Confusing Gas Problem

BeccaBell

I hope someone can help because I am really, really confused.

My OH and I moved into our flat in Aug 10, it was a repossession so we had no information at all on the flat. The gas meters for the flats are kept in a communal area and they are in a completely random order and not numbered so we were unable to find out which meter belonged to us. We found a prepayment card in the flat from Scottish Power, we rang them up and told them the situation and we were told that we had a prepayment meter to provide gas to our flat. There is only one prepayment gas meter in the gas meter area and after reading the serial number to the lady I spoke to she confirmed it was ours and sent me out a new card.
In October 11 we switched our gas to E-on on the agreement they would switch us to a regular meter. This didn’t happen but we thought we’d just have the prepayment meter for a year and switch after that. Everything was fine, we topped the meter up monthly and weren’t spending very much at all (we only use gas for heating Nov-March and hot water) and we had no reasons to complain.

At the end of September 11 we received a bill from E-on for £700, my OH rang them up and explained we had a prepayment meter and it seemed they had the serial number down incorrectly. It was agreed an engineer would come out, take down the serial number correctly and everything would work out from there.

Well it now turns out the prepayment meter that we have been paying on to does not belong to us, nor does the £700 meter belong to us but a completely different meter! I have absolutely no idea where we stand. Obviously we owe E-on money for gas we have been using but can we use what we have paid for gas on the pre payment against this? And are Scottish Power responsible in any way for giving me incorrect information? At the moment it is all with E-on as they try and work out who owes what but when I do receive a bill I want to be prepared for where I stand.

Thanks for reading

Becca

lemontart

Ask your supplier to do a trace and label which means they send and engineer out to sort out which is your meter so they can get paid correctly for the gas used also the landlord should know which is yours if it is a rental

BeccaBell

Thank you,

They have done that now (it was labelled as number 26 for some reason and we are number 3). We own the flat and as it was a repo we didnt get any info when we moved in!

lemontart

So you now know which meter is yours? if so have you got notes of any readings off the meter you thought was yours so you can work out usage, also who does the wrong meter belong to?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi BeccaBell,

This sounds like a classic case of crossed meters, it does unfortunately happen when there are many meters all in a communal cupboard.

It sounds like you are doing the right things and getting in contact with us and having an engineer out etc.

I thought I might just give you a bit of info on what will happen when all meters have been sorted.

We would normally give you extra time to pay any balance off, so spread this monthly for you.

If we don't have accurate reads from when the account started we can use an estimated reading.

If you having been paying on a PP meter to an incorrect supplier, you can normally claim this back, but this depends on their policy. Do you have the receipts?

If you need any more info just let me know.

Helena

BeccaBell

Lemontart - Yes we know which is ours now, I think we have the starting amount written down somewhere of the one we thought was ours. No idea who it belongs to, but not only have we being putting money on it for the last year when we moved in there was a negative balance on it that we sorted out getting cleared.

Helena - Thank you for your reply. I am a bit confused about what to do now, the engineer who came out wasn't able to tell us how long it would take to get sorted and I currently have no idea how much I owe or what tarriff I am on!

With regards to the PP meter, I have receipts to show we have topped it up numerous times, the payments were made on an e-on PP card but as I have no iea who owns the PP meter I am not sure who the payments have been going to :-S

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

ahh right I see.

Am I correct in thinking that you actually have a credit meter? (non PP).

So you now need to contact E.ON and ask to speak to the crossed meter department.

This should be straight forward now as you know which one your meter is. Have the meter readings and serial number to hand (this will be on the front of the meter).

Also have the dates you moved in.

As you have been making payments to us on a PP card, we should be able to locate these easily and they can be transferred to your correct account.

Once the meter details are sorted, we should open you an account from the date you took over responsibility and bill you from that date up to an accurate up to date reading.

Then transfer your payments to this account (it's excellent that you have receipts).

Any outstanding balance you can either pay, or set up an arrangement, we can agree something.

Let me know if I can help further.

Helena