i moved to sheffield just over a year ago.. no-one ever sent me an electricity bill, so i just left it and figured someone would come chasing me for money after a few weeks..

well, that never happened.. a year later and i still hadn't received any bills or letters about electricity, and hadn't paid anything..

got up this morning to find a letter from npower.. now, i thought it would be a case of "oi, you've been rinsing electricty off us for a year, pay up!" but it's not.. it basically says:

"we're pleaseed to let you know that npower supplies your address with electricty.. we do not have your details so please call us on 0800 xxx xxxx so that we can update our records.."

there is then a "principal terms of deemed contract" attached, the first paragraph of which says:

"npower gas ltd. will supply electricity to the occupier from the date upon which you first used it at those premises.."

anyone else had this? what happened; did you tell the truth and cough up for a year's worth of electricity? or tell them you just moved in and they believed you? do npower have access to any kind of records which can prove how long i've lived there?

basically, what i'm asking is, how can i blag my way out of paying a year's worth of electricty? lol.. i know if i own up they'll allow me to pay installments, but that's still going to be shed loads, and that's on top of the regular money i'll have to pay them from now on for my supply..

any suggestions/experiences?

ta.

Originally posted by dirtybobby
i moved to sheffield just over a year ago.. no-one ever sent me an electricity bill, so i just left it and figured someone would come chasing me for money after a few weeks..

well, that never happened.. a year later and i still hadn't received any bills or letters about electricity, and hadn't paid anything..

got up this morning to find a letter from npower.. now, i thought it would be a case of "oi, you've been rinsing electricty off us for a year, pay up!" but it's not.. it basically says:



there is then a "principal terms of deemed contract" attached, the first paragraph of which says:



anyone else had this? what happened; did you tell the truth and cough up for a year's worth of electricity? or tell them you just moved in and they believed you? do npower have access to any kind of records which can prove how long i've lived there?

basically, what i'm asking is, how can i blag my way out of paying a year's worth of electricty? lol.. i know if i own up they'll allow me to pay installments, but that's still going to be shed loads, and that's on top of the regular money i'll have to pay them from now on for my supply..

any suggestions/experiences?

ta.

I had a similar thing where they tried to charge me for electricity before I (genuinly) moved in. They asked for a copy of the hosue contract to prove I wasnt respopnsible for the electricity before I moved in So IMO I wouldnt try and blag it in case they ask for proof of when you moved in...

So let me get this straight, you're asking for my advice so that your electricity costs get passed on to my bill? :)

I'd always be wary of trying to "blag it", as the longer you leave it, the larger the bills you might end up having to pay...

You did'nt notify them when you moved in then.
Once you provide your details the ellectricity company can do a check using the usual credit checking agencies i would emagine this may confirm to them that you have not just moved in.

If you notified your change of address to your bank or any company you have a credit agreement with that will probably be on record.
Even if you apply for credit and get refused or change your mind it goes on record.

If you are on the ellectoral register this will provide them with info (they will check)

It don't look good mate, i once did the same, i was struggling with money and buried my head in the sand with regard to an electricity bill it caught up with me.
it gave me time to sort my self out financialy though and i wrote to the company and fessed, they were ok and we came to an agreement to pay it off, (no more dreading the postman)

The other thing is, they could contact your landlord which could jeopardize your tennancy.

Hope this helps.

Originally posted by 40summat
The other thing is, they could contact your landlord which could jeopardize your tennancy.

Hope this helps.

yeah, and my letting agents (crapper & haigh) are all screeching harlots from the bowels of hell, not to mention the most inept and useless bags of mostly water i have ever met.. wouldn't surprise me if they took kick backs to help out utility companies..

oh well.. here's hoping..

nPower have had some real problems with billing over the last few years. When we lived in the flat in town we were getting 2 sets of bills, one which was in our name and we were paying, and one in the name of the occupier which we did not pay.

After many months of ringing them and telling them we were getting two bills we started getting letters saying they were going to cut of our electric due to non payment.

Needless to say we got a little annoyed, we wrote letters, sent faxes, emails, involved energywatch (the utilities ombudsman) but nothing seemed to happen.

