Paying in advance

Hardcheese1969

Is it legal for me to provide inflated meter readings in order to get part of my future gas and electric use at the current (lower) price? The way I see it, I am several £100 in credit with my account so in effect I have already bought ahead of the price increases. Views would be appreciated.

HappyMJ

No it isn't and be careful doing it. They may see increased usage and up your direct debit to cover this extra usage. They will assume the increase will be your normal usage from now on.

spiro

What happens when the meter reader turns up and he finds the meter reads less than the reading you provided? You may find yourself investigated for illegal abstract (theft).

undaunted

Not really though if you were to transpose the odd digit eg 34567 to 43567 I think it's unlikely they could prove you hadn't simply misread it. You could also argue that they were of course always free to read their own meter if they wanted to quibble over that!

Re your view of things it is quite legal for you to pay in advance - and for them to knowingly take your money that way - but that's a different thing to you trying to doctor the usage / rates you pay I'm afraid (I'd have thought that was deception / fraud rather than outright theft myself but I'm not a Solicitor)

chris1973

I'm no expert but if they wanted to stick an actual offence on it, I'd imagine that it might / may be considered "obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception"

Namely:-

Section 16(2)(a)
Section 16(2)(a) read:
(a) any debt or charge for which he makes himself liable or is or may become liable (including one not legally enforceable) is reduced or in whole or in part evaded or deferred;

Note especially the reference to the word 'Deferred' in the above.

This is an offence in England and Wales, but don't believe that it applies in Scotland. Although they may, of course have their own laws which are similar.

Non of this should be construed as legal advice, but rather a common sense search of the public domain.

The way I see it, I am several £100 in credit with my account so in effect I have already bought ahead of the price increases

Wrong and a common misconception. You haven't bought anything, as in your own words, its still lying in credit, and if you move suppliers you'll get it back!. How are they going to do that if you've bought electricity in advance? - suck it back out of the appliance .

Electricity is not a physical item, you dont take it off a shelf at Tesco, carry it home and store it in the breadbin!, you pay for it from the source as you actually use it, at the point you throw the switch....and at the rate / tariff which is current at that particular time.

All that you do when you (over)pay a DD is move a sum of money from your account into the account of your Energy Provider, as a piggy bank in preperation for future purchases in an attempt to spread and equalise your annual energy usage payments, you haven't actually been sold anything or consumed the Electricity at that point the money is transfered and lies in credit.

Yorkie1

chris1973 wrote: »

I'm no expert but if they wanted to stick an actual offence on it, I'd imagine that it might / may be considered "obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception"

Namely:-

Section 16(2)(a)
Section 16(2)(a) read:
(a) any debt or charge for which he makes himself liable or is or may become liable (including one not legally enforceable) is reduced or in whole or in part evaded or deferred;

Note especially the reference to the word 'Deferred' in the above.

This is an offence in England and Wales, but don't believe that it applies in Scotland. Although they may, of course have their own laws which are similar.

Non of this should be construed as legal advice, but rather a common sense search of the public domain.

Beware "common sense searches" ...

What you have quoted is s.16(2)(a) of the Theft Act 1968.

This was replaced in October 1978 by the Theft Act 1978.

And the full section 16 was repealed in January 2007 by the Fraud Act 2006.

chris1973

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Beware "common sense searches" ...

What you have quoted is s.16(2)(a) of the Theft Act 1968.

This was replaced in October 1978 by the Theft Act 1978.

And the full section 16 was repealed in January 2007 by the Fraud Act 2006.

So, as you are clearly more knowledgable in law, is it possible for you to answer the basic question:- is the OP likely to be committing an offence or not?