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Npower in £90 Million Bill Fiasco

Npower in £90 Million Bill Fiasco

Wednesday 17 June, 2008

By Dan Drage

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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:

"We have checked your account and there is a balance to pay of £90,454,217"

“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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Comments

These new "billing" companies apply charges anyway they want to. I received a statement informing me I was in credit, even though I pay by pre-pay. Then half of the time when I put money on the key, the machine swallows half of it in elusive charges before I even use any gas. If you ring for an explanation, you speak to girls who are told to give standard answers. I witnessed agents when I worked with energy company, getting people to change supplier on the basis they would receive a 'special offer' for doing so, and then the agent did not tick the appropriate box, deliberately, saying the company would not really want people to get it for less, and that how many customers understand or check their bills?' Mobile phone companies are just as bad. - Mar 30 2009 2:47PM
deborah cooke, UK