Paul Lewis If you bought your gas from npower in that period you may already have had a letter from the company. If not it should arrive by the end of this month. But some Saga readers who have received the letter say it looks like a circular and many customers may simply throw it away.
So if you bought your gas from npower between May and November 2007 make sure you read carefully any letter you receive from npower. The letter is the key to the payment. All you have to do is take the letter to any Post Office with two forms of ID – one that shows you and one that confirms your address – and you will be given the refund in cash.
The average payment will be around £35 – though some people will get as much as £100 and some as little as £1 and npower will add VAT and interest.
If you have changed your supplier since 2007 do not worry – you will still get the letter and the refund. If you have moved to another address it is possible that the letter will not reach you. In that case – or if you think you have had a letter but thrown it away – you should call the npower helpline.
If you were an npower gas customer in that period but have not heard from npower by the end of November you can register for the payment yourself. Not every gas customer is entitled to it as some tariffs, including pre-payment meters, were not affected. The refunds apply to your gas charges not to charges for electricity.
The total cost to npower will be around £70 million. Consumer Focus, which used its legal powers to force npower to agree to this deal, is one of the public bodies the Government has decided to scrap. It will disappear in the next year or two.
Find out more at www.consumerfocus.org.uk or call 0800 975 7938. Or you can fill in an enquiry form here https://www.npower.com/at_home/applications/BERT2.Web.UI/RegisterMyInterest/default.aspx
Written by Paul Lewis, this article was first published on November 10, 2010. Paul's opinions are his own and for general information only. Always seek independent, professional, financial advice.