Incorrect meter - can supplier charge retrospectively??

musicismyradar

Over the course of several months it became clear that my direct debit payments for electricity useage in my rented flat were way over what I was using meaning that my account was in credit by several hundred pounds.

On closer inspection I noticed that the LOW/ night time reading was not changing and called my supplier to inform them of this. They initially thought there was something wrong with my meter but on visiting the engineer said I am actually on the wrong type of meter (should be a D1- think I may be on a D2?) and hence the current meter is not measuring night time useage. The meter has not yet been replaced as there have been problems locating and accessing the mains fuse (this is a converted flat above a bank) and initially the supplier would not refund the money to me until the new meter was fitted as they said that they would need to work out what I owe.

They have now refunded the money but have said that once the new meter is installed they will still need to figure out what the useage would have been and charge me retrospectively. Does anyone know 1) if the supplier is within their rights to do this, afterall they are the ones who installed the incorrect meter before I even moved in, and 2) if so, can they accurately calculate useage restrospectively??

Grateful for any insights anyone can offer - thanks!

fiish

They do have the right to do so, one way or another you should (fairly) be paying for the electricity you use. Your issue was that you should have been on a day/night rate but were not, so you missed out on some of the savings associated with it.

If they have readings from the previous meter they would know your energy usage. What would count as day or night usage I would not know how to calculate, but I think they would use average figures to give an estimate of what fraction of your total usage the night usage should have been, and calculate the amount you owe based on that. It cannot be 100% accurate, probably will be about as accurate as an estimated bill, make of that what you will

Dannii_B

fiish wrote: »

They do have the right to do so, one way or another you should (fairly) be paying for the electricity you use. Your issue was that you should have been on a day/night rate but were not, so you missed out on some of the savings associated with it.

If they have readings from the previous meter they would know your energy usage. What would count as day or night usage I would not know how to calculate, but I think they would use average figures to give an estimate of what fraction of your total usage the night usage should have been, and calculate the amount you owe based on that. It cannot be 100% accurate, probably will be about as accurate as an estimated bill, make of that what you will

This is all correct, but what I might just add is that a supplier can only really backdate charges for 12 months.