Massive npower final bill :(

[lola_90]

We recently moved house, we lived in a 3 bed semi and paid around £110 direct debit for gas and electricity combined.

Just been sent on our final bill and we owe them £585.79

Literally how? We gave them our final meter reading but surely that is a ridiculous amount to owe them? Seeing as for the last couple of months we haven't had the heating on?

I called last night and the woman said that it is down on our meter readings blah blah blah and that the amount will be taken from my account on november 4th and if we arrange a payment plan then it will go on our credit file!

Spoke to a friend who said something similar happened to her and she managed to get half the money knocked off.

Anyone got any advice before I wallow in a self-pity?

 

[lilyd]

Are you able to go online and check your previous bills? They will tell you whether they were actual meter readings or estimates. If they were all estimates then it could well be that you have been accumulating a debt since you moved in without knowing it.

Did you do your final meter reading or did they? If it was them, ask your agent if it can be checked.

 

[youngmamttc]

I do payment plan with them and it doesnt go against my credit hun. i had a £389 bill when i left them & pay £60 a month. Ring up and ask to speak to someone different! xx

 

[summer rain]

Payment plan doesn't affect your credit rating. In fact EDF won't allow to pay in small installments not via direct debit but OH just pays them a bit each week anyway and as long as they get their money they may grumble but they can't do anything xx

 

[lola_90]

Are you able to go online and check your previous bills? They will tell you whether they were actual meter readings or estimates. If they were all estimates then it could well be that you have been accumulating a debt since you moved in without knowing it.

Did you do your final meter reading or did they? If it was them, ask your agent if it can be checked.

Some of the months were estimated but then we gave them a meter reading. We provided the final meter reading so it is accurate!

Re the payment on our letter it says that if we do not pay in full then they will share that we are repaying it to credit companies and it could affect our credit file.

My friend said she managed to get some money off so i might call them today again

 

[Mummy May]

I paid my last bill in small bits and nothing has happened to my credit xx

 

[catty]

I owe £600 turns out we had the immersion on our boiler for a ehole year, the guy said its the equivalant of boiling a kettle constantly. Could you have done something like this by accident?
We have upped our direct debit but its just going to get worse in winter and now we have a baby il have the heating on more. Its quite upsetting when you do everything you can to keep the bills down

 

[MiniKiwi]

Similar has happened to me twice. Once it was a faulty reading and I was charged $2500 (£1250) it was just ten times the amount it should have been. I phoned up and went mad and I didn't have to pay anything, not even the original $250 bill.

The second time, they hadn't been reading the meter correctly and when we went to shut down the account the final reading came up as £450. I went mad again and ended up having to pay about £150. I phoned up and said I'd pay £150 or nothing and it was up to them and they chose £150.

The moral of the story is that it pays to go mad No but I'd definitely ask to speak to a manager and have a breakdown of the bill posted to you, ask to have the payment delayed until they've explained the charges fully. It's not fair that through their estimates you've ended up with a bill like this, that shouldn't happen

 

[Pearls18]

Oh gosh that is so high I am sorry hun. Do you get sent your bills quarterly? I know you pay by DD, I do too, but southern electric used to send statements every 3 months so I always managed to trace how we were doing, can you look at your previous statements to see when the problem occurred?

 

[cherrylips100]

I've been with various gas and electric companies and npower are by far the worst. I'm still waiting for money they owe me after 3 months (they are apparently having problems responding to people after a surge in calls etc)
Make sure you paid off previous bills and that they havent been added on by mistake and that it goes up to the date you moved out. If you're still sure its wrong, be insistant and don't let them fob you off. They have to accept smaller payments sometimes, as long as it gets paid off it won't affect your credit much.

 

[cherrylips100]

I've been with various gas and electric companies and npower are by far the worst. I'm still waiting for money they owe me after 3 months (they are apparently having problems responding to people after a surge in calls etc)
Make sure you paid off previous bills and that they havent been added on by mistake and that it goes up to the date you moved out. If you're still sure its wrong, be insistant and don't let them fob you off. They have to accept smaller payments sometimes, as long as it gets paid off it won't affect your credit much.

 

[lola_90]

Thanks everyone, might breakdown on the phone to them and speak to the manager and see if they will reduce some of it! As we paid by direct debit we never got statements, we sent off meter reading but they never said we needed to pay more as we were accumulating a debt. Might have a go at them for that as surely they should of let us know we needed to pay more. Wouldn't mind so much if we were coming into summer. But baby boy has a cold and heating has to be on and will be probably for the next 6 months or so so dreading what we will have to pay now!

 

[Pearls18]

Thanks everyone, might breakdown on the phone to them and speak to the manager and see if they will reduce some of it! As we paid by direct debit we never got statements, we sent off meter reading but they never said we needed to pay more as we were accumulating a debt. Might have a go at them for that as surely they should of let us know we needed to pay more. Wouldn't mind so much if we were coming into summer. But baby boy has a cold and heating has to be on and will be probably for the next 6 months or so so dreading what we will have to pay now!

Yeah I'm surprised they let you accumulate that much "debt" if you were accumulating that much they should have contacted you to suggest you raise your payments. I'm amazed you have accumulated that much though, I pay £100 a month for both and we have a dryer and wouldn't say we are particularly frugal, except with the heating I guess but it's been summer, I would definitely look into the possibility of a mistake with readings.

 

[lola_90]

Same, in winter the heating is on 24 hours because of baby. But use the tumble drier about 2 times a week and not at all during summer. Washing machine is on once every day, that's it apart from tv. Didn't think it would be this much

 

[oliviarose]

Npower are awful. Shall never go with them again! We had a huge bill from them when we after our fixed rate ended. Knew that they had estimated or reading and what they were asking for was not right.

We told them we were not paying it. We haven't heard from them since. I would do your own meter reading and give it to them! telling them that they have got it wrong! And switch as soon as you can. If you're not on a fixed rate tariff move now!

 

[nicolefx]

Hi, I work with British Gas in the collections department and deal with situations similar to this. If your direct debit has been based on an estimate for a number of months you could have built up an excess because the direct debit wasn't covering what was being used. Try and find out all your account activity from when the direct debit was set up. Sadly they aren't under obligation to tell you when you need to up your direct debit - they will just wait till either they read your meter or you give in a reading and say we either need to reduce/increase your payments. When I set up a direct debit I advise to give a meter reading every three months so the amount is staying in line with the customer's usage. It should not affect your credit file if you set up a payment plan for the outstanding balance - I would call back and try and speak to someone else. The way I manage my account is via their online service, I pay £50 on a month and give a meter reading every three months then pay the excess. Energy companies are an absolute farce, honestly the stuff that I see on a daily basis is a disgrace, I cannot stand them even though they pay my wages! I would never ever set up a direct debit with them just because I see what they are like all the time. Honestly I would take a pre payment meter over a direct debit, they are just ridiculous and fail to give the information that actually matters. Make sure they are fully aware you have a child under 5! That is classed as a vulnerability and they have to be careful because they are restricted in what they can say and do! Hope you get it sorted xxx