Until we sent an email to the Chief exec.... then a delightful lady from corporate communications rang and told me off for emailing the chief exec.

Upshot is we were paying for our nieghbours electricity, who were paying for their neighbours, etc etc etc, and no one was actually paying for our electricity. In the flats we were in it seemed very few people were actually paying for what they were using. Some of the flats do not even have a meter and nPower have no idea where their electric is coming from:loopy:.

I suggest get it sorted straight away, otherwise it gets very difficult to untangle. We moved out a year ago and its still not sorted (taken 3 years so far!).

You will have to pay it, but they will let you pay it in installments, or set a high monthly electic bill until you have caught up.

I'd recommend co-operating with them and not trying to pull a fast one. I had a fairly similar experience to ratbagtowers with npower, i.e. they made a cock-up (I get electricity from another supplier, but npower had me down as their customer) but they tried to sort it out by threatening to cut my supply off and sending the bailiffs round (rather than, say, contacting me to see if maybe I was using a different supplier). They're not afraid to use the strong arm.

[I did eventually get an apology, after some letters and phone calls and a fair amount of stress. The council consumer affairs people were actually quite helpful.]

tell then you moved in last month.

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
tell then you moved in last month.

that's not going to work, i don't think.. i have my gas supplied by npower, so theoretically they know how long i have lived here..

i have had advice from someone who works for an electric company to sign up with a different provider immediately, then just deny all knowledge of npower.. the letter i got this morning was addressed to "The Occupier," so they obviously just sent out a standard letter rather than actually investigating my account..

hmm..

Originally posted by dirtybobby
that's not going to work, i don't think.. i have my gas supplied by npower, so theoretically they know how long i have lived here..

i have had advice from someone who works for an electric company to sign up with a different provider immediately, then just deny all knowledge of npower.. the letter i got this morning was addressed to "The Occupier," so they obviously just sent out a standard letter rather than actually investigating my account..

hmm..

yes, but npower will still want paying for the year before you signed up.

Originally posted by nightrider
yes, but npower will still want paying for the year before you signed up.

yeah but the point is they don't know they have been providing it!

like other ppl have said in this thread, npower don't appear to know their arse from their elbow, and charge customers whatever they like on the assumption that they will pay it..

the letter i received is a very vague "we might supply your electricity" address to an anonymous "occupier".. in addition, we have had several red letters to the previous occupier (from a number of companies), so he obviously didn't inform them of when he moved out..

if i sign up with a new company right away, next time i hear from npower i can just say "what are you on about? my electricity is supplied by british gas!".. doubtless, they will then start trying to convert me to npower to "save me money" lol..

it's just an idea.. may well go tits up lol..

I faced a similar situation with all of my utilities after I moved in to my present home because I had never previously had any responsibility for bill payment and didnt know how to organise this. When they eventually realised services were being used I spent substantial time trying to sort things out and it was a massive pain in the neck.

Systems in place are far more sophisticated now and they can trace you quite easily because they are still entitled to use the Electoral Role for credit checks and tracing purposes, ie I have just had a letter sent to my address. Thinking it was for me I opened it to discover the addressee was a former neighbour apparently listed at my address; the letter was from a tracing agency investigating that person's whereabouts.

If you owe them a year's worth of electricity, I think your bill may suffice for them to pursue in a similar way. They could disconnect your services and sue for debt recovery. I think the Judgment is registered with the Registry Office which may make it difficult for you to get credit & another electricity supplier.

If left unattended and the utility went to court, as they will, and they can prove you did nothing to rectify matters, the Judge will grant them everything they want and it will be on Court files for future reference. The utility company could also insist on a pre-payment meter resulting in your paying far more for your electricity supply.

Although I am sure it may seem tempting not to pay, it will be far easier and simpler in the long run to negotiate a reasonable repayment scheme. You will have the benefit of sleeping well at night without worrying about your post and phone calls, etc.

If the purpose of your post is to find ways in which to not pay then I am unable to assist any further.

