NPower wrote off final bill now 8 months on they've sent me a final bill

A question about : NPower wrote off final bill now 8 months on they've sent me a final bill

Hi, can anyone give me some advice please.
I left NPower officially May 28th 2014. I didn't receive a final bill, but I did receive a letter, dated 22nd July 2014, saying:

'We appreciate the account was closed over 6 months ago. Due to problems with our system at the time, we were unable to send you a statement covering your final billing period with NPower.
Good news on your final statement.
Any outstanding balance specifically related to your final billing period with NPower has been written off. Please accept this letter as confirmation of that, there is now no need to send you a final statement.'

This letter I found odd, as it had not been 6 months since I had left NPower but I wasn't about to argue with them over it. I was happy to finally be rid of NPower. I'd been paying huge bills for my 1 bed flat and things had never been right.

I then received a letter on the 10th January 2015 (dated 15th December 2014) asking for Ј506 as a final bill.

I have complained and asked my account to be reviewed under the Backbilling Code of Practice but they have said I do not qualify as my bill has been sent within 12 months of me leaving NPower, therefore I should pay it.

When I tell them I was sent a letter saying my bill had been written off back in July, they have said my account did not qualify for that write off because it had not been 6 months since my account had been closed, as stated in the letter.
They had sent me the letter as a mistake, even though it's addressed to me, with my account number on, etc. they just didn't take the time to look into my account. But that's not my fault. Surely they should stand by that letter?!

Since complaining, they have recently offered me Ј50 off the Ј506 bill and an 18 month period in which to pay it off.

I continued to complain and the following day, they had increased the amount they were willing to take off to Ј75 and a 24 month period in which to pay the bill off.

I've continued to complain today, which means they have to send me a final response before I possibly take it further with an energy ombudsman or just pay up.
Am I right in taking it further or should I just pay it?
Do I have any rights here?

Would really appreciate some advice. I just don't know what to do!
Thanks :-)

Best answers:

