Meter reader/nPower say mandatory "Gas Safety Check" needed every 2 years

chanz4

NeverEnough wrote: »

Trouble is, they never have. National Grid once paid £50 for an appointment they missed, but not the shower of a bunch at Npower for all their messing about and ducking and diving. When I have asked for timed appointments (2 hours would be fine even though most normal people manage to keep correctly timed appointments with doctors, accountants etc, obviously meter readers are "different" to people who can keep proper, timed appointments without having to waste someone's entire day), I have always been told it is not possible. I think they do it just because they can, and they enjoy the power they have over consumers. Hateful bunch, the lot of them.

As for £20 - well, that is a derisory amount given that my lost income and travel costs for that day could amount to 20x that, which I can prove - they should have to cough up whatever the actual loss is to the consumer. I have never had a penny from them though, despite umpteen missed appointments (their fault not mine).

And have always been told I cannot have a timed appointment and will have to wait in the whole day and they "might not come" if they are "too busy". So looks like one "rule" for some and another for others.

As you earn so much, simple get your meter moved outside

NeverEnough

chanz4 wrote: »

As you earn so much, simple get your meter moved outside

Most working people would find a £20 payment for loss of a whole working day derisory- I am not aware of any legal, paid employment which only pays £20 for the day. My income is dependent on contract, unlike yours which comes with annual leave, pension and the like, so if I am not busy on a contract, I earn nothing. These "inspections" are always forced at a time when I have to miss a day of paid work, not at a time convenient to me when I am not working.

Have checked out the possibility of moving the meter, but the property layout makes it almost impossible to locate it to an accessible area outdoors without major changes.

So stuck with the current situation until smart meters are installed.

If only all meter readers were as reasonable as Sacsquacco sounds to be, there would be no problem with this at all.

chanz4

You can request saturday gsi's but have to ask for them, I know as Im a customer of theirs and I had one on a sat

Steven.S_2

Today the reader/inspector visited. He read the meter and shone his torch around the meter box and that was it, about 1 minute. He admitted his main job was to read the meter. He did not check the ECV for let-by or the meter pipework for leaks. He was not Gas Safe registered, he was just a reader interested in the meter reading and getting on to his next job. Anyone who thinks this constitutes any form 'safety inspection' is fooling themselves, do not feel safer because you've had this inspection. To call this a safety inspection is a travesty. Call it a meter reading and be done with it but don't pretend its for the consumers benefit!

chanz4

Steven.S wrote: »

Today the reader/inspector visited. He read the meter and shone his torch around the meter box and that was it, about 1 minute. He admitted his main job was to read the meter. He did not check the ECV for let-by or the meter pipework for leaks. He was not Gas Safe registered, he was just a reader interested in the meter reading and getting on to his next job. Anyone who thinks this constitutes any form 'safety inspection' is fooling themselves, do not feel safer because you've had this inspection. To call this a safety inspection is a travesty. Call it a meter reading and be done with it but don't pretend its for the consumers benefit!

End of the day a supplier has the right to see their equipment, and nothing any of us can do about it

SYNERGY

I've just had a read through this thread having also received a similar missive by email today from Npower.

Several points to ponder.

1) My meter was changed in 2000, in thirteen years there has never been a safety check, how do I know? Simple, I live on my own, change utility providers often, meter reading over all this time have been either by phone, card in the window or on line.

2) Amazingly the email and letters stress the importance of such biennial visual checks to be so important that failing to comply can result in a search warrant and forced entry to the customers property along with charge to the customer.

3) It appears though, there are no checks and penalties within the industry to ensure that this ' vital ' check is undertaken at the allotted times, if at all. either by the utility company or meter readers, I wonder why ?

4) Worse still are the comments from some meter readers on here, hypocritically berating posters for not wanting such safety checks in one breath, yet in the next breath who then go on to say ( words to the effect of ) " I don't bother with the check " or amazingly " if they leave a card visible that's OK for the check ".

I presume that in both instances of not doing their job correctly they simply tick the box, knowing full well they haven't seen or examined the meter at all.

The rubbish spouted about checks only being needed in poorer areas and not more affluent areas to check for theft or tampering is an insult to many honest people in poor areas.

It is when all said and done, according to the companies and meter readers, a safety check and as such should be equally applied to all customers whatever the area or financial status.

The meter reading work, being job and finish, they get home earlier by not having to go back to do the ' essential' check I suppose.

I wonder if anything untoward happened with a faulty meter that had supposedly only just been checked, but hadn't, the meter reader had simply read the card in the window, what would happen ?

Cardew

SYNERGY wrote: »

The rubbish spouted about checks only being needed in poorer areas and not more affluent areas to check for theft or tampering is an insult to many honest people in poor areas.

How politically correct!


It is a proven fact that there are higher crime rates in the poorer areas of towns and cities. Ask the police - that is where much of their effort is targeted.


Does that mean that the honest people in those areas should feel insulted? Of course not!


It is the experience of the meter readers on MSE, and the revenue protection sections, that meter fraud is more likely to occur in these districts - especially in houses with pre-pay meters. Ditto about honest people being insulted.


Insurance companies load home and motor insurance policies for all people(including the honest) because they live in an poorer area.


All sorts of firms and organisations carry out some form of risk assessment of various areas and refuse to offer their services. That is not an 'insult to honest people' who live in those areas.

