Phantom Second Meter (E.on)

Chouette

Hi there,

My electricity is with E.on, and I'm on the "RHT Energyplan 21" tarriff.

Ever since I moved in to my flat three years ago, E.on have been insistent that I've got two meters installed in my flat, and I've been just as insistent that there is only one. I've had numerous meter readers come round to read it, but they haven't found it either.

It was suggested to me by E.on that it was a separate meter for my storage heater, but the storage heater has been nonfunctioning since before I moved in, and doesn't seem to be actually connected to the electric - the flat is heated by those freestanding electric radiators that cost a bomb (so I mostly suffer the cold, since I'm a fulltime benefit scrounger, part time OU student, and am in the house all day. I have the chillblains to prove it).

It's come to a head now because they've agreed to change my prepayment meter to a credit meter (:T) so I'd like to get everything ironed out.

I rang my landlady who was completely baffled and basically told me that, since E.on installed the current meter they "must know what meters are there", but that she knew nothing about any second meter and thought there was just one. I'm inclined to believe her because she used to live here(!) and has been very knowledgeable about other things in the flat.

So where do I go from here? I'm worried that I've been over paying my electric since I moved in!

I realise I should probably have spotted this earlier, but I claim esa, dla and housing benefit, due to chronic mental health problems, and have had a pretty continuous nightmare of appeals, suspensions, etc to deal with, which has been difficult for me as I find dealing with paperwork difficult and have had a lot of support with that - keeping myself alive and a roof over my head (and scraping through my studies) has left me no headspace for scrutinising my electricity bill I've also been massively worrying about the Goverment telling the newspapers that people like me don't deserve a flat (under 35, so the shortfall between my rent and HB is about 50 quid a week, which is keeping me up at night to say the least).

Any advice from someone more knowledgeable than me welcome! (don't worry about the HB problem, wrong forum for that and I already know I'm screwed)

sheffield_lad

Chouette wrote: »

So where do I go from here? I'm worried that I've been over paying my electric since I moved in!

Sorry to appear thick but....why do you think you have been overpaying?

Is it an E7 meter you currently have?

Wolf3

OP, so as far as you know there is only one meter at your property, can you tell us how many registers there are on your current meter.

When you look at the meter unit, there will probably be a blue button stating "cycle display" or the reads cycle automatically. note down what readings are shown on the display and let us know how many registers there are. Some of the registers may show a Date/time/Test reading of 88888.

If there are 3 registers you may have a multi-rate meter which could show up as 2 meters on your suppliers records, as the property will have 2 separate supply numbers. although it is a single unit and have the same Meter Serial Number.

If there are only 2 readings on the meter then your suppliers records could be wrong. The suppliers dont install the meters, they rely on the information being passed to them by the Meter Operators who do the work on their behalf, depending on which area of the country you live. The Meter Operator could even be Eon if you live in the Midlands or North West England, however they are 2 separate parts of the business. If this is the case i would have suggested you get an appointment booked with your supplier to "obtain meter technical details" however as you already have an appointment to change to a credit meter booked this should be picked up by the engineer who replaces the meter.

As far as i know the tariff you are currently on does have a standing charge for the off peak part of the meter (for your storage heater, which is not being used) if the meter details are correct you should be being billed correctly, however if the meter has been exchanged without the suppliers knowledge, you could potentially be overcharged.

Chouette

Wolf3 wrote: »

OP, so as far as you know there is only one meter at your property, can you tell us how many registers there are on your current meter.

When you look at the meter unit, there will probably be a blue button stating "cycle display" or the reads cycle automatically. note down what readings are shown on the display and let us know how many registers there are. Some of the registers may show a Date/time/Test reading of 88888.

If there are 3 registers you may have a multi-rate meter which could show up as 2 meters on your suppliers records, as the property will have 2 separate supply numbers. although it is a single unit and have the same Meter Serial Number.

If there are only 2 readings on the meter then your suppliers records could be wrong. The suppliers dont install the meters, they rely on the information being passed to them by the Meter Operators who do the work on their behalf, depending on which area of the country you live. The Meter Operator could even be Eon if you live in the Midlands or North West England, however they are 2 separate parts of the business. If this is the case i would have suggested you get an appointment booked with your supplier to "obtain meter technical details" however as you already have an appointment to change to a credit meter booked this should be picked up by the engineer who replaces the meter.

As far as i know the tariff you are currently on does have a standing charge for the off peak part of the meter (for your storage heater, which is not being used) if the meter details are correct you should be being billed correctly, however if the meter has been exchanged without the suppliers knowledge, you could potentially be overcharged.

