you'll love this

heinzbeanz

Of late I have been receiving rather large bills from my elec. supplier. In fact my bills are usually quite high anyway as I do pay a direct debit of £100 each month and assumed the account would be in credit (which it is and I have asked for it back, before you ask). This in itself prompted me to call my supplied. On the day I decided this I receive a worrying letter asking me to contact them because the bill was unusually high. I rang them and to my astonishment found that I owed them £900 for that month alone.:eek: .
Once I'd picked myself up off the floor I started to ask why the bill was so high, the smart !!!! replied by saying you've used a lot of electricty. The following day I had the groundsman (Apartment Block by the way) take a meter reading for me which it turns out was the same reading that the elec. man had taken, at this point I begin to wonder whether I am powering the whole apartement block. I start to study the bills in closer detail and find the meter serial number on the bill does not correspond to the serial number of the meter that measures my aparements supply. The meter number on the bill does not exist according to the groundsman, and the meter that measures my supply is definately the right one as it has the apartment number stamped on it. Any ideas or suggestions would be welcomed.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Not sure I have understood this fully. It seems:

1. The reading on your meter(as indicated by the apartment number) corresponds with the meter reading on the bill sent to you.
2. However your groundsman read it a day after you received the bill, which would have been some days after the reading had been taken by the meter reader. Yet in this time the reading had stayed the same - indicating you had used no electricity in those several days?
3. The meter serial numbers on your meter and the bill are not the same.

The first thing I would do is verify that the meter you believe is yours(by virtue of the apartment number being stamped on it) is in fact connected to your apartment. Mistake in meter allocation initially or rewiring(accidental or malicious?) could have occured.

You can switch off everything in your apartment and check the dial is not turning. Then put on max load in your apartment and check it is 'whizzing' along.

Once you have established that is the correct meter or not, you have a starting point.

Questions -
why hadn't meter moved in several days?

were your previous several bills estimated(well underestimated!)? and the reading now is just a catching up exercise - a fairly common scenario.

heinzbeanz

found out the meter that has my apartment number stamped on it is actually my neighbours. Not only that but the meter serial number that corresponds to my address is a duplicate and relates to a meter at another house 25 miles away from where I live, this is according to energy watch. I will be conducting a test on friday to confirm whether the meter is definately not mine. All the previous bills and readings are now irrelevant as the wrong meter had been read. If the wrong meter has been read from day one then the initial reading taken by the building management company will be wrong. therefore I dont know at what point the meter started. This is assuming that I will be able to find my meter. according to the groundsman it does not exist

tomstickland

Why not monitor your daily usage by taking daily meter readings. At least you'll have some idea what you owe then. £100 per month is ridiculous.

heinzbeanz

extorsion isnt it, have spoken to powergen and they say monitor the usage over a week and then inform them of the readings, from this they should be able to calculate the usage, although it wont be deadly accurate which im not to pleased about but it seem its the only way. unless there was an original reading from the building management company. thanks for the advise anyway guys.

HH62

Heinzbeanz...how did you find this out about your meter? I'm in an apartment block and appear to be using a lot of electricity..I posted about this elsewhere. My meter seems to be moving even when I'm out and only have my clock radio plugged in..not leaving washer or anything on.
Would appreciate any info about this. Thanks.

heinzbeanz

HH62 I rang powergen to enquire about the amount I was paying. they said there was a credit on the account of £200 but the latest bill amounted to nearly £900 at which point I hit the roof and contacted energy watch. they have a register with all meter serials numbers and what properties they correspond too. they informed me that my meter corresponded to my neighbours house, powergen confirmed this. do what im going to do, isolate the power supply and see if the meter moves, if it doesnt its yours. if it does move then theres a drain and your either powering someone elses flat or theres a fault with the meter.

pickle

Is there some official complaint phone number on the bill which they've sent you and an ombudsmans number or something. I'd write (and send by registered post) all you've written here and then if no luck then straight to the regulator. It sounds scandalous to me!

Cardew

tomstickland wrote:

Why not monitor your daily usage by taking daily meter readings. At least you'll have some idea what you owe then. £100 per month is rediculous.

He's got to find his meter first;)

Cardew

pickle wrote:

Is there some official complaint phone number on the bill which they've sent you and an ombudsmans number or something. I'd write (and send by registered post) all you've written here and then if no luck then straight to the regulator. It sounds scandalous to me!

As I said in my first post:

The first thing I would do is verify that the meter you believe is yours(by virtue of the apartment number being stamped on it) is in fact connected to your apartment. Mistake in meter allocation initially or rewiring(accidental or malicious?) could have occured.

There have been plenty of similar cases in apartment blocks.

To be fair to the utility company they can only go on the readings they are given by the meter reader(who doesn't work for the company). You can hardly blame him if he sees the apartment number stamped on the meter. Even if the OP had phoned in the reading he would have gone to the wrong meter, believing it to be his.

The test will come when the utility company sort out the bills.

heinzbeanz

energy watch is the official regulatory body and ive contacted them already. yes your quite right, I've yet to find my meter. thanks again