Npower in £90 Million Bill Fiasco
Writes Dan Drage dan.drage@consumerchoices.co.uk
A Cambridgeshire woman was shocked to receive a £90 million electricity bill from npower at the weekend.
Alison Turner, 50, migrated away from npower (www.npower.com) in December 2007. She is additionally a former prepayment meter customer who shouldn’t even receive quarterly bills.
This Saturday, however, Ms Turner witnessed a bill for £90 million fall through her letterbox with the following explanation from npower attached:
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"We have checked your account and there is a balance to pay of £90,454,217"
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“We have checked your account and there is a balance to pay of £90,454,217. This is because your token meter was undercharging you because our prices have changed since it was last reset.”
The letter insisted payment was due immediately, and invited Ms Turner to get in touch and discuss repayment terms.
The mother of two, who lives alone in a one bedroom flat, normally spends about £10 a week to top up her prepayment electric meter.
An npower spokesman offered the following explanation for their error:
“We found the letter and what has happened is our eight digit account number has been inserted in place of the outstanding balance. It was a human error”
He continued:
“When the customer contacted us, we immediately apologised and wiped the debt, which was actually £22.”
Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at Energy Choices, has two key observations to make:
“Firstly, what an absolute shambles. Secondly, npower has inadvertently lifted the lid on its post-migration activities, billing customers six months after they’ve left for surplus electricity they may or may not have used.”
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