Faulty gas token meter: FREE GAS!!!!

Flock152

Just want some constructive advice.
Me and and my girlfriend rented out a house and tried to sort of the gas supplier. Every time we rang they said they had no record of our address on their system. We did this over and over and even got my dad to ring for us. We were getting free gas!

After a year we moved to another rented house. This one had a gas token meter. Meanwhile the gas people from the last house caught up with us and said we owed £900. Fair enough. They said the meter would help us to pay if off. So on the meter it had a number for the amount we owed and the amount of credit we had. At this point the credit was zero and the debt was £900.

We bought a £10 token and put it in and walked away upstairs safe in the knowledge that we were now back on track with our gas.

After a week my boyfriend went downstairs to check the meter and he called me down. We both couldn't believe our eyes. The £900 debt was gone and the credit was £44000!

It's been about 6 months now and we haven't put any more tokens in, but we haven't gone mad, and are using our gas carefully in case it all comes crashing down.

So where do we stand with this? What happens if we say nothing? what happens if we do say something? what happens if we move somewhere else?

cheers

bengasman

Never heard of a fault like this before.

Whatever the cause, bear in mind that credit display is one thing, gas use in m3 is another.

Utility companies are money making machines which makes your chance of free gas fairly limited.

The best you can do, is swap the token meter for a normal meter, and enjoy a much better price for your gas. You could be paying around 30% more than you have to at the moment.

Joyful

It sounds like someone may have sent an incorrect message to your meter. Contact the supplier and advise them of this. There is no such thing as free gas as it will catch up with you and you may then find they want more per week to clear the debt. Much better to do it now in summer and get it sorted.

It should show up at the suppliers end as non purchasing and perhaps a fraud department would become involved so I would not leave it. Also the gas meter will still be registering your use so all you are doing is building up a higher debt!