Thanks. My meter appears to have two rates - "Rate 1" and "Rate 2". I'm assuming that if it had more than that it would say "Rate 3" etc? The phantom meter has a different serial number to the other meter.

I'm in the North West! Manchester, to be more specific.

The current prepayment meter was installed just before I moved in, according to the date on the label. I accidentally opened an E.on bill addressed to the previous tenant once, it was for over £1000 :eek:

Wolf3

as you only have 2 rates you only have an Economy 7 or Economy 10 meter. I would presume your energy supplier has the wrong meter details on file so i would suggest you call them and give the current meter details and the date it was installed if you can.

See if you can get them to re-bill the account on a standard Economy 7 tariff and you might be pleasantly surprised the tariff you are being billed on has a standing charge for the off peak meter which was probably removed when the meter was changed.

Eon will bill the account in your favour, if you haven't been using the storage heater and your night usage is less than 40% of your total usage, by billing you on an unrestricted tariff. If you ask nicely of course

Chouette

Wolf3 wrote: »

as you only have 2 rates you only have an Economy 7 or Economy 10 meter. I would presume your energy supplier has the wrong meter details on file so i would suggest you call them and give the current meter details and the date it was installed if you can.

See if you can get them to re-bill the account on a standard Economy 7 tariff and you might be pleasantly surprised the tariff you are being billed on has a standing charge for the off peak meter which was probably removed when the meter was changed.

Eon will bill the account in your favour, if you haven't been using the storage heater and your night usage is less than 40% of your total usage, by billing you on an unrestricted tariff. If you ask nicely of course

Thank you very much for your help, I feel a lot better about it now They are definitely aware of the new meter as I have checked the serial number with them and it matches their record.

They're ringing me back on Monday to arrange the meter swap, so I will bring it up then.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, what does an RHT meter LOOK like? I've never seen one in my life, and Google hasn't been very helpful for once. I assume they're big and obvious like normal meters? It's not something I could have been overlooking for three years? :rotfl:

BRIANCARSON

see https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3600763

2nd post with regards ' Restricted Hour Tariff (RHT) meters '

see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.php?u=646547

I quote ' I am an official company representative of E.ON '

so your best to contact him as it does look that you have a complicated issue.

good luck

Wolf3

Just for the avoidance of doubt, what does an RHT meter LOOK like? I've never seen one in my life, and Google hasn't been very helpful for once. I assume they're big and obvious like normal meters? It's not something I could have been overlooking for three years?

Depending on the make of the meter would determine the size, but they are generally around the same size of a normal meter, so its not something you could miss. If there was one installed it should be in a similar place to your normal meter.

I would think it was removed when they changed the Normal meter, as you said the storage heater had been disconnected from the electrics. Your landlady probably told the engineer she wasnt going to use the storage heater anymore so thats why he removed it. Even if he hadnt been given the job to do so. Therefore the Meter Operator never informed the supplier it had been removed

Chouette

Wolf3 wrote: »

Depending on the make of the meter would determine the size, but they are generally around the same size of a normal meter, so its not something you could miss. If there was one installed it should be in a similar place to your normal meter.

I would think it was removed when they changed the Normal meter, as you said the storage heater had been disconnected from the electrics. Your landlady probably told the engineer she wasnt going to use the storage heater anymore so thats why he removed it. Even if he hadnt been given the job to do so. Therefore the Meter Operator never informed the supplier it had been removed

Thanks very much (again!). That makes sense. I'm expecting a call from them tomorrow, so I'll see what comes out of that...

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hiya Chouette,

So what I have gathered from your post, I think there was a RHT meter in the property, this was then removed when a prepayment was installed to collect the debt (from the previous tenant) and the storage heater disconnected.

But, it sounds like we still have the RHT meter on your account along with the new prepayment meter.

Now it doesn't necessarily mean that you have been over or under charged if your prepayment meter has been set correctly then you will have been charged correctly even though it may be that your account has the wrong tariff on.

When you speak to us today, take the settings from your prepayment meter and go through them with the advisor, this will establish if you have been charged correctly.

Hope you get all this sorted.

Helena

Chouette

Hmmmm. They've booked me a second appointment to remove the fuse from this second meter so that I don't get charged a standing charge for it anymore (that will be an interesting conversation), and told me to ask my landlady to get the storage heater working (so will that).

But, they are going to bill me on a single rate once they've installed the new meter, which should work out cheaper for me I hope.

Not so sure about having paid the right amount as I thought it was their records that counted, not the meter (had this argument with them when I moved in and my first statement showed me as oweing them money)