Electric meter "stuck"

bluedog

I'm with Southern Electric and an estimated electricity bill arrived last week. As as always, I rang them with the meter readings. I have Economy 7 so there are the day & night figures.)

The guy said the economy 7 readings have apparently been the same for the 3rd time so my meter must be "stuck" or I'd read it wrongly. (have to say, after giving it to him for the 4th time, directly from the meter, I did get a bit shirty & said I do know what numbers look like!!).

The day figures were way above the estimate so I asked him if this meant all electrical usage had gone on to the day rate, hence I was being charged more than I should be had the night usage been recorded correctly. His reply was that I shouldn't worry as they will draw a line under this bill and no, I won't be charged more .... seemingly missed the point that I already have been overcharged if I'm right! Seems pretty obvious to me!

There clearly is a problem so they are coming to check the meter with a view to changing it next week.

To be honest, I thought the estimate WAS very low so I did expect it to be higher once the correct readings were given, but it's now virtually doubled. I'm sure I'm right as when checking back on units used for the same period in previous years, this one is definitely a lot higher for day units used.

The guy said a new bill will be issued based on my readings and I will be expected to pay it irrespectively. He's confused me though as one minute he was saying I would not be refunded anything at all and then after checking with another department, he said he thinks they will use past history to work out what I should have been charged over the last 2 billing periods for night usage and then put the amount due as a credit against my next bill. Quite frankly, I could do with any credit taken off this bill as I'm stretched to limits at the moment and every penny is counting.

So ... Firstly, has anyone else had anything like this happen (or heard of it happening) to them and did you get a refund please?

Secondly, would I be within rights to wait until the meter is sorted out and have any refund put against this bill please?

Premier_2

If the meter is not switching correctly, it doesn't mean it is not recording your usage correctly, albeit all on the one registry.

What i suspect will happen is that the consumption recorded will be split based on an historical split ratio, and you will be re-billed accordingly.

You should request the current bill is held in dispute (and so will not be collected upon) pending the engineer's visit and subsequent resolution actions implemented.