How To Report An Energy Company For Overpayment?

[Dazzleflash]

Sorry I know this probably is not the place for this but could not find a relevant category

When we moved into our house 5 years ago it had an NPower pre paid meter which we used for around a year and were putting in around £50 per month depending on season. We decided to go for a regular meter and were shocked after 6 months that we seemed to be using about £80 per month according to the meter and at one point had our monthly DD raised to £120 per month to catch up. We are in a 2 bed terrace house. nPower would not agree to come and look at, or change the meter, so early December we changed to EON and they put a new meter in. I’ve just read the new meter which obviously was at 00000 when put in on the 8/12/16 and when I’ve put the reading into their website it has said we have used £114 of electricity which is £57 av. per month. Considering this has been over the Xmas period with people at home all day, extra heating/cooking it kind of makes me suspicious my nPower meter was wrong and we have been overpaying them for about three years. Is there anything legally I can do? Is there a governing body that could sort this out?

[Buenchico]

The average household fuel bill is now around £1500 per year, so that's a bit over £120 per month. So your electricity usage since your new meter was put in is remarkably low. Indeed the £80 per month you were paying before was still far lower than most people pay. So I doubt that you've been overcharged anywhere. (If anything, it seems more likely that you're currently being considerably undercharged!).

The regulator Ofgem wouldn't get involved until you'd initially complained to nPower and then had your complaint rejected. It's hard to see how you could make out a case against them at this point, as no independent testing of your old meter could be carried out. However, if you want to pursue it further, here's the OfGem information:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/complain-about-your-gas-or-electricity-bill-or-supplier

[Dazzleflash]

buenchico, thank you for your reply. Your quotes of average fuel costs, are you including gas in those? Gas is not available where we are. Our house is a small terraced cottage less than 90m2 heated by oil, so the fuel bills are for electric only. The EON tariff we are now on is higher per unit than what we were paying with nPower but the units used much less. I have been advised by nPower complaints to write to them but they do not seem optimistic they can do anything. I've worked out I've probably overpaid by around £750.

[Canary42]

I doubt you can do anything - Ofgem are a complete waste of space in my experience. You could try your MP as a long shot.

You should definitely put your complaint in writing (recorded delivery) and follow any rejection up very strongly - that eventually worked for me.

[fiction-factory]

I'm puzzled as to why Eon put a new meter in. Did they say the old one was faulty? if they did you can take this info back to npower.

[fiction-factory]

Buenchic's comments still seem valid- the fact that you haven't got gas means you should expect to use more electricity than a similar household using dual fuel.

[Dazzleflash]

fiction factory thank you for your reply. I am not disputing the amount in pounds, I am disputing the units used. According to my on line account with nPower their meter recorded unit use DEC 15 Jan 16 as 1700. The new EON meter recorded unit use of 1200 for the same period Dec 16 -Jan 17. We have not stopped using less electricity, in fact since last year I now have a clothes drier and a large heated aquarium, which would add usage.

[fiction-factory]

I'm still not sure why you were given a new meter. i have changed suppliers about 15 times in 20 years but have always kept the same meter