• Also, when I first complained about this bill, the woman on the phone said it was for energy used between May 2013 and May 2014. That was the reason why I asked them to review my account under the Backbilling code of practice as I was being charged for energy over 12 months old.
  Now when I phone, they say the bill is for the energy used in the final billing period.
  Change of story...
• might be worth emailing the CEO and explain the situation to them, hopefully they will resolve it for you. tell them you have the letter which clearly states it was written off.
• Thank you NittyGritty - really appreciate your reply. :-)
• Has anyone experienced this or something similar?
• In general terms a firm can make a mistake and later rectify the situation. In the same way if you make a mistake and overpay, you can claim refund.
  I still have a Visa credit slip, for some returned building material, for the sum of Ј217,927.82 which sadly the company would not honour!
  A claim under the back-billing provision is where you haven't received a bill(not an incorrect bill) and the company are at fault.
  If the Ј506 is accurate, a Ј75 reduction and 2 years to pay is IMO a reasonable offer, although a bit more haggling might produce Ј100?
• Thank you for your replies. So appreciate the help.
  naedanger - When I received the second reminder letter for Ј506, I told them I'd never received the first letter with the actual bill on. I asked for the final bill to be resent (convinced it was never actually sent) but they ended up sending me a different bill - the one before the final bill which I'd paid before I left NPower.
  I need to ask them to send the final bill again then. Thank you.
• Npower don't know their own policies, they decided to reduce the time-limit for backbilling to 3 months during Q2/Q3 last year due to the volume of late bills they were issuing. So customer leaving around that period had bills written off if there weren't produced within 3 months.
  I have a friend who works there so I know this is correct but I don't know the exact dates involved, but it would appear you fall into this timescale.
  Personally I'd take it to a higher level and the Ombudsman if you can't get a resolution. Do you still have a copy of the letter?
  Even if you don't the letter should trigger an automatic diary note on your account for the date specified which they can then read at Npower.
  Out of interest do you get bills by email? If so they may have emailed the original bill but reminders are always sent by post. Equally they may have cancelled the final bill due to the write off but the reminders may have still followed as their compter systems were an utter shambles back then.
  They aren't exactly great now but have improved since then.
  Once thing to note is if the bill is delayed through no fault of Npower then backbilling won't apply, ie if you didn't provide reads or if you changed supplier and there was a dispute over the final reads between suppliers etc.
• Thank you! It's so great to get some advice of different people. :-)
  Yes, I still have a copy of that letter and have taken a photo of it too just in case.
  I was an online customer but haven't tried to access my account since I left. Should I try?
  Two more reminder letters arrived on Friday (2 days ago). When I phoned Npower yesterday, they told me they have now put the bill on hold, so that they can send out their final response letter. I then have ten days to respond to it before they take the hold off the bill and I start to get threatening letters about the money they believe I owe.
  I think I've given up on the Back billing thing now, and the thing I need to focus on is the letter telling me the bill had been written off. When I spoke to someone at NPower on Thursday, she told me to send in a copy of the letter. I'm not sure why they would need a copy of it?!
  She said she was also passing my complaint onto Stage 2 and that team would be in touch within 10 days. But it was the following day I got a call, with the increased offer of Ј75 and 24 months to spread the cost.
  Since then, the people I've spoken to say the letter does not apply to my account because it had not been 6 months since my account had been closed.
• They're now offering me Ј100 off the Ј506 bill and the same two year period in which to pay it all off. (Not that I'd want the bill hanging round my neck for that long).
  Do you think they know they're in the wrong and I have a case against them, as I wasn't expecting them to increase the amount of money they were willing to take off in their final offer letter.
  The person on the phone has said I have been told in my final offer letter (which I am yet to receive) that the letter which stated my final bill had been written off was only for customers with Ј75 or less left to pay on their account and as I supposedly did not fall into that category, the bill was not written off. But that wasn't specified in the letter I received.
  Do I have a case to go to the ombudsman with?
  Any further advice would be great. Thanks
• I've asked for my final bill to be sent again. I've been making repeated requests for it now (today was the forth request) and have asked for that to be noted on my account.
  They said they will send a new copy of it, but I will phone again tomorrow to make sure of it.
  They said the block on my bill will be lifted sooner than I thought and the next step will be debt collection letters, so I need to make my decision quick. Not sure how long it takes to get help from an Ombudsman, if I decide to go down that route.
  Yes, I need to know the dates the final billing period covers and the meter reads they have used. I have a feeling it will be wrong in some way (why change the habit of a lifetime) but as soon as I get it at least I have something to work with and canmake a final decision based on that.
  But if the final bill is wrong in some way, whether wrong meter reads or wrong dates, will NPower do anything about it, now they've sent their final response to my complaint.
  Thanks for your replies. It's so nice to know that people are out there and can offer help and advice. It's certainly helped to keep me calmer! :-)
• personally I wouldn't pay anything just yet either,
  the fact that they are increasing their offer suggests they may have some cause for concern.
  ask for the final bill, and if need be, go to the ombudsman you have the evidence of them stating the bill was written off, make sure to put in a compensation claim also (not too high)
  and then wait for their decision,
  whats the worst they can say....no?
  then and only then work out a plan and take them up on their offer at a last resort.
  personally I think u have a chance espically as you have written proof from them stating they have written it off.
  good luck n let us know how u get on either way with whatever you choose to do
• Hi,
  I've just spent over 6 months battling with NPower over my bill - they forgot to charge me for Electricity for 18 months so I ended up with a huge bill through their fault. After many phone calls, letters and threatening to go to the energy ombudsman, I've finally had my bill written off and got a Ј100 goodwill payment. Yesterday I changed my supplier and will now be saving over Ј400 a year - my advice is to persevere, keep chasing and you should eventually get somewhere. But why should we have to??? It's all taken so much time and effort, so if you've got the same problem, stick with it! Good luck.
• Thank you both, I have emailed my local MP. Great idea and definitely worth a try. :-)
  I'm still waiting on my final bill to be resent and my final response letter. I'm phoning everyday to make sure of the fact I'm definitely getting my final bill resent.
  Would it be possible for NPower to lie to me about the ECOES database, if I asked. I just don't feel I can trust them.
  When I joined the Co-op last year, they said the meter readings were transposed after they got me to do a kettle test. NPower had told them which way round they were supposed to be when they'd transfered me over. But when I spoke to NPower they said they didn't have them the wrong way round at their end and they'd always been the right way round.
  I have to just take NPowers word for it. But my bills had never been right when I was with NPower. I can't believe I didn't think to swap energy provider sooner. I don't think I really thought it was an option.
  People at Npower I used to speak to on the phone used to query whether my day and night meter reads might be the wrong way round. Whatever it was, something clearly wasn't right and they were ripping me off. My bills were enormous for a house, let alone a one bed flat.
  Thanks again for help. :-)
• Thank you HUMBUG!
  Today I got a call from NPower, I think she said she was part of the executive complaints team, and she's looking into my account because my local MP's team had been in touch with NPower on my behalf.
  I wanted to cry on the phone (totally pathetic I know) which was silly because this could all still come to nothing, but it's nice to know people have tried to help, people who I don't even know.
  She said my bill will be put on hold until April whilst they try to look into. She hasn't made me any promises, she hasn't said anything about possibly reducing the bill.
  I asked her if I could please be sent a copy of my final bill. At first she said yes then she said, as she was looking at my account, that she can't because there doesn't seem to be one, because of the way the account was closed. She said it looks like there was a problem with the way my account was closed and she would need to look into it. Where have they got Ј506 from then as a sum of money I owe them?? No wonder no one would send me my final bill!! There isn't one!
  But this has also concerned me, in that, what if they now decide that Ј506 isn't enough and they feel I owe them even more money (which would be ridiculous). I asked her that and she said they can't do that. But nothing surprises me with NPower anymore.
  It's nice to know there is one person dealing with it all now, but having seen so many people's cases on these forums, I know it doesn't mean everything will magic away. She listened to me.
  She said she understood that there were no conditions printed on the letter I received back in July, to say I wouldn't qualify for the write off.
  If my final bill was nowhere to be seen at the point the write off letter was issued, then they didn't know themselves if I qualified for it so they shouldn't have sent me the write off letter.
  Anyone with a balance of Ј75 or under would qualify. They must have assumed my bill would be Ј75 or less when they sent it maybe.
  The problem is, they did send me the write off letter, and I feel they should adhere to that now. They should've sorted this mess out a lot sooner.
  The stress and worry this all causes, is horrible.
  It's almost as if they have plucked a sum of money from thin air and demanded I pay it, to be sure they fit inside the 12 month Backbilling code of practice rule.