I moved house and my electric company think im lying about opening meter reading!

lisasmith_3

Hi i moved house 3 months ago now. I gave my electric company the opening meter reading the day i moved in like you do. Ive recently had the bill through from that date and they have the reading as different and have charged my an extra £50 for electricity i havent used.

I phoned them and they said they will have to open a discrepancy case as the reading they have is different.
Now i know what the opening reading was and phoned at least twice to give them this and also left one reading on their automated service. Now out of the blue i have the bill with a different reading How can they have a different figure? (they didnt have anyone come and read the meter on the day i moved in by the way so it was literally just what i gave them).
How does it work when you move house i mean cant they check the final reading of the previous occupants with whoever they had their electric with? How do i prove what the reading was? It seems really unfair are they just trying to swindle me? Surely they must be able to check it somehow? Or do they just take peoples word for it? If so why are they not taking my word for it!
I dont know what to do now as i dont understand how i can prove what the reading was but surely they cant just get away with saying oh well thats the reading we have?
I hope this post makes sense. Any advice please thanku so much.

Pssst

Take a photo of the meter..preferable with the date of todays paper visible in the shot!

anniecave

i wouldn't panic yet.

If you have given them again now your opening meter reading, wait and see if they can use it

If they say they can't use that reading then that's a different issue.

Keep taking readings as well.

Ask them whether they received the one on the automated service too?

Gwhiz

The only reason I can think of is that the person in the house before you gave a wrong reading to lessen their final bill. I've never come across this but it's obviously something to watch out for!

lisasmith_3

I take readings regulary and the reading they have to me should be for about 10 days after we moved in. But even then the day and night figures dont particulary tally up.
The lady who used to live here was lovely and i really dont think she would of given a wrong final meter reading.
So do they have a way of checking with the previous electric company readings etc?

Gwhiz

lisasmith wrote: »

I take readings regulary and the reading they have to me should be for about 10 days after we moved in. But even then the day and night figures dont particulary tally up.
The lady who used to live here was lovely and i really dont think she would of given a wrong final meter reading.
So do they have a way of checking with the previous electric company readings etc?

All they will have is the last time a meter reading was actually taken by one of their reps and anything called in by the householder. The only ones that are verified I guess are the meter readings from the rep!

lisasmith_3

thanks for the help.
I will see what they say when they phone me back ( if they do)
I bet though that they will just say that the readings match up with our usage etc which they have done before. Although i think this is a bit of a cop out as theres been times we have been away (and used barely any electric) and times we have had people staying ( and used loads) so i dont think this is a very reliable way of proving that their readings are right!
Thanks again.

Nosht

lisasmith wrote: »

thanks for the help.
I will see what they say when they phone me back ( if they do)
I bet though that they will just say that the readings match up with our usage etc which they have done before. Although i think this is a bit of a cop out as theres been times we have been away (and used barely any electric) and times we have had people staying ( and used loads) so i dont think this is a very reliable way of proving that their readings are right!
Thanks again.

You're onto a loser here.
I recently changed suppliers & my bill was an estimated one from my new supplier to my old one. They did not even ask me to provide a reading & needless to say it was over estimated. When I phoned in the correct reading I was told that the bill could not be changed as it was within the 250 units limit but I could appeal against this ruling. My new suppilier (EDF) said that they would credit me with this so I dropped the matter.

Regards,

N.

cattie

I wouldn't say you're on to a loser. When I moved here last year I phoned to give meter readings, but when my bill came in it was obvious BGas had ignored my readings.

When I contacted them they told me they had no record of me calling with the readings but I was adamant I had & told them that whoever had answered my call had obviously failed to log it on the computer. Obviously I was able to tell them the date of my call should they want to check any recordings they may have.

I gave them the readings again & asked that a new bill with the proper entry readings be sent to me.

Stick to your guns if you know you're right. I had kept the piece of paper on which I'd noted all readings from gas, electric & water at my old property & the entry readings of this property. Why should we customers have to pay for somebodies failure to do their job properly & log our readings when we call with them?

Yes they can check previous occupants final readings, if they gave them. If they didn't give readings, then all the more reason for you to stick to your guns & take it further if you need to.

Greenwellies_2

I've had the same problem twice, once when moving into rented and more recently when I just changed suppliers.

They'll take a reading 'today' then again in say 10 days time, and work out the average of that, and then back date it to see if it corresponds.

Good luck

GW

theartfullodger

Read the meters again with a witness & get them to sign, date & with their address a piece paper detailing the readings.

Cheers!
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Lodger