5 Digit reading or 6 digit, billed for £5000

Lucylou606

spiro wrote: »

You say you have been being billed since Sept'08, how many times have you checked the meter reading on the bill matches what the meter says? If the answer is not 'every time I got a bill' then thats the wrong answer. Even as a domestic customer you should do that.

- Checked every time based on a 5 digit reading, I also gave them a reaging online in march 09

A person in a small house could use £160/quarter.

- our unit is only 500 sq foot, no heating, 7 fridges, 1 cooker on for 2 hours a day, water boiler, panini grill, i dont think that should be £5000+ a year

Technically your supplier only has to read the meter every two years and this is more around checking its safety than the reading.

- well they came at least 3 times, and each time gave a 5 digit reading

The unfortunate bottom line is that if the end read on your large bill matches what the meter said then you have no option but to pay up.

- it matches based on 6 digits

Lucylou606

based on a 7 day reading we have use 68 units (5 digit) or 678 units (based on 6 digit reading)
Thats either £10 a week or £100 a week, neither seem right.
We are open 10 - 6, only have 1 cooker which is on for only 2 hour, 5 fridges, 2 freezers (which are supossed to consume about £100 a year in electric each which checked) panini grill, bolier, water boiler. no heating, apart from the fridges, everything turned off at 6pm

mattcanary

Supplier cannot just amend the readings to 6 digits from 5 digits without withdrawing all the previous bills you received that were erroneously based upon your meter having only 5 digits and then rebilling the accounts starting from the correct initial 6 digit meter reading when the meter was fitted or when you took over the supply at the address. have they done this?

If not, the bill is likely to be wrong. I would contact the suppliers if this is the case. You may need to take meter readings over a certain time period so that your supplier can estimate what the correct starting reading should have been.

Good luck!

spiro

Lucylou606 wrote: »

based on a 7 day reading we have use 68 units (5 digit) or 678 units (based on 6 digit reading)
Thats either £10 a week or £100 a week, neither seem right.
We are open 10 - 6, only have 1 cooker which is on for only 2 hour, 5 fridges, 2 freezers (which are supossed to consume about £100 a year in electric each which checked) panini grill, bolier, water boiler. no heating, apart from the fridges, everything turned off at 6pm

Photograph you meter making sure reading is clear and post it in the thread so we can try and confirm what it reads. If you are unable to post the picture do to being a new member, PM it to me and I will post it for you.

cybergibbons

Just sticking up for the meter reader here - in previous experience, it doesn't seem to matter how many digits they think the meter is - they submit the reading, and the billing company simply treats it as 5 or 6, based on their records.

The picture will clear this up.

Just reading your appliances, with guestimates.
Cooker (oven? hobs?) 3kw, 2hrs, 6 units.
Panini grill, 3kw, 4hrs, 12 units.
Water boiler (you mean an oversink water heater for washing up?) 3kw, 4hrs, 12 units.
Fridge, these use about 2 units a day in commercial setting (opened frequently), 10 units.
Freezer, these use about 3 units in a commercial setting, 6 units.
Lighting, probably 5 units or so for bright commercial property.

We're up to 51 units, add in a radio, whatever a bolier is, and I think you could easily be seeing 678 units a week.

dogshome

Hi Lucylou606 - 5 or 6 digit meter reading problems have occcured before, and if the supplier has billed you on the basis of 5 digits when the meter has 6, they are counting the number which records 10's of units as single units and the 100 units number as 10's, and end up billing you for only 10% of what you have used - which is bound to end in tears and a Big Bill eventually.

However there are things you can do to check if what they are asking for is actually what you owe
You don't say how long you have been the premises, but look at all the bills you have had since you moved in - If you don't have them ask BG for copies

If you add a figure '5' to the end of all the Five figure meter reading listed on the bills, it will convert it to a Six digit reading that is accurate to plus or minus 4 units as to what the true 6 figure reading was on the day - By applying this to the tariff on the bill, you can calculate a very close figure as what the proper cost of that bill was the time is was issued
Add up the revised cost on these bills and subtract what you have already paid to find the level of underpayment, and by the way BG cannot go back any further than 6 years with this 'Adjustment'

I know it seems a lot of homework, but other customers faced with this problem have found that whilst they still owed, what was owed was less than that first demanded
All the Best

dunloadin

It depends on the type of meter as to the number of digits on the read, single phase meters require a 5 digit read, polyphase (3-phase) meters have a 6 digit read. Make sure you take into account the zeros...ie 01234.5 on a single phase is 01234, and 012345.6 on a poly is 012345.

If your not sure what type of meter you have it should be fairly easy to spot the difference....if the meter is a lot bigger than the one in your house and has 8 thick cables attached then its polyphase.

Lucylou606

Ok well, I had the electrician round to have a look (he reads the meter's for the management all around the center) He confirmed to ignore the last digit.
My partner telephone British Gas, gave them our 7 day read and said you've made a mistake, it has always been 5 digits (last 10 years, thats when the place was built). They relpied, ok we will re-bill you with the correct 5 digit read.
From what people are saying on here though, it sounds like it should be 6 digits.
The pic should help
I await to see what BG send in the post

spiro

Here is Lucylou606 picture of the meter. Looking at it, it is a 3 phase meter and has 6 digits as the last one is clearly labelled 1, therefore the current meter reading is 306831.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

oh dear, yes definitely 6 digit :eek:, and can you see the spooky hands in the pic just about to grab you by the throat? :eek: