British Gas Electricity meter rip off - help please!

moosetastic

danio wrote:

if F is £5.54 then that would indeed include a debt that BG have put on your meter. There is no debt on my meter and my F (charge/week...which i guess is like a standing charge) is 51p


BG shouldn't do this tho NOT if they are aware that Energywatch are involved, I got energywatch involved with BG for exactly the same reason as you (except BG wanted £600 repaid...because of their own incompetence) and Energywatch got the debt wiped...So i wish you the very best of luck...BG are low life

Thanks for this :T , I intend to call Energywatch tomorrow and update them with this information. Many thanks, I do appreciate it. The cheek of the b******s is all I will say!

masonic

Am I missing something here? Isn't the problem that the meter was set at the wrong rate, so you were undercharged for your electricity. I can't see how the end result of this would be for the debt to be written off. Surely at the end of the day you'll be charged based on meter readings and relevant unit prices. Otherwise, what would happen to people who were overcharged by their meter?

It's well worth persisting, but the whole idea that BG is forced to honour the rate that's been set on your meter seems wrong to me.

danio_2

masonic wrote:

Am I missing something here? Isn't the problem that the meter was set at the wrong rate, so you were undercharged for your electricity. I can't see how the end result of this would be for the debt to be written off. Surely at the end of the day you'll be charged based on meter readings and relevant unit prices. Otherwise, what would happen to people who were overcharged by their meter?

It's well worth persisting, but the whole idea that BG is forced to honour the rate that's been set on your meter seems wrong to me.

Yes we were paying a lower rate for electricity, But that was unknown to us..It is BGs responsibilty to make sure that THEIR meters are set correctly, In my case my meter had not been reset for 5 years, This in my opinion and Energywatch's opinion was incompetence on BGs side...During those 5 years my meter had been read at least 20 times..So my arguement was WHY didnt they reset the meter during one of those visits? Or make an appointment with me to do it at an alternative time.


BG know they are in the wrong, as I know quite a few people that this has happend to and they have ALL had the debts wiped.


Sorry forgot to say....That all these incorrect meter settings were for Pre Payment

masonic

danio wrote:

Sorry forgot to say....That all these incorrect meter settings were for Pre Payment

That's what I had assumed. About 3 years ago, I moved into a house with a prepayment meter (one with a £5/month debt programmed in, no less). Even though I was on prepayment, BG still sent me a quarterly statement showing me my charges for electricity set out against my payments. I had assumed that was standard procedure, but from what you are saying you were kept in the dark about the balance of your account? :eek:

If BG are not sending out account statements I can totally understand where you're coming from.

Kinnairdy

Switched to BG in Jan 06, no statements to date just letter re 'outstanding debt' same as other posters. Have written requesting fully itemised bill for comparison with my duplicate readings from time of switch & meter change but looks like BG are likely to ignore that and take money anyway, ah well you can't beat a good dispute when you know you are right. :-)

danio_2

masonic wrote:

That's what I had assumed. About 3 years ago, I moved into a house with a prepayment meter (one with a £5/month debt programmed in, no less). Even though I was on prepayment, BG still sent me a quarterly statement showing me my charges for electricity set out against my payments. I had assumed that was standard procedure, but from what you are saying you were kept in the dark about the balance of your account? :eek:

If BG are not sending out account statements I can totally understand where you're coming from.

They were sending me statements (Once a year) and the statements were always in Credit , It was only when we had that huge price rise in March that I was told that I was still paying prices set 5 years ago becuase no one had reset my meter.

london123_2

Hi,

British Gas guy turn up the other day to change the meter i did not let him to change the meter and said come some other time, my friend had new meter installed and it running much faster than previous meter. I am not going to let them install the new meter. Any suggestion can i do that if yes has anybody come across with this situation.

Thanks

london123_2

Just found out Alantic Elecricity and Gas is cheaper than British Gas click energy if you pay by Direct Debit.

BG Click Energy: 13.128---8.213
Atlantic no service charge: 13.010---8.110

Regards

masonic

danio wrote:

They were sending me statements (Once a year) and the statements were always in Credit , It was only when we had that huge price rise in March that I was told that I was still paying prices set 5 years ago becuase no one had reset my meter.

It sounds like someone's been telling you porkies. If your meter really was set at 2001 rates, you would have run up a huge debt a long time ago, surely?!

If it's just the March price rise that's causing these problems, then it is going to affect everyone on prepayment, so if BG can't bill people for the difference, they are going to lose a lot of money. Perhaps that's just desserts considering how much more expensive prepayment electricity tends to be in the first place.

moosetastic

maybe the majority of people wont have access to places like this and put up with it, that way BG wins every time.

The way I see it is this. They have the responsibility to make sure the meter is working, so they should have the responsibility that its set up right. A 5 minute visit to my home when the tariff was changed would not have been a major deal at all.

I'm just like Danio, May last year I was in credit of £220 which after a long fought battle they gave me back.