Meter not advancing. Entitled to refund?

apcd2

I've been living in a rented flat since last August and for all that time have been paying estimated electricity bills of approximately £200 per quarter. Yesterday though I received a letter from edf saying that our meter wasn't advancing and to call them. Sure enough it hasn't been advancing for a long time (probably long before I moved in) and the estimated readings are way ahead of the actual ones.

They're going to send someone out in a week to replace the meter but my question is what's going to happen to all of the money I've been paying them over the last year? Am I entitled to a refund of everything I've paid them since they can't prove any consumption at all?

Many thanks

nenya

i would advise once they fit a new meter to take daily readings for about two weeks and then phone them up - because you could be able to use those readings to provide a general idea of how much elec you have been using on a daily basis and its possible that your elec company can try and offer you a refund of some sort. All i can say is give it and try and see what happens.

sleepy

nenya wrote:

i would advise once they fit a new meter to take daily readings for about two weeks and then phone them up - because you could be able to use those readings to provide a general idea of how much elec you have been using on a daily basis and its possible that your elec company can try and offer you a refund of some sort. All i can say is give it and try and see what happens.

That's what British Gas do, so would make sense for edf to do the same. unless you've recently had a hot tub or similar fitted, it makes sense to base what you have been using on what you definately are using now. How comes you hadn't noticed that your meter hadn't been registering for almost a year?

apcd2

That's a good idea about monitoring usage for a couple of weeks once the meter is repaired to produce a new estimate. Our central heating is all electric so doing this over the summer would almost surely lead to a lower bill. I take it from these replies that we're not entitled to a refund automatically then?

I know I should have checked the meter more frequently but you do assume when you move into rented accommodation that the landlord will have checked it beforehand. Also I live in a block of apartments so the meter is in a locked cupboard which I didn't know the location of until yesterday. The estimates seemed reasonable so I was happy to trust them until it came time to move out.