British Gas Cross Metering Issue

priyesh13

Hi,

I live in an apartment block and almost a year ago in 2011 I had a gas safety check carried out which highlighted I had been paying for the wrong meter. I alerted British Gas, who froze my account, put any money I had paid already into credit and said they needed to investigate the whole apartment block, as it sounded like a cross metering issue.

As I say, this is coming up close to a year and I'm getting very nervous that I haven't paid a gas bill in a while and also that BG have almost £500 of my money in credit. I have been putting money aside every month to ensure I don't get stung when this finally gets sorted, but I have one question I was hoping someone could confirm.

Speaking to someone in my block, she said that if a dispute has not been resolved after a year I am entitled to have any charges written off and could possibly get my £500 back. Is this the case? Or is there something similar in place to protect my money?

Any help with this would be most appreciated!

Thanks

Priyesh Mistry

Cardew

I think that the person in your block is confusing the 12 month backbilling provision in the code for accurate billing, and it won't apply here. In any case it is only bills over 12 months that are written off if the company are at fault.

The problem is that the gas supply companies are usually given the meter serial numbers for the various flats by the developer/builder; and by now this might involve several Utility companies - a nightmare to sort out.

I would simply write to BG outlining the situation and stating you want a speedy solution to the matter.

Terrylw1

Cardew wrote: »

I think that the person in your block is confusing the 12 month backbilling provision in the code for accurate billing, and it won't apply here. In any case it is only bills over 12 months that are written off if the company are at fault.

The problem is that the gas supply companies are usually given the meter serial numbers for the various flats by the developer/builder; and by now this might involve several Utility companies - a nightmare to sort out.

I would simply write to BG outlining the situation and stating you want a speedy solution to the matter.

Meter numbers are passed to suppliers by the agent they employ to fit them, a Metet Asset Manager in gas or Meter Operator in elec.

Suppliers cannot take this from builders/developers as it has to flow through the industry process to 3 parties, one of which is the supplier.

I think what you mean is the plot-to-postal issue which is all down to the builder/developer with Royal Mail. Sometimes they number and then change the plans where never may be in or addresses don't get updated in time.

As you said, it can be very complex as every property could have a different supplier. They may also have switched any number of times.

The main thing for the OP is to get their meter identified.

From there its a matter of determining the customers opening reading.

OP - did you move into a new build? If so, the meters opening reading should be on it or the supplier can get it from the agent after unravelling the cross. If you moved in part way, its going to be impossible to use your start reading and your supplier needs to get one created for you. This part would mean examining your usage over time and calculating the opening reading from it. Be very careful here as it will fluctuate based on season e.g. using winter reads means overcharging in the summer or you could be undercharged if they use summer reads to backdate. They may apply %'s lower or higher to get around some of this.

priyesh13

Thanks for your help guys. I'll have to keep chsing then to get this resolved as soon as possible!

Thanks again