Ever since the gas and electricity companies were privatised, we, as consumers, are supposed to be feeling the "benefit" of choice, and being able to "shop around for the best deal". After a few years of being stopped on the street every five minutes by various company reps, and enduring the same salesmen hanging on the doorbell every other day, I personally long for the good old days of British Gas and Eastern Electricity, simplicity, peace and quiet.

This opinion charts problems with NPower mainly, but also British Gas, and is written from notes I have kept on all phone calls and letters, since the problem has not been resolved yet. I wanted to warn others about these two companies. I have not used real names though, just my own made-up ones.

My problems with NPower started out in March 2001 (thats 3 years and 8 months ago). I'd just moved into a new (to me anyway!) council house with two extremely small children, no carpets, barely any furniture and gas and electricity were the last things on my mind, beyond making sure we has supplies of both. We had a pre-payment meter for the electricity supply. For those who don't know, this is where you have a plastic card which you take to an outlet supplying cardboard electricity cards which you pay for. The shop swipes the plastic card so that the company you are with can see how many cards you buy, you take the cardboard one home and put it in the meter. If you don't buy the cards with the credit on them, you don't have electricity. No three-month bills, easy!

Our gas meter however was ordinary. You know, you use the gas, you get a bill every three months.
Well, the first trouble came when the bill for March, April, and May turned up in June - it was for £175 give or take a few pence. I also noticed that the bill was dated from the 13th of February - a bit rich, as we'd only moved into the property on the 29th of February. I thought it was ridiculous, and phoned to query it with them. They said that the bill was based on an actual meter reading given to them by the previous tenant on the 13th of Feb - odd, as we'd been allocated this house in January of 2001 but it needed extensive works by the council as the previous tenant had, upon leaving, ripped out most of the fittings. Including the toilet. It was also due to have central heating fitted, which explains why we didn't move in until nearly March. Consequently, the house had been unoccupied since the beginning of January.

I explained this to them, and asked if the meter reading given to them by the previous tenant could have been lower than the actual reading. The dumb girl on the NPower end of the phone asked "What would they have done that for?" I replied that I didn't know, but possibly by mistake, or to give themselves a lower final bill. This explanation was not accepted, and I was told that, unless the £175 bill was paid, my gas supply would be cut off. I paid them £120 and told them they could whistle for the rest of it until it had been properly investigated. The bill for the next three months was based upon my own meter readings and ones taken by the meter reader who always comes when my house is a mess. Predictably, it was for around £75. I called NPower to point this out,and they said that bills were usually lower in summer, due to central heating not being used. Fair enough, but not cheaper to the point of over a hundred pounds!

Anyway, I carried on with them for the next year, and fell behind with my bills, so that in August 2002 I owed them £240, including that £55 I had not paid on the first bill. They informed me that my account would be passed to bailiffs unless I had a pre-payment meter fittted for gas, which would collect a little off the debt evey time I put credit into it. This was an ideal solution - my debt would be repaid, and I wouldn't have another bill again - or so I thought!

Marching into this tale comes British Gas Representative Tim Something-or-other. He knocks on my door in about October, and launches into his well-rehearsed speech about BG saving me money on my gas bill. I interrupt to tell him we're on a pre-payment meter paying off a debt to NP. He says no problem, we can switch the debt to BG where we'll pay off the debt at the same time as having lower rates on the gas we use now. Despite this, I said no, thankyou Tim, we'll hang fire until the debt has gone and them maybe give you a call. Tim asks me to sign a form. I ask why, he explains that it's just to show he's been here and spoken to me, otherwise his bosses might think he's been sitting in his car enjoying the sunshine all day. OK, seems reasonable, I sign and he toddles off. I hear nothing more from BG.

Come May 2003, and a Final Bill drops onto my mat, in red paper looking rather serious. It's from NPower. Funny, thought we were on a pre-payment meter? Anyhow, I call and ask why we've been sent a bill for £240 since we're on a pre-payment meter, and are paying off the debt through that. The "Helpline Person" (Otherwise known as Waste of Wages) at the other end apologises, says there's obviously been some mistake and trots off to get someone who knows something - since apparently the "Helpline" people don't know anything, can't do anything, and are basically useless without "Supervisor" (also known as God) there. Supervisor finally arrives at the other end of the phone line after what must have been his lunch break, and snootily informs me that "This bill has been outstanding since August 2002 Madam, and unless it is paid now, we will have no option but to pass it to our Collections Department" (Otherwise known as Hell). I patiently explained about the repayment meter (which should really have been shown on his computer, since they'd taken all my details by then). Supervisor-God snootily informs me he will "call me back" (Otherwise known as a lie).

