Who exactly are Lowri Beck & why are they so DESPERATE to change our meter?

dogshome

Meters are instruments that do have a finite life, and Lowry Beck are well established in the industry
BUT
Make damned sure that the meter change crew hand over a card that shows the reading on the old meter as they removed it, and the new one as it was installed - Without this your Utility accounting could go totally haywire.

Probably because of pressure to complete X number of jobs a day, crews can be lackadasical about this paperwork - I had to car chase mine to the next village to get the card and a " Sorry Mate" apology

UtilityChaser

I have been harassed by Lowri Beck for over two years now. I have been FORCED to move out of my contract, pay exit fees to nPower, and seek another Gas supplier - which is not connected with Lowri Beck.

Lowri Beck is a business. Their one and only aim is PROFIT. They need to install as many meters as they can, and then go again and replace them.

A normal utility meter life span was always 25 years (and more). These machines operate to last. Now they are saying it lasts only 7 years. Just like they did with washing machines. I am saddened to say, that our society is rapidly moving to an endless cycle of profiteers nocking on our doors. The capitalist society in it's full dubious glory.

In essence, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my Gas meter. My Gas meter was installed in July 1999 and is being checked every year by a professional Gas inspector, who in return provide me with a full compliance certificate for one year. This has been going on for the past 15 years. The Gas inspector not only checks my Gas boiler, but also the meter, the gas pipes in and outside my home. I am sure that the chaps at Lowri Beck are not delving into such a vigorous examination when they replace the Gas meter (they always say it takes 25 minutes). My annual Gas inspection takes 75-90 minutes long.

As I said, I have been harassed by Lowri Beck for 2 years now. I have complained about them and their harassment methods to nPower, to no avail. nPower - as a profiteer conglomerate themselves - stand firmly with their subsidiary business partner, Lowri Beck. These companies are using to law to it's full and illogical force. In theory, they have the right to come into your house and change meters. But other then that, their methods, customer service, responsibility towards their customers - all negligible. Their finite aim is to charge nPower for as many meter replacements as possible, while nPower keep claiming they have continuous increasing costs, thus gas / electricity will always go up very quickly - but very slowly come down. It's the wheel of fortune with these companies.

I have have been getting automatic calls at least twice a day from Lowri Beck for the past two years. I chose to ignore them. nPower send me letters and I have made an official complaint. It didn't take - nPower transferred my details to a 3rd subsidiary profit chasing company called Richburns, who in return threaten to go to court and issue a warrant to get access into my domicile. I have avoided this measure by simply breaking my nPower contract and transfer to more attractive rate with a smaller online energy provider.


I have called Citizen's Advice consumer line to complain about these trading practices, but lo and behold, they just quoted me the law. I did tell them this is something they need to get to the bottom of, and their attitude was total indifference. It seems that the whole government mechanism is now fully wired to extract more and more money from consumers.

It would be beneficial if more people would use this thread to express their experiences with Lowri Beck and the major utility companies.:money:

As of now, despite the fact that I am no longer a client of nPower, I am still being chased by Lowri Beck.:(

AndyPK

It's a bit unfair on Lowri Beck.

From my understanding if the energy company notices you aren't using enough energy than they expect they send LB to check the meter hasn't been tampered.

If that isn't a problem, they get the meter changed a year later, incase its reading low.

Energy companies are meant to have safery checks every 2 years, so they are just doing as required (for a change).

Yes NP do sell off debits to richburns.

Neither companies are particularly nice, but it's easier to just get on with it rather than fight them!

[Deleted User]

UtilityChaser you have started a battle with the wrong people. Lowri Beck are just contractors working on behalf of National Grid. They have a contract, along with others to fit new meters for them. Npower use them to read their meters, but they have no connection with Npower other than that .National Grid, for whatever reason , have decided that your gas meter has to be replaced. I know that they are going around replacing perfectly good metric meters which are good for another 15 years because of a lot of faults with a batch of meters with faulty regulators ( they would have J42 marked on top ). They are not going to publicise this because the fault can be very dangerous. I m surprised that the press have nt jumped on this story because the fault is so bad it could lead to a big gas escape . Your meter may well be one and it does nt matter if you move from Npower they will still chase you up for a meter swap. Its no big deal getting a new meter, 30 minutes work usually, so what is your problem. It looks very suspicious why you re making such a fuss. National Grid are the bosses when it comes to gas supply and they could easily get a warrant and cut you off if they felt it necessary. And by the way, making a profit is what virtually every business in the world is trying to do.

