Faulty meter - is the consumer liable?

catalonia13

Hi,

been visiting an elderly friend this evening and realised that there is something wrong with her meter - she is on Economy 7 rates, last 1/4 she used around 100 units at the daytime rate and 500 at the nighttime rate, the problem is- she doesn't have economy 7 heating and there is no way that she can use more units at night than the daytime!

On closer inspection of her meter (it says flashing rate is current useage rate) it showed (at 7pm) that she is on the cheaper (nighttime) rate so I assume that at midnight it will switch to the 'daytime' rate, this means that her last bill of around £45 would in reality be approx £120, and this has been going on for over a year since she asked the supplier to take out her pre-payment meter, she did not ask for a 'economy 7 ' meter either, she didn't know what it was!

Her meter has been read every 1/4 for the last year so no estimated bills either!

My question is - if the supplier realises their mistake is she liable for the several 100's of £'s she could owe them?!

lemontart

first thing to do is to contact the supplier and get it replaced then deal with the issue of bills.

catalonia13

lemontart wrote: »

first thing to do is to contact the supplier and get it replaced then deal with the issue of bills.

Thanks Lemontart, I agree they need to get the meter changed and as they don't have Economy 7 heating that shouldn't a problem, they also need to change supplier to a more competitve one but their worry is that if the existing suppier find out will they suddenly get a massive bill?!

Cat

Cardew

The simple answer is that she is liable to pay a revised bill, even though it is not her fault.

That said, many companies will make a considerable reduction in the outstanding balance or even write it off!

Someone changed supplier in a similar situation, gave the existing readings on the bill to the new supplier and after the swop had taken place got things corrected with the new supplier.

The old supplier was unaware that they had wrongly charged them! I have little doubt that they contacted the old supplier and offered to pay what they owed - as we all would have done;)

Premier_2

Could it simply be that the switching time is incorrect?

i.e. that she only receives 7 hours at cheap rate but that the 7 hours is perhaps 6pm to 1 am? If so, don't worry about it.
My meter has been incorrect for years and no one seems to care (and I've switched supplier) - meanwhile I've been enjoying cheap rate electricity at a time that better suits me.

You don't need to have E7 heating to have an E7 tariff (i dont have E7 heating) - a rule of thumb figure is if you use at least 25% of your consumption during the cheap rate, you're probably better off on E7. As your friend is currently using over 80% on cheap rate, she is definitely better off on E7.

If, however, the meter is incorrectly recording the usage by somehow interchanging the readings (i.e. 7 hours at normal/day rate and 17 hours at low/night rate) then you should inform the supplier. They will correct the meter and then you will need to negotiate what, if any, you should pay for the period if incorrect recording.