[Deleted User]

SYNERGY wrote: »

I've just had a read through this thread having also received a similar missive by email today from Npower.

Several points to ponder.

1) My meter was changed in 2000, in thirteen years there has never been a safety check, how do I know? Simple, I live on my own, change utility providers often, meter reading over all this time have been either by phone, card in the window or on line.

2) Amazingly the email and letters stress the importance of such biennial visual checks to be so important that failing to comply can result in a search warrant and forced entry to the customers property along with charge to the customer.

3) It appears though, there are no checks and penalties within the industry to ensure that this ' vital ' check is undertaken at the allotted times, if at all. either by the utility company or meter readers, I wonder why ?

4) Worse still are the comments from some meter readers on here, hypocritically berating posters for not wanting such safety checks in one breath, yet in the next breath who then go on to say ( words to the effect of ) " I don't bother with the check " or amazingly " if they leave a card visible that's OK for the check ".

I presume that in both instances of not doing their job correctly they simply tick the box, knowing full well they haven't seen or examined the meter at all.

The rubbish spouted about checks only being needed in poorer areas and not more affluent areas to check for theft or tampering is an insult to many honest people in poor areas.

It is when all said and done, according to the companies and meter readers, a safety check and as such should be equally applied to all customers whatever the area or financial status.

The meter reading work, being job and finish, they get home earlier by not having to go back to do the ' essential' check I suppose.

I wonder if anything untoward happened with a faulty meter that had supposedly only just been checked, but hadn't, the meter reader had simply read the card in the window, what would happen ?

I can t understand the rubbish you ve just spouted. I have found hundreds of tampered meters in my rough area in central Doncaster and only 1 in the affluent town of Howden where I ve worked for the last 10 years or so, ( and that was a flat ), so why is it an insult to those honest people to say the poorer areas are targeted. Thats where all the bypassing and cannabis growing is mostly.
No job and knock with my company (G4S ) who read meters for 3 of the big 6. We have to get 50% access rate on 2 year "must reads " any I dont get into or are refused I pass onto Revenue Protection to check payments. The "gas safety check " element we perform is a check for customer read validity mostly to protect them from mounting bills and also of course for meter tampers, bypasses and meter substitutions. when people start swapping meters and bridging gas and electric meters , that s an obvious safety hazard.
Npower are negligent in not complying with the 2 year meter checks.Thats OFGEMs fault for not being strict enough. A Daily Mail article last week estimated over 100,000 cannabis growers ( or one house in every 44 ) in the UK. what the Mail did nt stress was that all this horticulture is done on bypassed electric with virtually zero prosecutions to anyone caught

chanz4

I have found tampers in:

Liverpool
Birmingham
West Yorkshire
Bradford
Chesterlee street
hartleypool

All are low working areas.

lzend

I also have had problems. The latest being that they tried to say that my monthly payment had been increased from £70 to £105 because monthly average had increased But not saying that they had used a years power but divided not by 12 months as you would think but by 7 months.
This is a copy of a letter sent to the CEO of Npower regarding problems prier to monthly increase scenario.

Dear Mr. Massara
Yesterday I contacted your customer services regarding letters that have been written to me from yourselves. I asked to speak to someone in charge of customer services and was told that I was unable to but that they would contact me within 24 hrs. I did not expect that they would contact me and I am afraid that I was proved right and so I am writing to you.
From the start of joining Npower I have had problems, it started with not setting up my direct debit at your end, although it was in fact set up by me with you right at the start, this resulted in my account not being paid for three months making me in debit to the tune of approximately £315, and on more than one occasion I have had to ask them to put right the tariff that I am on I have in fact made a list which I shall put here
1 constantly having to make sure I haven’t had my tariff downgraded from ending 2017 to 2014
2 constantly having to make sure you haven’t changed my direct debit to take more money without letting me know
3 Gas and Electric Meters are both situated outside of my house so can be accessed at any time.
4 Lowri Beck Services have called at my house only once and not on numerous occasions as stated in your letter after I had rung THEM to make an appointment at which time they asked if the meters were outside of the property and at which time I told them that they were.
I have a meter reading card put through my door saying "KNOCK NOCK" "We tried to read your meter today but unfortunately you weren’t home" and also on the reverse of the card a note saying "Checked gas meter". He called before 8 am and although I was at home and up, and just at the other side of the door I did not hear a KNOCK KNOCK and do not know why he would have needed me to be there in the first place as he would be standing next to the meter cabinet as he posted the card and was even told when I rang L.B.S. and when I subsequently rang yourselves , which I did after ringing L.B.S. because they did not have a record of you telling them that you were asking for a gas check and so had to ring you (NPOWER) to make the appointment, that i did not need to be at home.
Now i get a letter from you saying and I quote " Warrant of entry: we have the right to enter your property under the rights of entry (gas and electricity boards) Act 1954 Section 2. as if you were going to force entry
If I were a timid older person such as my wife (had she read this letter) it is likely to frighten her to death, many older people think that if an official letter comes through the door they are likely to go to prison or that their house is about to blow up or both as in this case.
You have a duty to make sure of all of your facts, and to check everything completely before you send out letters like this I am just fed up of constantly having to check up on you people to make sure that you are not trying to rip me off one way or another
Can you please make sure that one hand knows what the other is doing and that these things do not keep happening?

Yours Faithfully