wrong meter

mililly

does anyone know ive had the wrong meter in my house since i moved in 1989..all tariffs based on economy 7 meter when i should have had a standard meter. consequently last 7 months used 866.00 of electric when ive paid 88.00 a month and on a standard tariff with a standard meter it should have been 94.00 a month..not 478.00 in debt as npower have said. Do i have any come back..this has been going on years with different providers high bills and only recently have a been told i have the wrong meter.

StuC75

was nothing ever flagged when you were unable to provide 2 meter readings?(if you are implying that charged Economy 7 but only have a single reading meter)..

spiro

Do you mean you have an E7 (2-rate meter) and have been on an E7 tariff? If the answer is yes then it is up to you to determine what is the best tariff (E7 or standard) based on your individual consumption and request the appropriate tariff. The supplier dont second guess for you.
No you dont have any come back.

macman

If you are on E7 and don't use around 33% of your units on the cheap rate (which usually, but not always, means having night storage heaters and an immersion heater on an overnight timer), then a single rate tariff may well be cheaper for you.
But this is not the responsibility of your electricity supplier-they have no idea how you heat and hot water your house. It's up to you to determine what is best and choose your tariff accordingly.
You've apparently had 23 years to do that. Did you maybe switch over from night storage heaters to central heating at some point in that period?
PS: have you not switched supplier since 1989?!

PollyOnAMission

I had what seems to be a similar problem with nPower, although over a shorter time period.

I submitted meter readings and they would ask me for the second number; over and over again I would tell them there was only one number. They came and took readings themselves, so saw there was only one number, yet still my bills were astronomical.

Eventually I investigated it and worked out what they were doing; they were charging me all my units at the peak Economy7 rate, even though I'd never had an Economy7 meter or switched to an Economy7 tarrif.

In the end they recalculated all my bills for the period where it was wrong (I think it was about 2 or 3 years) and credited my account with my overpayments. I was in credit with them by hundreds, stayed with them until my balance was zero then switched suppliers.

If I were you I would phone nPower customer services and explain to them what is happening. They might recalculate bills if they deem they have been the ones at fault, but I expect there might be some kind of time limit on this. You'd be very lucky to get a refund dating back to 1989!

mililly

i understand its upto me but what i am saying is that meter was in the house when we moved in we had no emersion or heaters and all my tariffs have been based on economy 7 meter..which is right but no one all through the years of moaning about excessively high bills compared to others did anyone ever suggest that we needed a standard meter..i have been told you cannot have a standard tariff if you have an economy 7 meter..it was just a curious question that was all.

macman

So how is the property heated and hot watered? Some suppliers allow the use of an E7 meter on a single rate tariff-the 2 readings are simply totalled. Others require a change of meter, which if necessary is around £50.
5 minutes on a comp site armed with your annual kWh figures and your cheap rate/peak rate usage percentage split will give you the answer you need-just compare the results E7 to non-E7 on your tariff.

Terrylw1

Something suppliers used to do, often non compliant, was change the internal tariff on their system to single rate but based on your 2 readings. However, not all meters are allowed to operate this way, so the supplier acts incorrectly and when you switch the new supplier acts in the correct t way and ONLY allows you on E7. If its this, the fault lies with the original suppliers X years ago, not any of the new ones.

Another possibility on top of the above, is the previous owner was changed this way but when completing your change of tenancy in their billing system, the advisor reverted you back to E7 in error. This would be the fault of who did it and you should be rebilled.

However, this would be based on it being recent, possible up to a year or so. You can't argue it that far back.

The fact is, you have had these bills so if there was a problem, you would raise it. The suppliers take on your query would be that you have found you are worse off and want to change it all when it was never mentioned, hence not their fault.

Contrary to popular belief, the supplier is expected to treat its customers properly and so should really be checking usage. After all, they can use the actual readings to determine whether E7 or standard is best, regardless of appliances since they use the consumption itself. Its always been an issue but its well under Ofgem's radar and there should be more controls over it.

Terrylw1

PollyOnAMission wrote: »

I had what seems to be a similar problem with nPower, although over a shorter time period.

I submitted meter readings and they would ask me for the second number; over and over again I would tell them there was only one number. They came and took readings themselves, so saw there was only one number, yet still my bills were astronomical.

Eventually I investigated it and worked out what they were doing; they were charging me all my units at the peak Economy7 rate, even though I'd never had an Economy7 meter or switched to an Economy7 tarrif.

In the end they recalculated all my bills for the period where it was wrong (I think it was about 2 or 3 years) and credited my account with my overpayments. I was in credit with them by hundreds, stayed with them until my balance was zero then switched suppliers.

If I were you I would phone nPower customer services and explain to them what is happening. They might recalculate bills if they deem they have been the ones at fault, but I expect there might be some kind of time limit on this. You'd be very lucky to get a refund dating back to 1989!

It happens to them all but its ridiculous that they spend so long resolving what is so easy to investigate. Its an easy scenario to resolve.

I hope they did it right, since there should have been an installation or switch reading.

One common cause of this is Bgas and their PPM's with the totaliser register. Bgas love resetting between reads and these mappings go wrong as yo switch to other suppliers who's agents don't work the same. Usually though, its a single rate meter.

mililly

i have a combi boiler and have done since we changed heating when we moved in meter was in when we moved in and for years i have complained about high bills compared to others and all they have said is its your usage...it just annoys me that after all the years of complaining no one has gone through my daily usage or even suggested speaking to the energy efficiency dept which i dint know existed...the fact is i have always been given a tariff relating to the economy 7 meter even though we never used the night rate. and have therefore been charged a hell of a lot more than a normal tariff for a standard meter..

macman

mililly wrote: »

i have a combi boiler and have done since we changed heating when we moved in meter was in when we moved in and for years i have complained about high bills compared to others and all they have said is its your usage...it just annoys me that after all the years of complaining no one has gone through my daily usage or even suggested speaking to the energy efficiency dept which i dint know existed...the fact is i have always been given a tariff relating to the economy 7 meter even though we never used the night rate. and have therefore been charged a hell of a lot more than a normal tariff for a standard meter..

It was your usage-you were using a lot on peak rate and being charged acordingly. But did you tell them that you now have gas CH and no longer have or use night storage heaters or an immersion heater? They are not psychic.
Surely when you changed the heating you must have realised that E7 was no longer suitable? Every bill you've had since for 23 years (approx 92 bills) will have shown minimal units being used on the E7 night rate-did that not ring alarm bells?
If you have a E7 meter then the default is to be placed on an E7 tariff. If you require otherwise then you have to ask for it.
The energy efficiency depts are a relatively new function, they certainly didn't exist 23 years ago!