To cut this part of a long story slightly shorter, I'll gloss over the several calls I put in to "Helpline" trying to find out what was happening. I'll fast-forward three days, when another bill drops on my mat - from British Gas. I don't have an account with BG. This bill says I owe them £341. My temper disappears in a puff of phone-button punching. After an age, I finally spoke to Helpful Person at BG who informs me that I signed a contract with them in October. Puzzled, I finally remember Tim. I explain this to Helpful Person, adding that I did not knowingly sign a contract, had never received a gas card for the pre-payment meter (the only way to buy credit for them) had never received a single letter from them, and since I was on a pre-payment meter, shouldn't HAVE bloody gas bills anyway!! Helpful Person helpfully tells me that since they have a signed contract, and their reps would never use underhand tactics anyway, she suspected I was trying to "avoid paying for gas that you have used". I blew up, sent her off with tongue-lashed ears to fetch a Supervisor and went on to explain everything again.... and again when Supervisor didn't get it the first time. Finally there is sign of intelligent life when Supervisor gets it into this head that I'm on a pre-payment meter. He asks if I'm purchasing gas credit using my old supplier's card (NP's) or theirs. Explaining for the umpteenth time that I don't HAVE one of BG's cards, he says that the payments I had been making on NP's card would have gone into NP's misappropriated funds account (otherwise known as no-man's-land) and could be collected from NP once I had called them to explain. Slightly mollified, I got back on the phone to NP, explained everything AGAIN, and was told that thankfully, BG would be paid.

Unfortunately, this is not the end. I asked to be transferred back to NP so i could continue paying off the debt to them through my meter. The reason the £240 bill had been sent to me from them was because I was no longer a customer. The reason it was STILL £240 despite being supposedly paid off through the meter was that NP had not had the debt applied to the meter - well, they must have done since evey time I put gas credit in, some credit was taken for debt. NP say that this could not be happening. Anyway, BG did not have me transferred back. NP said they could not do it without BG's say-so (a bald-faced lie, you do NOT have to get permission from your current provider to switch to a new one, in debt to them or not). I have made many calls to both, requesting that my account be put back to Npower so I can get their bill paid off. Right now (December 2003) I have no idea who my gas is supplied by as neither company seems to know. I get regular Final Demands from both companies threatening to take me to court. I have been told by Npower that even if I did transfer back to them, my original debt could not be paid off through the meter beacuse my new account could not be linked with the old one. To add insult to injury, every time I put gas credit in the meter, it takes off a bit for "debt", and NPower who had the meter installed in the first place are still denying that this is happening.

This sad and sorry tale of two gas companies carries two warnings.

1) If a sales rep from British Gas turns up on your doorstep, use all necessary force to get rid of it fast. Shut their fingers in the front door, throw boiling water in their faces - whatever. Sod reasonable, it's your hard-earned cash you will be protecting.

2) If a sales rep from NPower turns up on your doorstep, repeat essential action as above, only tenfold. Never sign up to them. Ever.

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 2004
*********************************
I am still with British Gas, and on a prepayment meter. I use their card to purchase my gas credit to put in my meter. Npower still occasionally send me bills for that £240, but I think it is unlikely they'll attempt to force any more money out of me.

Sadly, that's not the end of the matter. The BG bill, the money for which went into the misappropriated funds account at Npower, has apparently been paid (I say apparently as I have no confirmation of this, despite repeated requests for something on paper).
Each time I buy gas credit and put it in the meter, a small amount is taken for Debt. The gas supply is under the control of British Gas who I have never owed money to (having been on a prepayment meter ever since joining them). There should be no debt applied to my meter now as I am no longer a customer of Npower, there can only be a debt applied by the current provider. According to Npower the bill was never applied to the meter, so amounts for debt cannot be taken when I buy credit. According to British Gas there is no record of any debt on my meter, so amounts for debt cannot be taken when I buy credit (are you noticing the current theme here?) They do however keep sending me odd bills for £30-ish which I keep having to phone up about and explain FOR THE BLOODY MILLIONTH TIME (sorry) that I am on a f**king pre-payment meter.

I am tempted to drop a large and heavy rock on the meter and demand a bloody new one, if only I wasn't so afraid of a gas leak (which may actually be worth it if I can arrange for the kids to be at school).

Npower are completely useless, and British Gas representatives are dishonest (sweeping statement yes, but my father-in-law spent three weeks working for them as a cold-caller, and was actually told to gain contracts and signatures however he could, by the person training him). Neither company's telephone operators have any useful information, social skills, brains or any sense of what to do with complaining customers. They do however have qualifications in rudeness, accusatory comments, fobbing-off and general uselessness.

Don't bother with either company.