I’ve been trying to sort my £6,120 energy bill debt for a DECADE: CRANE ON THE CASE

I have £6,120 of incorrect energy bill charges dating back to 2013 which I am still trying to put right. My gas was supplied by Npower for many years, but was taken over by Eon in 2019.  

Briefly, back in 2013 I noticed I had £900 credit on my Npower account and asked that it be refunded. Npower said it couldn’t do it because of a problem with its payment system. 

Instead, it said I could reduce my direct debit from £69 a month to £5 a month temporarily, and then get the rest of the balance refunded when this payment issue was fixed.  I asked again a few months later, but was told to carry on paying the £5.

In 2015, I got a letter from Npower saying its new system was working now. But instead of being in credit, it said I was in debt and my new direct debit would be £360 a month – a huge amount, especially back in 2015. 

Bad bills: This reader was wrongly billed back in 2016 – but it still isn’t sorted

It was clear that something wasn’t right with my account. Npower eventually sent someone to look at my gas meter and concluded that it was broken. 

It replaced the meter in 2016 and I agreed to pay monthly based on my exact usage. Since then I have only used 2885 units of gas – about 1 unit a day.

The problem is that the outstanding bill connected to the old, broken meter was never sorted out before Npower was transferred to Eon. I am still being pursued for a bill for £6,120 based on pre-2016 meter readings.

Npower never registered defaults against my credit file because the payment was under dispute, but Eon has now done so. Can you help? E.Y, Ayrshire

Helen Crane of This is Money replies: I am sorry to hear this has been going on for so long. 

I am no stranger to hearing about people’s long and convoluted battles to get their energy bills sorted, but I think ten years might be a record. 

I want to be fair to Eon here, and point out that this was not a problem of its making.

Npower had three years between you getting your new meter and it ceasing to exist as an energy supplier, and it still didn’t find the time to sort out your bill. 

On your part, you were paying for exactly what you used. You had been told the debt would be sorted, and that it wouldn’t affect your credit file in the meantime. 

This was back in the days when energy bills were manageable, and most people didn’t spend very much time thinking about them. 

I’d also argue that people’s trust in energy firms wasn’t completely in the dustbin back then. So, you simply assumed it would be sorted and got on with your life. 

Ofgem’s rules prevent ‘back-billing’ for energy used more than 12 months ago, but yours didn’t fall under this as you were billed at the time – even though the amount was later proved to be incorrect.  

It became more of a problem when your energy account was passed to Eon. While the buy-out happened in 2019, customers were gradually moved across over the next year and a half. 

What was alarming, and where I do have an issue with Eon’s treatment of you, was that the firm had begun passing information about your ‘debt’ to a credit reference agency. 

When a bill is under dispute, energy firms generally agree not to do this – but it appeared this message had not been passed from Npower to Eon.

Meter mix-up: A broken meter led to incorrect bills for E.Y and she saw her direct debit rocket

You say that you checked your profile on Clearscore recently and Eon had added several defaults, which have the potential to trash your credit rating. 

I contacted Eon to ask that it put an end to this decade-long debacle. 

I’m happy to say that it quickly contacted you to say that the £6,120 balance had been cleared. 

In a letter to you, it said it ‘couldn’t justify’ the debt due to the fact your meter had been broken at the time. 

It also said that it had contacted credit reference agencies to remove the defaults on your profile, which means any adverse impact should soon be reversed. 

A spokesperson for Eon said: ‘We have reviewed [the customer’s] account and have now cleared the balance and updated the data shared with credit reference agencies. We have contacted [her] to update her on these steps.’

You have said you couldn’t believe how quickly this was sorted after I got involved, and I am glad that I could light a fire under Eon and finally put your gas bill woes to bed. 

Some good news on parking tickets… for a change  

This is Money has been keeping a particularly watchful eye on organisations that issue parking charges recently. 

Several readers have shared their horror stories, including one who was slammed with a £60 penalty charge for waiting in the drive-thru at his local McDonalds. 

So I was glad to get an email from reader Ken which proves that there are situations – however rare – where common sense is still being applied. 

Genuine mistake: Ken had a motoring mishap near Putney Bridge, when he drove down a restricted access road – and then missed the charge notice as he was on holiday

He wrote: ‘I spent nearly six weeks abroad from late August until October. 

‘Awaiting me when I arrived home was a penalty charge notice for £130 for a driving infringement which happened just before I departed. 

‘I had crossed Putney Bridge in London, but my sat nav was telling me to turn and go back the other way – so I turned right down a side street to get back onto the main road. 

‘Unfortunately the road I turned into was designated as “No motor vehicles except buses and taxis”. I was a visitor to London, unaware of such restrictions and I didn’t see any signs. 

‘I read that the £130 fine could be reduced to £65 if I paid within 14 days but, as I didn’t arrive back in the UK until early October, I had missed this deadline.

‘I phoned the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, which issued the ticket, and explained my situation. I asked if the discount could still be applied as I had been out of the country. 

‘I was asked to write in giving copies of my entry and departure stamps from my passport.

‘Imagine my delight when I received an email telling me that discretion had been used and the penalty charge notice had been cancelled. 

‘Well done London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham for not penalising what had been a genuine error.’

Parking charges can drive motorists around the bend, so it is great to see an example where both parties are able to act reasonably.