Originally posted by wendygs
If the purpose of your post is to find ways in which to not pay then I am unable to assist any further.

thanks anyway, it was very insightful :)

Glad that was of help. When negotiating a repayment scheme, do your sums first. Their debt recovery department make strong arm tactics look user-friendly. You need to find out the total cost in order to calculate how much you can afford to pay over and above your normal usage.

At first I found they were obnoxious to deal with; it only changed after I escalated it to the Group Managing Director and refused to deal with anyone else that they then reviewed what is fair, reasonable and affordable to repay.

Hope you dont have to go down that route but whatever you do I'd say sound like you mean business and dont let them push you around. If you aren't happy with you're contact insist on speaking to their line manager and if you're not happy with them go to their manager.

As always I'd recommend confirming things in writing once an agreement has been reached because then everyone knows where they stand and give you evidence should things go awry.

Originally posted by wendygs
Glad that was of help. When negotiating a repayment scheme, do your sums first. Their debt recovery department make strong arm tactics look user-friendly. You need to find out the total cost in order to calculate how much you can afford to pay over and above your normal usage.

At first I found they were obnoxious to deal with; it only changed after I escalated it to the Group Managing Director and refused to deal with anyone else that they then reviewed what is fair, reasonable and affordable to repay.

Hope you dont have to go down that route but whatever you do I'd say sound like you mean business and dont let them push you around. If you aren't happy with you're contact insist on speaking to their line manager and if you're not happy with them go to their manager.

As always I'd recommend confirming things in writing once an agreement has been reached because then everyone knows where they stand and give you evidence should things go awry.

well, i was a team manager at argos direct for years so i know all about call centre hierarchy and "rule bending" lol.. it's fair to say that i usually get my own way when dealing with call centres as a result..

even so, i don't think i'm going to take the soft option just yet.. going to investigate my options further.. as i say, this letter was very vague and anonymous.. i can't imagine they have much legal recourse thus far, as no correspondence has been sent to me personally..

Dirtybobby, I readily admit I am puzzled by your comment
earlier on today in which you stated:

Originally posted by dirtybobby
thanks anyway, it was very insightful :) [/QUOTE]

in reply to my comment:

[QUOTE]If the purpose of your post is to find ways in which to not pay then I am unable to assist any further.[QUOTE]


Please would you mind expanding on this because I didnt understand what you meant.

The other thing I found confusing is that as you know how to deal with these situations how did you expect to be helped by posting to this forum?

If you are using electricity then you know that you have to pay for it, simple. So by not doing so you are being dishonest and in effect stealing.

It is your responsibility to inform the utilities when you move .... how on earth can they keep contacting every vacated property to ask if anybody has moved in yet.

You should pay up. Why should the rest of us pay for YOUR electricity because that is what would have to happen. Sounds harsh but true.

Have to agree with Mo on this one. It is your responsibility to inform utility companies when you move into a property. If you're not sure who supplies you then you just ring the main supplier in your area (nPower round here), they will tell you if they currently supply that address, and if they don't they give you a number to call to find out who does. It is usually in your interest to do this, firstly to avoid exactly this situation where you have to pay for a year's worth of supply once they finally catch up with you, but secondly to protect you from any debts left behind from the previous occupier.

I'm not sure how nPower can be expected to send quarterly bills to someone they don't know is in the property - but they do have the right to receive payment for the services they have provided. I really can't see any justification for not paying for the electricity you have used so far. If you don't pay for it, you will also risk your credit rating, and possibly even face CCJ proceedings - it's much more hassle than it's worth, as you don't have a leg to stand on. Don't be surprised if nPower demand a pre-payment metre for the future - where you have to pay off a certain amount of the debt each week, as well as paying for your future electricty up front.

I just had the same letter, gunna ring the regulator on Monday to see what they have to say.

I moved last July and never got an electricity bill, even after I moved out 6 months later. I did get a gas bill, which I rang up and paid, and I asked about the electric. Was told it was £56, which seems kind of low for 6 months (and I'm bad at leaving lights on), but I have paid it, and not heard anything since. They have my forwarding address.