Wrong Meter Readings....Help!

damobolton

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

I moved into my 2 bed apartment in March 07 and changed electricity suppliers in July 07.

The meter serial number given to me by the last owner was the wrong meter! In effect, i have been reading next doors meter for nearly 3 years! How you may ask??? Well the meters are under the stairs and in fairness i can see how he has given the wrong meter number.

More importantly my new supplier read the meter in March 10 and has given me a bill for £1,400. I have been paying monthly on direct debit but obviously submitting the wrong readings.

Legally how do i stand with this? The supplier only read the meter for the first time in March 10 some 2 and half years after i moved in. They have now assessed the reading from March 10 to present date and are advising they will re bill back to July 07 at the typical consumption. No mention of seasonality or if i was actually in the property (ie i work away a lot).

Ideally if i had a previous reading from the last supplier it would make it a little clearer but knowing energy companies that would prove difficult.

Any advice is greatly received.

Thanks

Premier_2

Legally, you owe the money for what you have consumed, as recorded by the meter.

Obviously, likewise, you don't owe the money that you have already paid for the consumption recorded on your neighbour's meter, so that will be credited to your account to reduce the overall amount owed

dogshome

Hi damobolton - Wow !
From your post it would seem that the previous occupier of your flat was also reading the wrong meter - It's a long shot, but worth asking the original supplier for their last proper reading of the meter and the date.

I would guess from the amount you have paid in D/D's plus the £1,400 bill, that you have an ECO 7 heating which is costing roughly £1160 a year. - If you have Gas CH, then please post as £1160 would then be an excessive annual Elec bill.

You are quite right, a fair assessment of annual consumption cannot be made on Meter reads in March and October, but at the same time if you are on ECO7 the supplier is due underpaid money - So pay them the bill, or arrange for it to be spread over time, but write to the supplier advising that you regard this as money on account and that the whole assessment period must be re-evaluated with a meter reading on March 9th 2011.
It's unlikely that it can be arranged fro a meter reader to call on this exact date, so it will be down to you - Put it in the diary

You don't say how you came to realise you were reading the wrong meter - Meter No. on the Bill? - but as a last check switch everything off in the flat, then have a mate with a mobile phone switch the kettle on and off, whilst you watch the meter to see if it reacts in sync with the kettle switching.

damobolton

Hi...Thanks.

I dont have economy 7 just GC heating.

Stupidly, i took the last occupiers word as the right meter serial number when we did the meter readings together. The right meter number is on the bill but they have no idea as to what my original meter reading was?????

FuzzyBee

Energy suppliers are required to make 'reasonable endeavours' to read your meters at least once every two years, so even if you've been reading the wrong meter, a data collector should have been reading the right one. Are your meters outside and easy to access? The time this would be a problem is if your meters are inside the house.

damobolton

Thanks.

The meters are inside the reception hall (i live in an apartment) under the stairs. You do need a key to access the meters but there is always somebody in and in fairness we never seem to see a reader guy regardless of who the supplier is.

dogshome

Hi damobolton - So you have Gas CH and an Elec. Bill of £1,400 that covers the 27 months from July 09 till Mar 2010, on top of which you have been paying monthly D/Debits.

£1,400 works out to £52 a month, (£624 a year), which is high for a 2 bed Flat and when the D/D's are taken into account, it goes off the scale - So much so that ECO7 heating would be seem to be the only way of justifying Bills of this size.

You must write to your supplier rejecting their plan to recalculate your entire billing history, based only on 7 months readings between Mar 10 & Oct 10 and advising that you will only accept Estimates based on an entire years readings from Mar 2010 to Mar 2011.
Keep paying the D/Debits and pay this bill, but I reckon it's a fair bet that when the full years figures are in - Your supplier will owe you money

spiro

You need to ask your neighbour which meter they think is theirs. If you are both using the same meter then there may be no reading history for yours. If you are both reading the wrong meters then you will have each others meter read history.