Electric Meter conundrum

[Two_Sheds]

Now here's a thing.
Mr Sheds never reads his statements or bills, just threw everything in a drawer. (I am now sorting them into a filing system prior to moving in together)

His latest leccy bill came in, so I checked it against the meter. the night reading was fine, but the day rate was wildly different (lower).
The customer service operator became concerned, which worried me. She was to investigate and call me back in a week.
I rootled back thru the old bills, and it turns out a right mess. Bills were missing, some were wrongly addressed, some were estimates and some were "read".
The meter appeared to be running backwards

I couldn't get my head round that at all. I spent ages on the phone trying to convince the leccy police that we hadn't tampered with the meter.

Y'day the man came to change the meter. Turns out, we never had a Day meter installed! The one we were reading was ok for night rates, but had never worked as a day meter. So, OMG, were we now going to get a massive bill for 2 years of daytime leccy ?

Then I thought: how come the bills say B.Gas had read the meter then? If there was no meter to be read?

They have been billing and charging him every month (based on estimated use), so hopefully any final tally will be waived, as it's all their fault for not putting in a working meter.

[di]

we're about to leave B.gas.when we moved gave them ALL our details & set up DD for both leccie & gas.3 months later get a letter saying they were cutting us off as we'd not registered with them & no payments had been made,explained that we had not only registered but set up DDs.they'd LOST our details,no apologies just a couple of huge bills for 3 months usage that we'd intentionally wanted to pay monthly to save getting a big bill!have also recieved 2 bills which have said "Actual reading" when i know they havent as the meters are inside & we hadnt let anyone in.think they've been totally out of order!Good luck with getting yours sorted,what P's me off the most is they not a freefone number & you spend ages on hold & on 2 occassions i've been on hold for over 20 mins only for the fone to suddenly go dead. shame some of their huge profits don't go to helping their customers out a bit instead of lining the big boys pockets! rant done(even tho I prob could go on!)

[Claire72]

I would take advice from Citizens advice bureau on this one, if the fault is theirs and not yours (ie, you haven't tampered with the meter at all) and they claim to have 'read' the meter, then you are not at fault.
They should not send any bills for the last 2 years, your OH has paid them in good faith for the services they claim to have provided.
Take advice though, as they are likely to try to hit you with a bill, but will back down if you have a bit of legal jargon to hit them with

[Two_Sheds]

That's what I'll be doing Claire. I am going to take them to task for claiming to have actually read the meter, when they haven't. It's bang out of order.

[lottie dolly]

we had a right carry on with them,have now changed,we had duel fuel,gas side was ok,but the electric was another story,in brief,i realised we had no bill for aprox 6 months,after a few phone calls and a meter reader actually looking at our metre,still no joy at this point, i was so stressed out,as i pride myself on propt payement,eventually they said the metre was no good needed new one,then few more weeks and some more of the previouse nonsence,and more phone calls from me,they did turn up and replace the metre,now to the bill,by this time we are talking aprox,12 months,and no,they did not write anything of,but did an estimate of the other priviouse ones recored,result one huge bill,so we gave it a short time to get things running on the smooth,then tolled them what to do with it,and where to put their supply,if it was not for the fact that OH had just retired and got some payout,then i dread to think what the outcome would have been.we have been with n power for 6 month,and wondering what the out come will be after our 12 month contract is up,ugg,these people have us over a barrell.i wonder if the problem lays with having the same companyfor both,if not happy at end of contract will think about separate companies,as used to be once upon a time.

[pigletwillie]

Call us old fashioned but we use an electric co for electric and a gas one for gas and have never had any issues with bills or readings. In fact we now have paperless billings and can send in meter readings online and check the bills against our useage.

Both rates are capped till 2010

[Seahorse]

British Gas v. Two Sheds? They've got no chance!

[Two_Sheds]

Call us old fashioned but we use an electric co for electric and a gas one for gas and have never had any issues with bills or readings.

They can't even get the Gas bill right! They keep sending us bills for 1A, our neighbour. We are 1.
I have phoned, written and emailed, and they keep on doing it.

[rustylady]

Y'day the man came to change the meter. Turns out, we never had a Day meter installed! how come the bills say B.Gas had read the meter then? If there was no meter to be read?

They have been billing and charging him every month (based on estimated use), so hopefully any final tally will be waived, as it's all their fault for not putting in a working meter.

I think you'll find that they can only use estimates for three out of four annual readings. They have to actually come and read your meter at least once a year - it's in the contracts.

[rainbowbrite]

omg im really worried!!! i'm with b gas and have been living in my house for a year, i've not yet had a bill over £4 (i kid you not) and i know that eventually i need to phone and sort it out with them but do you reckon i could claim it as their mistake because they have never been out to do a meter reading - ahh you have forced me to pull my head out of the sand!

[seasprout]

Its Ofgem you want. The energy regulator. They deal with Gas and Electric customers.

Get advice from them even if BG say they are sorting it..

Ofgem Home

[quark1]

Something similar happened to me quite a few years back now.

We mostly had 'estimated' bills which seemed quite in line qtr to qtr/year on year.

Then I had a formal reading and it turned out that the meter for the day units had stuck. I'm not sure if we were being charged at night rates for day units - but in my case the solution was to change the faulty meter and the 'undercharge' was something that remained in my favour and no extra charges levied as there was no proof as to when the thing broke down and therefore no pro rata could be made. I didn't have to argue my case and that was the end of it. My account ended up in credit for a while as a result!

Now in the case of a 'racing' meter clocking up many extra units for either night/day usage? Who knows? It was perhaps lucky that it was the Day section and not the Night section which failed. Otherwise all my night units - although tiny by contrast - would have been charged at the day rate. I still suspect somehow that any overcharge to the customer would be dealt with in the customer's favour as it was due to the supply of faulty equipment which the supplier has a duty to check is properly functional.

[Two_Sheds]

thanks for all your input. I am quite confident of winning my argument, but just so cross that they get away with such shoddy service ~ and that we have been made to feel like criminals, under suspicion of diddling the leccy meter.
Of course, Mr Sheds should've checked his bills, but he's not as anal as me...he actually trusts companies to do the job, whereas I always expect incompetence!