www.iva.co.uk

Hello all,

I’ve received a letter from NPower with whom we have our electricity and gas on a discounted dual fuel tariff. We have an outstanding debt of £169 which was built up whilst we were trying to sort out a final bill for our former tenants (we were out of the country for 8 months last year). NPower are starting to threaten to disconnect us therefore I would like to come to an agreement with them regarding the repayment of the debt as going forward we obviously need electricity and gas. I was thinking of offering £90 per month (£40 gas, £40 electricity as per the budget plus £10 per month to clear the debt). I am conscious that this needs to be sorted out as 1) I don’t want to get into a position that they install a meter to repay the debt as the tariff will be higher however, 2) I’m aware that I can’t favour one creditor over another.

Hi,

I work for an energy company & often install Prepayment meters with debts of up to £2000! so I think £10 per month on an outstanding bill of that size should be ok but then again I have little experience of the workings of NPower.

Hi and welcome,

Love the name!

Personally I think they should accept your offer, it seems a fair one to me.

I hope you can get it sorted. Keep us updated.

Haha- Thanks Kallis3- I'd add a picture of Chino but i'm not sure how to [:D]. I've spoken with NPower and they have so far refused my offer but i'm awaiting a call back from a "manager". Can they force a meter to be installed?

Hi,

Be persistent with the manager if and when they call back. They have a duty to help you with debts, see the link below for news item and telephone numbers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6043288.stm

Mention this to the npower and I'm sure they'll see sense.

xx

Chino, if you contact admin, or they pick this up they can put a picture on for you if you send it to them.

Normally the utility companies are quite sympathetic to debt problems, so I would recommend sticking to your guns and telling them you don't want a meter, you just want to clear the arrears at a rate you can afford.

Good luck with NPower - they're not the sharpest tools in the box so you'll need to persevere but if you stick to your guns I'm sure you'll be fine.

Thanks everyone- it's great to be able
get honest non-judgemental advice. I'll persevere with NPower and see what happens.

Let us know how things are going.

Did you get a call back Chino?

Well, after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with NPower it would seem that the outstanding balance is quite a lot higher than previously thought and is in fact £524! As they apparently seem to think our monthly spend is £153 per month (Gas and Elec)which for 1970s semi with 2 people in seems excessive, they are unable to accept out offer of £120 per month! By my calculations, our monthly spend is iro £95 per month. I'm therefore going to pay £120 per month so the debt doesn't increase and should start to reduce by £25 per month. When I mentionned the IVA/poss BR, they advised that had another dept for "people like me" and they would get that dept to call. So, all in all, i'm just gonna pay the £120 and instigate a new turn EVERYTHING off regime in order to reduce our spend! Thanks again for everyones kind words x

Chino speak to their "dept, just for us" and see what they say. They can write debts off.

That does seem a high payment. We pay £170 a month combined and we have a four bed detached and as hubby is retired, both get a bit of a bending, especially in the winter.

I hope that department can sort you out Chino.

Let us know how you get on.

Hi
I have had a lot of problems with npower they seem to make things up as they go along. I wished I had never switched to them as soon as our account is in credit I am switching as they are useless.
Linda

I hope you get your account sorted Linda.

NPower do get some bad reviews on here sometimes.