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Southern customers living in East Anglia
mattcanary
Posts: 4,420 Forumite
in Energy
I work as a meter reader for Southern and cover the majority of Norfolk (exluding the Kings Lynn/Fens area and the south west of the county) and some of North Suffolk.
I would urge all people that live in the Eastern area and are supplied by Southern (or Atlantic, Marks & Spencer, or Ebico) and have a day and night meter to check whether their readings are billed the wrong way round or not. Please note the Eastern area covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, a small part of Buckinghamshire (I believe) and much of North (and North West) London.
The problem stems as follows:
Traditionally in the Eastern area rate 2 is the day rate and rate 1 is the night rate. (some day and night meters display only rate 1 and 2 on the digital display, rather than quoting normal and low). Now, Southern (being originally based in the South of England and parts of Scotland) traditionally do things the other way round: they term rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate.
If your day and night meter was fitted by Siemens (or some other contractor they have used) then rate 2 will be the day rate and rate 1 the night rate. There should be a card placed behind the meter if this is the case.
However, Southern started changing their own meters in the Eastern area at some point during 2010 (I don't know when exactly unfortunately). If your day and night meter was changed (or you moved from a single rate meter to a day and night meter) during 2010 or 2011 I would urge you all to check your bills. This is because Southern use rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate in the Eastern area.
If Southern have changed the meter, there should be a sticker placed on the meter board (ie: the wooden board on which the meter is attached), rather than a card placed behind the meter. THIS MEANS THAT RATE 1 IS THE DAY AND RATE 2 IS THE NIGHT.
Unfortunately, meter readers are not informed of the past readings on our handheld machines so unless we see the meter in front of our eyes (and even then this is not failproof) we cannot be sure which is the day and which is the night rate. If you leave a card out for the meter reader, you need to know which is the day and which is the night rate - otherwise you run the risk of being grossly over (or under) charged. Please bear the above in mind.
I anticipate that a lot of Southern customers that are on the day and night tariff, and live in the Eastern metering area, will encounter problems with their bills in future. They are quite likely to have their readings transposed.
This may also apply to other areas of the country too. However, I believe most other areas class rate 1 as the day rate ands rate 2 as tge night rate. Unfortunately, the Eastern area traditiionally does it the other way round. Norfolk has a saying of "we do things different". Well, it doesn't really help here!
In conclusion, what rate 1 and 2 stand for on your meter will be detrmined by who has fitted the meter. Please be aware of this and prevent future problems!
Site moderat6ors - would it be possible to put this post on as a sticky on the site? I think this would be very useful!
I would urge all people that live in the Eastern area and are supplied by Southern (or Atlantic, Marks & Spencer, or Ebico) and have a day and night meter to check whether their readings are billed the wrong way round or not. Please note the Eastern area covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, a small part of Buckinghamshire (I believe) and much of North (and North West) London.
The problem stems as follows:
Traditionally in the Eastern area rate 2 is the day rate and rate 1 is the night rate. (some day and night meters display only rate 1 and 2 on the digital display, rather than quoting normal and low). Now, Southern (being originally based in the South of England and parts of Scotland) traditionally do things the other way round: they term rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate.
If your day and night meter was fitted by Siemens (or some other contractor they have used) then rate 2 will be the day rate and rate 1 the night rate. There should be a card placed behind the meter if this is the case.
However, Southern started changing their own meters in the Eastern area at some point during 2010 (I don't know when exactly unfortunately). If your day and night meter was changed (or you moved from a single rate meter to a day and night meter) during 2010 or 2011 I would urge you all to check your bills. This is because Southern use rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate in the Eastern area.
If Southern have changed the meter, there should be a sticker placed on the meter board (ie: the wooden board on which the meter is attached), rather than a card placed behind the meter. THIS MEANS THAT RATE 1 IS THE DAY AND RATE 2 IS THE NIGHT.
Unfortunately, meter readers are not informed of the past readings on our handheld machines so unless we see the meter in front of our eyes (and even then this is not failproof) we cannot be sure which is the day and which is the night rate. If you leave a card out for the meter reader, you need to know which is the day and which is the night rate - otherwise you run the risk of being grossly over (or under) charged. Please bear the above in mind.
I anticipate that a lot of Southern customers that are on the day and night tariff, and live in the Eastern metering area, will encounter problems with their bills in future. They are quite likely to have their readings transposed.
This may also apply to other areas of the country too. However, I believe most other areas class rate 1 as the day rate ands rate 2 as tge night rate. Unfortunately, the Eastern area traditiionally does it the other way round. Norfolk has a saying of "we do things different". Well, it doesn't really help here!
In conclusion, what rate 1 and 2 stand for on your meter will be detrmined by who has fitted the meter. Please be aware of this and prevent future problems!
Site moderat6ors - would it be possible to put this post on as a sticky on the site? I think this would be very useful!
0
Comments
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I do not live in the area mentioned but have emailed the mods for further investigation on this subject, if proved to be correct this deserves to be a " sticky " !
many thanks to mattcanary for this conscientious post !
shammy0
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