DorsetGent

I believe that the main reason why so many people are having there meters swooped out, are in fact they are defective, I myself have had a defective meter fitted 3 years ago, and only last year had an Large Energy provider fit a Check meter which confirmed it.
Have made several brief inquires into the condition of said meters, and find that it can have up to 3 faults, all of which I have experienced! But basically it turns out to be over clocking up to 2.5 times my usage, but now my provider wont acknowledge it in a letter form!
So if your meter has gone blank, then start to be concerned, and look at your usage, before the digital one was fitted.
No this is not a windup, so please keep any silly comments to yourselves!

spiro

UtilityChaser the person doing your annual gas safety check is nothing to do with the gas transporter so that is completely irrelevant in terms of the 2-yearly meter check or meter replacement. Unless you have something to hide just let them change the meter and be done with it. The more you object the more suspicious they will get that you are on the fiddle.

jcontest

sacsquacco wrote: »

I know that they are going around replacing perfectly good metric meters which are good for another 15 years because of a lot of faults with a batch of meters with faulty regulators ( they would have J42 marked on top ). They are not going to publicise this because the fault can be very dangerous. I m surprised that the press have nt jumped on this story because the fault is so bad it could lead to a big gas escape . ~snip~ National Grid are the bosses when it comes to gas supply and they could easily get a warrant and cut you off if they felt it necessary.

The regulator is separate from the Meter itself, so faulty regulators shouldn't cause the Meter to need replacing.
I had a quick google of this, and it seems that Stuart Love sent out letters in 2008 to suppliers asking them to replace them if they have used them, and stating that it's due to cross threading on the unit. I had a look at mine and I have an Elster Jeavons J42 (the one that was recalled).. I called National grid who said if it's not leaking then don't worry about it! I spoke to a E.On Gas Test/Fit/Meter Replacer and he says that he's never heard of any parts that should have been recalled and unless it's leaking that they would just wait until the normal time is up to replace the unit.

Who do you do fittings for, If it's E.On then staff have mixed messages. If it's someone else then I would be interested to know. I will be contacting BG in the next few days to see if they want to look into it.

[Deleted User]

jcontest wrote: »

The regulator is separate from the Meter itself, so faulty regulators shouldn't cause the Meter to need replacing.
I had a quick google of this, and it seems that Stuart Love sent out letters in 2008 to suppliers asking them to replace them if they have used them, and stating that it's due to cross threading on the unit. I had a look at mine and I have an Elster Jeavons J42 (the one that was recalled).. I called National grid who said if it's not leaking then don't worry about it! I spoke to a E.On Gas Test/Fit/Meter Replacer and he says that he's never heard of any parts that should have been recalled and unless it's leaking that they would just wait until the normal time is up to replace the unit.

Who do you do fittings for, If it's E.On then staff have mixed messages. If it's someone else then I would be interested to know. I will be contacting BG in the next few days to see if they want to look into it.

It was nt that the regulator was cross threaded at all, just hardly screwed in far enough. My work colleague worked on J42 s and reported to me some were only in a few threads to the state of having a wobble. So dangerous that a meter under the stairs where someone might ram a heavy tool box and push the whole caboodle off with a big gas escape.How National Grid got away with this fiasco is beyond me. My mate had to make up a story at the doorstep about checking the meter serial and regulators to avoid the householder from finding out the real reason.He could nt actually tell them what exactly the problem was. Many still refused access many times because they did nt believe him.
we work for BG, EDF, Scot Power, Eon and several small suppliers but this contract was with National Grid.
If you would like to check exactly if your meter is affected I can send you the distance it should be screwed in.We have a spacer set to check what the minimum clearance should be..PM me if needed

takethemon

I have been receiving missed calls with a Wigan coded prefix for some time now.
I have just received another. When I answered a woman said " hello " and hung up.
I immediately rang back.
Spoke to a different woman. Told her I had just had a missed call. She said it must have been a colleague. I asked her what she would have wanted. The reply was that she didn't know. I asked her to spell out the name of her firm and it is LOWRI BECK.
I asked her what they did and I was told that they take meter readings for energy companies.
I told her that I had a Smart Meter. That was a conversation stopper.
Will report them for cold/nuisance calling.

gneiss_2

Smart meters are provide by Government and when first announced promised t0 save consumers £20 a year by 2020.


Smart meters are more than smart they are an intrusion on peoples lives:rotfl:


Read
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/smart-meters-how-they-work


And


http://www.zigbee.org/


ESME shall be capable of switching between different Tariff Registers once every 30 minutes, does this mean you'll pay more at lunch time/evenings
The word debt and credit are mentioned a lot in he gov doc.


Big brother