Meter meter on the wall who is the fairest of them all...... HELP

blackreign

Meter meter on the wall who is the fairest of them all...... HELP, I moved into my property over a year ago, since that time I have been prevented from paying my gas or setting up a supplier. Before I begin, I have contacted the gas transporter regarding several times.... The builder of my new property had arranged for the gas supply to be with Scottish Gas, since I had no problems with Scottish Hydro on my previous property, I decided to inform them of my up coming property move and requested they take over supply. I was informed that this could take about 28 days to take place from the time I 'concluded' on the property. My wife contacted scottish gas to inform them of this and to make arrangements to settle the bill that would accrue over this time, with the intention of providing a final reading on the 28th day... simple one would think..... Sadly, my meter point reference was registered to two addresses, one 50 miles away and another in the same housing development. In addition to that, my meter serial number is not registered and is associated elsewhere but for data protection i could not be told, and the meter that they have registered to my property is currently on another house in the same development. The property which was built in 2009 and I took ownership of on the 4th July 2009, has a meter reading and outstanding balance going back to 2005.. Yes I know, I've got a recycled number, but, the outstanding balance is near 6k for the year, which is clearly wrong as I have a modern two bed house, with an excellent A rated boiler, plus deducting the meter reading on the day of ownership to today, equates to ~£500.

So, I setup dual fuel with Scottish Hydro they moved my electricity without problem, but a month later, Scottish gas say thanks for choosing us.... What... The house with the meter registered to my property has become occupied and they are now sorting their supply. So now there is an erroneous transfer of electricity and gas supplier, I respond by contacting our consented supplier to re-instate the supply, as you can imagine I changed the supply, they (the other property owners) change it back, its an endless cycle. After getting my electricity back, i am faced with a bill from a supplier i never requested, we contested but they say we must pay or face legal action. So we pay the bill but contest, now they say they (Scottish Gas) never received a payment, yet i have bank statements and a letter from them confirming payment. First question; am i required to pay a supplier who has taken my supply without consent? It should be noted i often work abroad for long periods of time, if i have to come over to the UK, can I reclaim the cost incurred to come back to the UK from outside Europe to attend court just to show my proof of payment? Now for the Gas, at first the transporter, Scottish Southern Energy, say that they could not see the meter. After months of waiting on hold to sort, we finally have them with the correct meter to the house, but, ironically, Scottish Hydro's metering department cant find the meter, they have a completely different meter which is partly why the transfer has never happened. However, Scottish gas have registered that they transferred my gas to Scottish hydro in April 2010, yes the next year, but, Scottish hydro have no record of the gas being moved to them. ARRRR!! so next question, I have been sent a bill for a meter they are quoting which is not connected to my property, with the threat of legal action, yet my supplier should be Scottish hydro. After the repeated erroneous transfers Scottish gas say i must pay them despite it? I will not pay someone else's meter, but must i pay the correct meter despite the supplier taking control of it without my consent? I am concerned that now due the length of time, I have no meter reading for April (but the date of occupation) since i was not asked for it and i did not know they had actioned the transfer. In addition, I have written confirmation of a contract between me and Scottish Hydro, yet Scottish Hyrdo have no record of this and say that this does not constitute as a contract. To be honest I've got to the point I couldn't give a F**k who supplies the gas as long as i can pay my bill, the correct bill, a bill from my meter and my meter reading. Some one please help, I am confused I've tried Consumer direct, but they couldn't help as they say the meter doesn't exist and i need to go back to the transporter, which has the correct meter, but have it registered as fitted on the 10th Sept 09, yet i moved in July 09, with a gas supply. Can Scottish gas keep blocking the transfer? To be clear this is not down to not trying to settle the accrued bill during the transfer, its simply they wont transfer and due to this we cant get a final bill to settle!

dogshome

Hi blackreign - Wow!
You post without paragraphs is quite difficult to follow, but even when I trawled thro' it making notes along the way I still got confused by the sheer number of problems, none of which I would add have been caused by you.

The system of meter registrations is hugely complex and when it has gone seriously wrong in the past, history shows that the suppliers are more interested in recovering what they think they are owed, than spending time on resolving the problem.
But unless you are willing to accept a situation whereby that you can never Switch suppliers and are prepared to pay bills that are not justified by your meter, this problem must be resolved.

The one weapon you have is payment of the bills
Establish a savings or current account to do nothing more than hold the monies that you assess will cover your Utility Bills
Write to a joint letter to Scot Gas & Scot Hydro setting out your problems and enclosing a copy of the statement from the savigs account, and advising that you are witholding all payments until they have:
1) Decided amongst themselves who is your supplier and you have written confirmation from both of them as to who it is.
2) Resolved all the problems as to the registration of your meters to your satisfaction
Send a copy of this letter to the Ombudsman, noting on the letter that you have done so

Sadly, I don't think you will get a quick solution as SG & SH will each be looking to the other sort it out, so after a few weeks if you have not had a worthwhile response, write again enclosing an updated copy of the savings statement, with copy to the Ombudsman
All the Best