British Gas - Mixed up Electricity Meters... now want me to backdate my payments!??

designerhaylz

Please help.

I live in some apartments, and the meters are all in a cupboard at the end of the corridor. When we first moved in, the meter was read for our flat by the landlord, and we were paying estimated readings until February 2008.

In February we had our apartments management submit another reading, which British Gas said was incorrect (hugely over our original meter reading). They estimated us again, until today when i had another reading done by our management company.

I British Gas, and they said the meter number was different again from both meters read before....

My boyfriend and I are not allowed access into the cupboard, as it is locked. We have to request meter readings from the company who owns the flats.

Today when I told British Gas (after 45 minutes on the phone), they said that my flat had been De-Energised???? and had no meter. I have been living here for over a year with Electricity.

The guy I spoke to also said that we had been paying for someone elses meter???? (How is this possible), and that they would refund the payments.

Fair enough I thought.

Then he went on to say that he would send out a British Gas rep to read it, and backdate the reading to when we first moved in.... Is this fair considering it wasn't our fault?

Help!

spiro

It is possible to get in this situation with communal meter cupbaords in that the meters get wrongly labelled in terms of which flat they relate to, this is referred to as a 'crossed meter'. What has to happen is they need to determine which is your meter, whose the other meter is (the one you have been paying for so they can advise the other persons supplier), read it and estimate backwards. What your new be relative to your old ones will depend on much much you have consumed compared to the neighbour whose meter you have been reading so it may be less or more.

Cardew

designerhaylz wrote: »

Please help.



The guy I spoke to also said that we had been paying for someone elses meter???? (How is this possible), and that they would refund the payments.

Fair enough I thought.

Then he went on to say that he would send out a British Gas rep to read it, and backdate the reading to when we first moved in.... Is this fair considering it wasn't our fault?

Help!

Why is it "fair enough" that you get a refund of your payments, but you question if it is fair that you pay what you owe?

If you have a claim it is against your landlord who supplied BG with the readings from the wrong meter.

designerhaylz

right. they have now given us a bill of £900. to pay as soon as possible. I am really upset, and have no means of paying this. It was not our fault the meter readings were wrong. Can anyone help???

Please!

spiro

You do not say if a British Gas rep has been out to ensure the correct meter is allocated to you and the other apartment. I presume the £900 they want is in excess of what you have already paid since you moved in. The best you can do is to try a negotiate to repay it over a period of time. A prepayment meter wont be an option as you would have no access to the meter. The other problem will be that until you settle the amount you wont be able to swap suppliers. As you meter number is normally printed on the bill do you not provide this to the managemtne when they read the meter for you? It should like if they had that information from every tenants bills then this might have been spotted sooner, not a lot of help now but may be adviseable going forward.

roznoz

They did a similar thing with my sister, the council had done the flats out. I presumed they would be the same meters but they were brand new and some how the numbers got mixed. I had alot of problems getting it sorted in the end I never really got to the bottom of why it happened but I did get it sorted. First all all take all the peoples names you talk to at british gas and note the times and what they promise, because I found that they did not log the calls or said they could not find it. Any way I believe the mix up was actually the number of the meter had either not been logged correctly or not logged at all with transco (might have the wrong name there its the company or body that over see the meters). Once this was realised it soon got sort, get the number of your meter its normally on a card in the box with the meter, I think you will all so need the meter number ring Transco or find out the body and ring them I hope this helps and is not to vague as it was over a year ago good luck

designerhaylz

hey guys..

Thanks for all your advice. After nearly 3 hours on the phone to various BG reps, we have transfered our account to something called the essentials tarriff, its for people with housing benefits etc, and because we are full time post grad students we get council tax exemption, and are applicable. Its worth trying if you are on any benefits as it reduces the bill by 10%. The telephone number is 0800 072 7100.
The woman i spoke to was great and put me in touch with another section called the British Gas energy Trust which is for British gas and Scottish Gas customers. In some cases they can wipe all or some of debt if you cant pay your bills. It can take upto 10 weeks, but our account with British Gas is now on hold for that long. Their number is 01733 421 021.

Hope this helps everyone.... i just cant work out how people on lower incomes can afford £1000 a year on electric for a small 2 bed flat.

Keep smiling

Hayley x

CarlMC_2

I had a similar problem, as my house number changed prior to moving in and the electricity meter was crossed with a de-energised and disconnected meter for the flat that originally carried my house number. After 10 years, countless calls and a bill (my first for 9 months) last January for £700, paid back directly from benefits (Fuel Direct) at £18/week, it was finally sorted last year. The debt was covered by the Energy Trust, giving time for BG to investigate. Upon finding and fixing the problem, including an incorrect S supply number, they wrote off the debt. As it took another 7 months to investigate they also wrote off what I used during that time. BG's Escalations team were the people who helped me initially, speaking with them can be really helpful. Good luck.