Is e-on gathering meter readings for southern electric instead of siemens now?

Spark

I got a card today from e.on asking me to write the meter readings for electricity on it and to leave the card outside my door (obviously I am working so I am never there when they come).
Normally Siemens are the ones used in my area (Eastern).
Are they replacing Siemens?
Why would they ask on the card for the Electricity-Supplier number(MPAN). There was nothing like that on Siemens cards.
On the card, it says "Energy Services, providing a meter reading services for E.ON.
I have called Southern Electric and they told me that e.on were the ones gathering readings in my area, but how would she know which area I am living, she never asked me for my account number or any other information.
And she told me that they ask for the Electricity-Supplier number if they are taking over your electricity supply, and to ignore that line.
I find a bit strange that a company would gather readings for a competitor.
I am still not sure if I can trust leaving the card or not, I had my electricity taken over without my knowledge in the past and question any new things coming at me,can someone confirm that they are what they say they are?

stewie_griffin

It does seem a bit odd that e.on would be reading your meter not because they are a competitor but because e.on customers in the eastern area have their meters read by siemens. therefore it would seem strange that they don't read their own meters but a competitors.

On the other hand if southern have confirmed that e.on should be reading your meter then you've probably got nothing to worry about.

Spark

What bother me is, how did she know in which area I was, are any informations showing on their computer following maybe the phone number I am calling from? She didn't even ask me which area I was, I didn't tell her neither, but she did confirm that e.on was reading meters in my area?
It wouldn't be the first time that someone at a call centre just tell me what they think I want to hear because they want to do something else or pass to the next person. It sounded a bit like that. She seemed in a hurry (they were busy tonight).

SwanJon

It is possible that she recognised from your number, or that the system did (like Caller ID, but with your account)
While Energy Services (previously Metering Services) is a part of E.on, it is a legally seperate company from E.on the supplier and perfectly able to work in the meter reading industry for any supplier. - I believe that BG use them in Wales, South West & West Midlands, and thought that they used Siemens in the Eastern area (ish). It is possible that Southern have renogotiated the contract and Energy Services offered a better deal than Siemens.

Siemens also make phones, repair traffic lights, make prepayemtn gas cards etc - all legally seperate companies.

Spark

It looks like it's genuine then. Anyway, it's money wasted in my opinion, they always come when I am at work, so I have to read my own meter and leave the card outside for them to collect.
It would be faster for me to leave a meter reading on the website.
A letter informing people of the change would have been welcome, with cold callers trickery you always think there is something fishy about any change.

Spark

I got another card today from Siemens this time, not E.on.
My guess is that E.on made a mistake and I had the card for another address. I don't see why Southern Electric would have had such a short contract with E.on, and gone back to Siemens.
What's worrying is that when I called Southern Electric, they told me that it was okay to proceed with E.on.
At the end, I was so suspicious, especially with E.on asking for the Electricity Supplier Number on the card, that I've never gave them my meter readings.
So why SE told me that E.on was the one to collect meter readings in my area is a mystery. Saying that, if I didn't enquire, and wasn't suspicious, I could have written the Electricity Supplier number on the card with my reading, and maybe I would have had a letter one month later from SE telling me how sorry they were that I was leaving them.

stewie_griffin

Everyones electricity supply number is freely available on the ecoes database which the vast majority of people who work in the industry have access to. Therefore it would seem odd if the only reason for leaving the card was an underhand way of getting your supply number from you.

Spark

Maybe I have become too suspicious after having been messed up with cold callers who signed me over without my knowledge, and it did happen another time before that, and I had no cold callers at the door, I didn't sign anything neither. It was done automatically.
I still wonder why at SE they told me it was alright to proceed, when the E.on card might have been for another address.

dunloadin

It seems odd to me that the card asks for your MPAN number as well as a read, I would have thought that info was already available to a meter reader....my first thought is it could be a dodgy salesman fishing for customers.

kippen_noedel

Spark wrote: »

Why would they ask on the card for the Electricity-Supplier number(MPAN).

sounds too much a scam,

if your reading is due, enter it on the Southern website, or phone it in directly.

Hardworkingmum_2

Don't be surprised if you have a meter reader from another company. This is quite normal now as the meter readers get a list of meters and if not a direct customer of theirs they will sell the meter reading on to the appropriate company. Your MPAN number is freely available by anyone and it does identify the correct meter to the reading. Soon you will see Smart Meters fitted in every home across the country, these will either be connected to your phone line or have a built in transmitter where by a meter reading can collect the reading from the street.