Energy meter reader trespass??

steffyoak

Feedback would be welcomed on my problem please... twice now in the last 6 months I've experienced meter reader agents climbing over my gates to get to my meter & I'm getting extremely hacked off with it.

My house is in a quiet road which has had some historic issues with intruders in the past. We installed 5-6ft high double wooden gates across the drive about 10 yrs which are supposed to restrict access to the side & back of the house. Both gas & electric meters are situated by the back door behind the gates (which are always kept double bolted & cannot be accessed or unlocked from the public side.
I'm a woman who works at home a fair bit & can't always hear knocking on the front door when I'm sat in the back of the house. On the first occasion I happened to go into my kitchen & found a strange man outside my back door. He said he had come to read the meter & that he thought no one was in. He said he'd let himself through the gates but I confronted in a very forceful way to explain that was impossible & that he must have climbed over. At this point he ran off refusing to give his name. It was the shock of my life & after calling Scottish Power they established it was one of their agents but that it wasn't proper practice/big apologies etc . They even paid for some security spikes to go across the top of the gates as a deterrent!

Second occasion today - again working in my office, on the phone. Thought I may have heard one knock on the door. Couldn't see anyone out of the window. Decided to go downstairs & low & behold - yet another strange man , this time caught in the middle of the act of attempting to haul himself over 5/6 foot gates! Again I confronted him, to be told again he was here to read the meter. I basically told him where to go & he scuttled off also.

I'm not querying or questioning the need for these people to access the meter. I'm just very upset at being put in such a position whereby I keep finding strange men attempting to (on the face of it) break into my house! I'm not to know they are meter readers - they could be anyone! Also, the total disregard & disrespect of peoples property i.e my £800 gates! Again I've raised a complaint with Scotpower....Am I in the wrong here to be so upset at being put in this position? I've found it very unnerving to say the least & was very close to calling the police! I've since spent time researching the cost of new/higher gates as these ones are clearly not doing the job - maybe scotpower should pay for them!

passatrider

Why not get a doorbell?

steffyoak

what?...as opposed to a door knocker & the slight expectation of not finding strange men halfway over my 6ft gates??!

[Deleted User]

Have got to say i find that totally unacceptable myself that any meter reader ends up scaling gates at all. Its dangerous, and proberbly illegal. I always think that a big gate could also mean a big dog behind it. There are more and more expensive electric gates around now, and many of them do not have any call bells on them at all, making themselves very hard to contact the owners. It could be that your property had reached the stage when meter inspections have to be done, not just a quarterly bill read and the meter readers were being pushed from above to get a certain percentage of readings. I know we are, as my company have been very close to large fines from Brit Gas lately for failing. As you say , they had no regard for your property or privacy. Are your meters in external meter boxes and do you have means that any callers can at least ring a bell from the outside gates without actually entering the property

steffyoak

That's exactly my point sacsquacco. It wasn't like it was his 5th attempt to gain access or anything. No cards had previously been left to say he'd called before & from what I could tell there was literally one knock at the door before the impatience took over! The meters are external, on the wall beside the back door & are visible by peering over the top of the gate - so I'm assuming he thought "sod it, I'll just let myself in" & chose to clamber over.The joke is that we have cctv up, security spikes on top of the gate & the necessary warning signs but he either didn't see them or chose to ignore them. I was really shaken up by the sight of a bloke half over the top of the gate as at that stage I didn't know who he was! Plus...I'd like to have seen what would have happened next if he'd fallen off & broken something!

Richie-from-the-Boro

- you should assume he was about to burgle the house and immediately ring 999
- if you cant / wont answer your door because you cant hear it expect more burglars / meter readers
- the solution to your problem is in your hands fit a doorbell or a very loud knocker - and answer the door even if you are on the phone

I'm an even handed fellah steffyoak :

You ask if who is in the wrong, I think (1) the SP reader and (2) yourself are both wrong - there is a problem only you can fix - SP can't fix it - getting a~n~other meter reader sacked won't fix it - getting a couple of hundred more compo from SP wont fix it - answering the door will fix it. Ask your supplier if you can arrange a security phone call or whatever when the meter reader turns up - but you may be too busy to answer the phone - or not hear it ! By your own evidence here you have clearly made your meter unaccessible to your provider - solve it steffyoak - fit a bell or comms sytem and answer it.

Jamie_Carter

What happened to the spikes that were paid for by Scottish Power?

Terrylw1

These guys are on commission, they won't get paid for a No Access call in the case of suppliers I know of, not sure if they all operate that way.

However, the meter reader can simply abort it as a Meter Blocked scenario. That will reach your supplier who can contact you.

There is a problem here though that you could resolve. Blocking access to a meter can mean a Rights Of Entry warrant can be applied for for a 2 year reading. The meter is owned by the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) and if they need to get to their property, they can, but it has to be a warrant after trying to resolve it with you.

I totally respect your situation but if you somehow prevent it by installing some way you can be contacted, then the supplier can send a message to them regarding access. It would need to be done on each switch though. This way, it would appear on their handheld.

A supplier forking out or spikes is unheard of, so they must have been concerned about the media attention it would attract...they throw money at customers when they get a call off the media.

[Deleted User]

you are right Steffyoak, they should definitely not be cliimbing over any gates at all at any times, theres no excuse for it at all We are warned not to, and disciplined if we do. i would nt dream of doing that myself. It only takes a call to the supplier by the occupier and the meter reader in question is easily located. He proberbly would nt get sacked for it, but a disciplinary warning is in the offing. I think I would be worried seeing someone clambering over my 5 ft gate, and frightening also to men and women. My manager always makes a personal visit to any customer complaints like this and makes sure it doe snt happen again. I would suggest a doorbell at the gate itself, they are not expensive and work wirelessly, also something like a "enter at your own risk" " dogs at large " signs are pretty good at keeping undesireables out, even if you dont have a dog. They certainly get me worried, have had my share of nasty dog bites.
Not so sure about spiking tops of gates, i thought that was illegal, but i see enough of it,razor wire, barbed wire ,lots of nails etc. You know what the health n safety brigade are like nowadays

C_Mababejive

As someone who makes house calls may i say that I am fed up with people who..

a) Dont have a house number on their door and/or property boundary
b) insist on having a daft name for their house instead of/as well as a number
c)Miss callers because due to various circumstances and yet dont see the logic of having a doorbell.


Having said that and in this case,it is wrong to go hauling yourself over fences and gates if they are not readily accessible.

I'd be worried about injuring myelf,being taken for a burglar and being clobbered, having a big dog rip my gonads off,startling someone who is enjoying the peaceful privacy of their home.

I can only think that the meter person was driven by some lunatic bonus scheme/pay per read pay structure..

Scottish_Power

Hi steffyoak,

I am sorry for the issues that you have had with metrer readers and would like to help sort this out for you.

Can you please send me your details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and i can have a look at your query

Thanks

Chris@scottishpower