Equigas meter prob

tonester · 22 November 2008 at 10:33PM

hi guys got a letter today informing me that my meter is broken... I would only have to put £1 pound on the gas card pop it in my meter to fix it....

let me give you a little background and see what you think...

In April this year I started putting a little money each week on the meter while not using the gas as I have only one gas radiator and its off during the summer.I work as a temp and I can loose my job any week..I knew for a fact the factory I work at is closing..turns out it will be about Christmas time but I managed to "save" up 100 pounds and began using this in September..its about 5 to 7 pounds a week depending on tempreture ...weather etc etc..

during a phone call to Southern Electric I was told that amongst other things that I was not using enough gas...also I should top up every day !!! and that the meter would need replacing and I would have to pay ..!
Obviously "to me" I had paid for the gas or some of it a least at the old price and they were now trying to force up the price on the meter... the letter also states that unless I put the £1 on I would start to be billed for the extra gas....that I had got for "free"

to me a contact is a contract and if I buy gas at that price thats the deal...I don,t get billed for the petrol in my car the day after the price goes up..!

Can they do this..?..is,nt it just what they do when the by gas on the open market...
will they send me a letter when the prices fall and tell me to put a pound on the gas meter so I get it at the lower rate...?
some how I doubt it...

where do I stand legally if I don,t pay the bill... I,m not asking them for theinterest on the pre-paid money...
by the way I have also over pied on both my last electric bills by 100 pounds because of my job situation ...
good customer or what...or maybe just dumb..!
thanks for any replies...

:rotfl:

Tony

tghe-retford · 24 November 2008 at 10:35AM

I got the same letter today. Quite annoying really that someone has messed up. My fear is that there will be some people who may not get the letter until its too late and end up having to pay twice for their gas. I've now got to top up right on pay day instead of waiting until the weekend to do it even though I have more than enough on both the electric and gas to avoid being charged twice. :mad:

Sirbendy · 24 November 2008 at 12:06PM

I got a letter a couple of days back saying "due to a mistake on the prepay network, your meter has been set to "credit meter" mode. You need to top up the meter with as little as a pound to reset the meter to PAYG mode. You MUST do this before Dec 1st, as after that you WILL be billed quarterly and keep "credit meter" mode"

I called EBico on friday to tell them that my meter had been sat at £17 credit now for 2 weeks, and it was counting the gas passing through the meter but not deducting cash...first reply was "meter fault. We'll change it"..then this letter.

I'll phone them again today just to verify the meter is NOT at fault and they cocked up..then I'll top up the meter.

It was news to me that a prepay meter could be "mode set" to act as a credit unit!

spiro · 24 November 2008 at 12:48PM

Sirbendy wrote: »

It was news to me that a prepay meter could be "mode set" to act as a credit unit!

Is easy, just set the pence per unit to zero.

skipsmum · 24 November 2008 at 3:41PM

I've got this letter too...when I asked bg to change us to a credit meter they said it would cost us. Clearly it can be done for nothing!

tghe-retford · 24 November 2008 at 8:23PM

Weird as people say that their meters have been set to credit mode and are not taking money off for usage - well of course, I got the letter and my meter is taking money off for usage! Either it is a standard letter sent to everyone to cover their backs or something odd is going on.

And yes, I had better top up my meter tomorrow, because I really will end up paying twice for gas if I don't!

EDIT: Just a thought, how are people going to pay for their usage to date if it hasn't been registered on the meters because of the credit mode problem? I hope customers will not be penalised for this mistake.

EDIT 2: Is it worth having a sticky thread/info in the weekly email for this week warning EBIco customers about this? I'd rather people didn't get a nasty shock down the line.

lukebetteralone · 25 November 2008 at 10:53PM

i had the letter but my meter was still working as usual, but i topped up incase

filmnoir · 25 November 2008 at 11:40PM

tghe-retford wrote: »

EDIT: Just a thought, how are people going to pay for their usage to date if it hasn't been registered on the meters because of the credit mode problem? I hope customers will not be penalised for this mistake.

EDIT 2: Is it worth having a sticky thread/info in the weekly email for this week warning EBIco customers about this? I'd rather people didn't get a nasty shock down the line.

I haven't heard of any pre payment issues on the grapevine. It is worth perhaps a copy of the letter going up and stating where you are in the Country and which supplier you are with. Im guessing its a localised regional issue with a certain type of prepayment meter which is configurable as a credit, so it may not nessecarily be a certain supplier but meter operator and its meter in the region. Also may be worth noting the meter model and manufacturer.

Rubbertoe · 26 November 2008 at 2:38PM

I just contacted Equigas (Southern electric) and said I had recieved a letter explaining about the faulty meter. I said I was concerned that even though there was £5 showing on my meter I may have used more than that. I was told not to worry, providing I top up when I recieve the letter for a pound and reset the meter, I would not be charged for the gas I have used. So I was told If £5 is showing now and you load £1 on your card...you have £6...!

stokefan · 28 November 2009 at 4:12PM

Rubbertoe wrote: »

I just contacted Equigas (Southern electric) and said I had recieved a letter explaining about the faulty meter. I said I was concerned that even though there was £5 showing on my meter I may have used more than that. I was told not to worry, providing I top up when I recieve the letter for a pound and reset the meter, I would not be charged for the gas I have used. So I was told If £5 is showing now and you load £1 on your card...you have £6...!

wooo im on ebico and my gas meter has just stopped at the same amount, not recieved a letter yet (funny how its roughly a year later)

should i just wait until ebico send me a letter or try the top up route??

markharding557 · 28 November 2009 at 4:25PM

wouldn't chance it the fact that they did not charge people then does not mean they won't now

Equigas meter prob

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