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Faulty meter, guesstimated usage problem
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Can anyone help with the following please……
We recently moved out of a property after only 6 months. We had been paying £80 per month gas by direct debit. On closing our account with Phoenix Gas, they sent a bill for £60, and stated our account was now £420 in credit which would be returned by cheque.
However, next we knew, they came to the property and took the meter, and installed a new one, and told us they were testing the meter.
They have today sent us a letter stating the meter was faulty and the readings can not be trusted. They have guesstimated our usage based on the 12 months usage before we were in the house (and including the winter months, we were only there for summer months and usage very low). They say they estimate we owe them an additional £121 in addition to the £60 already paid and £420 credit on the account. That totals £601 for 6 months summer usage in a 3 bed mid-terrace house with 3 people living in it, with no heating usage during that time, only 1 ¼ hours of hot water a day.
That seems ridiculous! £3.34 a day!! :mad: Can anyone help please with my legal rights and course of action. I’m in Belfast. Thanks in advance.
We recently moved out of a property after only 6 months. We had been paying £80 per month gas by direct debit. On closing our account with Phoenix Gas, they sent a bill for £60, and stated our account was now £420 in credit which would be returned by cheque.
However, next we knew, they came to the property and took the meter, and installed a new one, and told us they were testing the meter.
They have today sent us a letter stating the meter was faulty and the readings can not be trusted. They have guesstimated our usage based on the 12 months usage before we were in the house (and including the winter months, we were only there for summer months and usage very low). They say they estimate we owe them an additional £121 in addition to the £60 already paid and £420 credit on the account. That totals £601 for 6 months summer usage in a 3 bed mid-terrace house with 3 people living in it, with no heating usage during that time, only 1 ¼ hours of hot water a day.
That seems ridiculous! £3.34 a day!! :mad: Can anyone help please with my legal rights and course of action. I’m in Belfast. Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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If the meter had been registering more than you had used, you would expect a partial refund right?
The supplier needs to estimate usage and has no crystal ball. If you think there is good reason why you would have used less energy than a previous occupant (and can possibly offer some evidence to back up that claim) then tell the supplier and they would probably reassess the estimation."Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
Their exact words are "We confirm that the meter had reverse volume that occurred on the 26th March 2009 and as a consequence any readings after that date cannot be relied upon."
Thanks for your advice, I'll try to speak to the previous occupant and gather some evidence.0 -
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So the original meter suggested a usage of £10 per month but they are now saying it is more like £100 per month which included the whole of the summer!
I moved into a property in July and for the first month my unit charge for gas was a frankly extortionate 7p and I only used £12's worth (before I got round to halfing that amount - I can't believe it took me a month).
I had the boiler fired up to test it in that first month and I have a gas cooker which I use a lot. I would challenge how they came up with the figure.0 -
They've provided the figures as:
Last year - 2051 m3 (equals 5.6m3 per day)
Year before - 2955 m3 (equals 8m3 per day)
Averaged to 6.8m3 per day, and then taken the number of days we were in the property. But those yearly figures include winter months, clearly usage is significantly lower during summer months, plus the previous occupants were a family of 4, we're 3 individuals.
Thanks for the advice guys, we'll lodge a formal complaint challenging the rationale I think.0 -
Hi,
well if they have all the data from previous years, they should be able to break it down to cover the period you were in April/Oct, and take an average over the two years, you may be more acceptable to that.0 -
Ask them what exactly they mean by reverse volume.
Are they saying that the meter was in fact running backwards and if so,are they insinuating that you or some other person has tampered with it?
If not,then how could it register "reverse volume".?
What sort of meter was it? can you describe it?0 -
Hi Chali - My son & his family - 2 Adults, 1 adolscent & 1 toddler - live in a smallish terrace house and their gas consumption over the 6 month period Apr - Oct was 2981Kw at a cost of £77.80. It's difficult to generalise as every family is different, but based on my son's use your bill for £60 is certainly within the acceptable range.
To get any official help in sorting it out, you must first write to Pheonix heading the letter Complaint, firstly asking just what "Reverse Volume" is and that their demand based on a period of occupancy and not seasonal use is unreasonable, and on just what formula do they intend to base their calculations for Summer use only.
Best of Luck0 -
Ask them what exactly they mean by reverse volume.
Are they saying that the meter was in fact running backwards and if so,are they insinuating that you or some other person has tampered with it?
If not,then how could it register "reverse volume".?
What sort of meter was it? can you describe it?
The old gas meters were capable of running backwards, it was quite a common scam.
I assume that the new meters are capable of detecting such tampering.
Old gas meters, stolen from derelict houses, were much in demand to be fitted for a few weeks each quarter.
Of course any tampering would mean breaking the seal.0
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