Been charged for the wrong electricity meter nightmare!!!

Jon_B_2

Hi all,

Back in February I moved into my current flat with my partner and Eon was the supplier of electricity and gas so we just stuck with them for the time being, we only rent the flat.

As we pay by direct debit monthly I was putting the meter readings in every month, but from very early on I had suspicions that we were given the wrong meter to read by our letting agent. I spoke to Eon in April about my concerns but was basically brushed away as if I was being schizophrenic.

Fast Forward to July, went on holiday for a week and somehow used 100 units of electricity! Only a fridge freezer was left on, so now I was adamant we were paying for the wrong meter. I knew from experience with the new digital meters that when the red light flashes quickly you are using a lot of electricity, so got my fianc!e to turn on the kettle, oven and iron on at the same time and as I suspected the meter next to one we had been given to read was flashing furiously. I rang Eon straight away and they said they would send an engineer out to inspect our meter and send letters to everyone in the block of 6 flats.

A month later, I received my free energy monitor and connected it up to the meter which I think is the one is ours and it reads exactly as to what appliances we turn on and off and i've pretty much 100% concluded that it is our meter, but we still haven't heard anything from Eon.

Fast forward to today and we are moving house on Saturday. I rang Eon a couple of weeks ago and apparently no notes were left on the system from July, so as far as they were concerned nothing was being done. So I lodged a formal complaint with them as even though I am paying by direct debit, I am paying for somebody elses usage. Apparently someone is coming over on Thursday, but I won't hold out my hopes.

Where do I go from here? I have to give our meter readings when we leave, but with this all up in the air what do I do? The gas meter is definitely the right one, but I know that the electric one isn't. How long will it take for Eon to backdate all our bills to the right meter?

I want to leave Eon as soon as possible, their customer service has been terrible and according to Uswitch I could save up to £200+ a year based on current usage anyway, but until this is sorted I feel like I can't? What do I tell the letting agent when the new tenant moves in on Saturday?!

Many thanks in advance,

Jon.

dogshome

Hi Jon B - It's not uncommon in blocks of flats where the meters are housed in central service area, for there to be confusion as to which meter serves which flat, and the bigger the block, the worse it gets.

The 100 units recorded whilst you were on a weeks Summer holiday, roughly works out to 5,000 a year which is a huge amount for a couple with Gas CH, so the chances are that you have been overcharged for your actual use.

You are however moving and will lose access to the meters, but that won't stop Eon chasing you sometime in the future if they think you owe them money.
Keep safe all the billing records and contacts you have had with them, and if you have not yet done so already, WRITE a letter of complaint to them listing when you first advised them of the problem and all the contacts after.

Also write a letter to the Landlord/Managing Agents, and if was me, after a couple of months I would drop a line to the new tenant for the flat

Premier_2

Jon_B wrote: »

... I rang Eon straight away and they said they would send an engineer out to inspect our meter ...

You don't need an engineer - you can establish for yourself which meter is yours by turning on and off a heavy drain appliance (like a kettle) whilst watching the meter.

The good news is that as you are moving out on Saturday, that will bring to an end the existing supply contract you have with E.On (as long as you tell them)

I suggest you get a meter reading of your actual meter on the day you move out and get the LL/agent to agree to it on the outgoing inventory/statement of condition.

The difficulty you may have is with the start meter reading for your real meter for when you moved into the property ... but perhaps the supplier may already have some idea if they supply or perhaps they can get the details from another supplier if all properties in the block are affected and all the meters are mixed up.

As Nick Ross used to say, don't have nightmares, do sleep well

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Jon

I'm really sorry we've been charging you for electricity based on the wrong meter.

Unfortunately, as dogshome says, this is not uncommon in blocks of flats with multiple meters housed in one area.

You've done exactly the right thing in raising this as a complaint. We have a dedicated team who deal with crossed meter issues like this and the agent owning your complaint will be liaising with them to resolve this.

If you've not already done so, tell us the Meter Serial Number you believe to be yours following the kettle test. Also, let us have any readings you may have taken from this meter.

As Premier says, taking readings on the day you move out is particularly important. Let us have those.

Once your account is amended with the correct meter details, we will bill you to this using all the valid readings we have.

We may have readings from your actual meter logged in our system, particularly if our meter readers have been calling regularly. We will be able to use these to increase the accuracy of the amended bill.

I'm afraid this could take a while, especially if there are quite a few crossed meters within your block of flats.

I must apologise for the lack of action/notes when you contacted us about this in July. This is not acceptable and the agent now dealing with your complaint will be feeding back to the manager of the people concerned.

I'm also sorry the engineer didn't turn up as expected. You may well have a claim for a payment under the terms of the Guaranteed Standards of Service here.

This is a regulatory requirement and refers to situations where we have failed to keep an agreed appointment without giving at least 24 hours notice. Payments where we fail to turn up to check electricity meters are currently £22. Ask if this applies to your case.

I do understand the anxiety and inconvenience these situations can cause and would repeat my apologies for this. I also hope my comments are useful. Give me a shout if you need any further advice as will be happy to help.

Malc

Terrylw1

Crossed meters can be very complex and quite common on new builds.

There could be various reasons for it and it could be that the meter tails are not labelled correctly so the letting agent may not be aware either. If the tails are labelled incorrectly, thats not a Supplier issue as engineers can only connect them to the correct cut out. If the private electrician did that wrong, this situation happens.

They will need to look at all your readings to ensure no spikes caused by it. It gets further complicated by the fact that not all the flats may be supplied by Eon hence they can't deal with the others. Suppliers have a habit of not talking to each other so Eon may find that part very hard since the industry has no real way to give them a route into other independant supply companies and it ends up being good staff talking to other good staff...if they can find each other!

If the appointment (exact date) was agreed with the customer, it applies. Also, because the GSOS payment hasn't been made quicker enough the customer is entitled to a further one for the loss in service if initial payment not made in 10 days.

It's only just gone up to £22 form £20 though.