Bill from Scottish Power for Metre Repair

daz_free

Hi Guys,

A bill came out of the blue from Scottish Power (SP) this morning.

On the 5th January I had a visit from two guys from SP and they said they come to check the metre. Nothing else and I let them get on with it and 5 minutes later they knocked on the door and said they were finished and off they went.

Today I recieved a letter from SP saying I have a bill for £60 for repair of irregularity which they found with the metreing equipment, supposedly there was a seal missing . :mad:

Can they do this and do I have to pay for it?? I didn't know about this at all, didn't get any confirmation before they carried out the work. I'm totally confused about this!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

D

Premier_2

daz_free wrote: »

Hi Guys,

A bill came out of the blue from Scottish Power (SP) this morning.

On the 5th January I had a visit from two guys from SP and they said they come to check the metre. Nothing else and I let them get on with it and 5 minutes later they knocked on the door and said they were finished and off they went.

Today I recieved a letter from SP saying I have a bill for £60 for repair of irregularity which they found with the metreing equipment, supposedly there was a seal missing . :mad:

Can they do this and do I have to pay for it?? I didn't know about this at all, didn't get any confirmation before they carried out the work. I'm totally confused about this!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

D

Ask them for evidence of the amount owed. They'll need evidence if they intend to pursue the claim through court, so they may as well let you know what they've got on you now.

spiro

If a seal is missing from the meter, this is a indication that someone has tried to tamper with the meter. They will need to send someone out to reseal it, if the 2 guys have not done it already.

As 2 people came to check your meter I suspect that the meter reader spotted the missing seal and that these 2 guys were from the Revenue Protection Unit whose sole job is to investigate suspect tampering and theft.

macman

But surely in that case they'd say to the OP that the seal was missing and that it would be a chargeable repair?

arfurrrr

which meter gas or electric ?

I work on gas and there are loads of meters with no seals , we ring transco and they come out for free

kmcar

I've had exactly the same.
"Unfortunately as you are the registered customer.... a charge of £60. If you dispute this bill, please contact by letter..."
Which of course I'll do.

But before I do, can anyone help with two questions -
1 - as a housing association (HA) tenant, and as the men did say it looked like the HA had moved the meter (legitimately), shouldn't the HA be paying this?

and
2 - much as I (we) may have a chance to dispute this, when the men were chatting with me, they said that Scottish Power were sending them round to thousands of addresses to do the same job. As you said, meter readers were noticing the problem, and the men from Revenue Protection were adding the seal - a 10 minute job.

I didn't get any chance or opportunity to see if a seal was missing, and I wouldn't have known what I was looking for anyway. I was never warned that there would be any fee. I was never asked to sign anything to say that they had been or that the work was completed satisfactorily. I don't remember signing anything when I moved in to agree that the meters were safe and satisfactory either.

Seems like SP could potentially make quite a lot of money out of this?

spiro

Kmcar to answer your questions;
1) The HA can not move the meter, they can request the suppliers Meter Operator to di it and its a chargeable service.
2) The seals are typically a short length of wire that runs through the screws that hold the meter covers on and they have a lead seal on them. To undo the screws the seals have to be removed or broken. £60 is a typical charge these days and not only will it cover the job but I suspect also a percentage of the travel time between jobs. Think about the typical call out charge for plumber, electricians, washing machine engineers etc.

kmcar

Thank you Spiro.

The men were certain that the HA had done the job. They (HA) have put the meter in the most inaccessible place (close behind the gas meter), and hadn't replaced the seals.

If the HA hadn't done it - ie the suppliers themselves had left the job unfinished - why should I pay for it?


I agree, a £60 callout fee is typical nowadays. But I didn't call them out. Their job has made no difference to me and I didn't know it needed doing. It was their company's choice to do it. I also didn't cause them to need it doing. If anyone caused it and needs to pay for that, I understood it to be the HA (though Spiro suggests that may not be true). I also have no way of checking if they've done the job properly.

Also, I've been here 3 years now. Why are they choosing to do it now?


Has anyone heard of this happening before or is this a new policy? How would I find out?

And to the OP - thanks for posting on here - I'd done lots of searches and not been able to find anything. I'd be interested to know what you plan to do.

thank you,
K

daz_free

Kmcar - I'll be writing a strongly worded letter today and requesting they respond to this within 10 days.

I'll be pointing out the obvious (e.g. i didn't request the work, i wasn't informed of the work or costs, i can't check the work, i want proof of the work etc...)

If they still want me to pay then I will consider the small claims court.

kmcar

Thank you daz_free
I agree with your actions and need to do the same.

It was also suggested that - because in my case noone had touched the meters since I moved in and took the supply over - that I should potentially charge them a similar amount for providing it to me in an unsatisfactory state.

undaunted

I'd challenge this personally (unless of course you know that you did tamper with the meter) - including asking them to confirm in writing

When the meter was last checked

What evidence they have of you tampering with it and not the former occupier

Denying any knowledge of meter tampering and telling them you will see them in Court should they wish to pursue this matter

Good luck