Erroneous Gas Transfer

moneypenny73

Hi, can anyone offer any advice please? We've lived in our house for 10 years, in that time I've changed gas & electricity suppliers 3 times. The latest change was to Eon who have discovered that my neighbour's gas meter and my gas meter's registration numbers were inverted when registered 11 years ago after the houses were built so we've never actually been supplied for gas by any of the 3 companies I have paid money to over the last 10 years!! British Gas who we've been with for last 2 years are saying that they will refund all payments made (woohoo!!:j) due to the erroneous transfer BUT are we likely to receive the same refund from Npower and Southern Electric who supplied us before and should I pursue them or leave well alone? Will I get whammied with a bill from our original supplier from 10 years ago? If its unreasonable (the reason why I moved regularly was to keep our bills down) can I challenge it? Thank you to anyone who can shed any light on this complete can of worms!! Thank you

JC_Derby

Yes you will get a bill!
im going through something similar at the moment. ive just had a refund of well over 1k which has gone into a high interest bank account as i know i will have to pay it to someone once the meters have been uncrossed.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi moneypenny

Sounds like you've had a crossed meter issue from day one.

Unfortunately, this can happen when properties are first built. The builder/developer may have submitted the wrong details of which meter is in which property.

Sometimes, it's a straightforward cross between two properties. On other occasions, an entire development can be mixed up.

We have a specialist crossed meter team who deal exclusively with these issues. I would have a chat with this team as they are best placed to advise what's happening with your specific case.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction moneypenny.

Malc

moneypenny73

JC_Derby wrote: »

Yes you will get a bill!
im going through something similar at the moment. ive just had a refund of well over 1k which has gone into a high interest bank account as i know i will have to pay it to someone once the meters have been uncrossed.

Thanks JC Derby, I hope your situation gets resolved quickly. My situation is certainly getting very complicated! Your high interest account move is a smart one, if I do get a refund will probably do the same til its all sorted out...

moneypenny73

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi moneypenny

Sounds like you've had a crossed meter issue from day one.

Unfortunately, this can happen when properties are first built. The builder/developer may have submitted the wrong details of which meter is in which property.

Sometimes, it's a straightforward cross between two properties. On other occasions, an entire development can be mixed up.

We have a specialist crossed meter team who deal exclusively with these issues. I would have a chat with this team as they are best placed to advise what's happening with your specific case.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction moneypenny.

Malc

Hi Malc, many thanks for your response. Actually Eon have been very helpful so far - they were the ones to pick up the erroneous transfer which my previous 3 suppliers had not! I'll go back to them again (assume they probably won't be around until Monday?) to see if they can give me some advice re the other providers but British Gas failed to ring me on Friday as promised to discuss the refund, no big surprise there! What I don't understand is how anyone can actually calculate how much gas I've used since I moved into the property, its all very confusing!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi moneypenny

Sorry for the late reply; just spotted your question.

I can't speak for other suppliers, but in our case we will suspend billing until the accounts are all amended with the correct data.

At the moment, all bills sent to you will have been for gas used by your neighbour. Likewise, your neighbour will have received bills based on the usage at your property.

Once the systems/databases have been amended, billing will be unsuspended and new bills issued for each affected property.

All previous E.ON bills will be withdrawn and replaced with new bills based on readings from the meter at your property.

Hope this makes sense moneypenny. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc

dogshome

Hi moneypenny 73 - It sounds as though you are in a house and not a flat, in which case your meter will be located within the house or on an outside wall.

Assuming you gave a meter reading, to n'power?, from the meter in your house/on the wall of the house when you moved in, it's a fair bet that this was a 'True' start reading and it is n'power who will have kept a record of it - It's important that you get this from n'power as it will be the basis of the bills you get when the problem is sorted out

Interestingly, the max number of years a problem can be back-billed is 6 years, and this has been a problem for 10, (Goes back before the 2002 Utilities Act when utilities were not allowed to compete ! ) Demand fully detailed bills - Do not accept Estimates - Prices must be those applicable to the periods of use
Good Luck