoning the police as they are demanding money with menaces and threatening you.

Have a quick look around the forums for more advice and other experiences with these.....

Good luck

Sparky

No chance of us putting a prepayment meter in. We pretty good with money.

Our issues are with the supplier.

Wasn't aware that the accounts could be managed online.

Hi Sparky, as per the gas and electricity board act, a supplier is allowed to enter a property with a warrant to change their meters as its never owned by the home owner.

Of course I would advice the poster to set a dd up with their supplier, but to me her house does not sound as small or energy efficent. What heating does she have, is it underfloor?

Thanks Sparky - you clearly see what the issues are here ;-)

Really old boiler - I think that explains the gas bill

For the electricity - the culprit is halogen lights. The landlord is a builder and the place we rent was his family home ( he's going through a divorce and has moved back in with his mum ). He's really done the place out nice but he's pretty big on lighting.

We can deal with the bills but we can't accept npowers bullish, agressive behaviour. Once the bills are settled and we switch suppliers then we'll hold npower accountable for that behaviour.