Scottish power want us to have new electric meter

Terrylw1

OP - the National Measurements Office (NMO) set the certification years for each meter. This date reflects the meters recognised accurate life. After this point, the meter could,d develop faults that could result in slow recording or speeding.

The Meter Operator does all this on behalf of the supplier, although you are covered by the suppliers duty of care over any issues with their contracted agent.

This is in your interests as it protects you from meter faults which you will find hard to resolve which can often result in inaccurate supplier estimation calculations.

It will only take them 20-30 mins to do it.

They can obtain a warrant as its their equipment which means charges to you and forced access.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

OP if you refuse entry they will think you are 'up to something', they will get a warrant, and when you are busy doing your more important things, will bust your door in, if needed, and change the meter.

Oh, and you will have to pay any extra expenses, far easier just to let them do their job.

grahamc2003

hubb wrote: »

I bet you would. I run a business and don't have free time to just fritter away on things that possibly are not necessary.

You need to be less aggressive.

Isn't your electricity supply a critical input into your business?

I would think it's not too onerous spending a total of 10 minutes every fifteen/twenty years to ensure that critical aspect continues running smoothly?

(5 mins to open the door and say hello to the technician, and five minutes saying thanks and goodbye).

I bet you wish every facet of your business ran so smoothly with such a minute amount of attention.

Wilt

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Isn't your electricity supply a critical input into your business?

I would think it's not too onerous spending a total of 10 minutes every fifteen/twenty years to ensure that critical aspect continues running smoothly?

(5 mins to open the door and say hello to the technician, and five minutes saying thanks and goodbye).

I bet you wish every facet of your business ran so smoothly with such a minute amount of attention.

Is it only ten minutes though? It may have changed, but my previous experiences for meter changing is that you need to take the entire day off work - and then only receive a measly £20 in compensation if (when) the fitter fails to turn up.

Terrylw1

Wilt wrote: »

Is it only ten minutes though? It may have changed, but my previous experiences for meter changing is that you need to take the entire day off work - and then only receive a measly £20 in compensation if (when) the fitter fails to turn up.

You can request a 2 hr timeslot.

The compensation is now £22 + a further same amount if then don't pay within 10 working days.

Terrylw1

Wilt wrote: »

Is it only ten minutes though? It may have changed, but my previous experiences for meter changing is that you need to take the entire day off work - and then only receive a measly £20 in compensation if (when) the fitter fails to turn up.

You can request a 2 hr timeslot or a half day.

I think we all thought you are a business customer from your previous post so you just have to let them in and leave them to do the work.

The compensation is now £22 + a further same amount if then don't pay within 10 working days.

Wilt

Terrylw1 wrote: »

You can request a 2 hr timeslot or a half day.

I think we all thought you are a business customer from your previous post so you just have to let them in and leave them to do the work.

The compensation is now £22 + a further same amount if then don't pay within 10 working days.

I'm not the OP, just thought it would be worth pointing out that it isn't always as simple as just a ten minute job for a lot of people, actually ensuring somebody is at home can be a major problem. This then gets worse if the fitter fails to turn up when you are at home for an appointment.

Thanks for the updated info re. timeslots & compo.

Terrylw1

Wilt wrote: »

I'm not the OP, just thought it would be worth pointing out that it isn't always as simple as just a ten minute job for a lot of people, actually ensuring somebody is at home can be a major problem. This then gets worse if the fitter fails to turn up when you are at home for an appointment.

Thanks for the updated info re. timeslots & compo.

Thanks, just spotted it.

It is a major problem and its been a common cause of customer complaints for years.

Suppliers quite commonly try for all day appointments despite having contracts in place for 2, 4 or 8 hour slots. Its a lot harder for suppliers as before privatisation they could see the buckets of time an agent had open but now they can't see anything. This has caused managers to move to policies of basic bookings unless you push them.

If its a recertification due to the meters life ending, you have to do this with the actual agent themselves, the Meter Operator (elec) or Meter Asset Manager (gas) and they will be using a system where they can see what time bands they have open...but again its easier to blag standard visit out of a customer.

macman

I was told by the guy who changed our meter that they also do emergency call out work. They schedule a number of meter changes on each shift, but if they need to attend a leak or other emergency then that obviously takes priority.

skivenov

I had this at my old workshop (the meter was older than time itself).

When he showed up, they asked where the meter was. I pointed to the corner behind 3 dismantled cars.

They asked me if I could move the parts, I declined but said he could if he wanted to.

Strangely, he declined and never came back until I moved out a year later.