Wrong Electricity Meter Reading

edcs

I received a bill from E.On last week for nearly £500 for electricity supplied to a property I moved out of in June last year. They had been taking readings from the wrong meter and have now decided that they have found the right meter and want money from me.

The building was a block of flats, I had no access to the meters as they were in a service room somewhere. Meter readings had to be taken by the concierge who then posted them on a note through the letterbox.

E.On 'kindly' reduced the bill to £140 yesterday, which was actually because they can't bill me for anything more than a 12 months in the past. I've told them I'm not paying anything and they have escalated the complaint higher - my question is though, am I under any obligation to pay? As far as I'm concerned this is their !!!!-up, why should I be paying this? I also don't think they have supplied me with adequate evidence to support their cause. I've just been told that they have billed me for meter x where as it should have been for meter y. I don't trust how they've determined this as they have already demonstrated such incompetence.

macman

Yes, if you used the amount billed during your period of residence then you are required to pay it, subject to any back billing provision.
You have the right to read your own meters and should not have accepted a reading by a 3rd party. How can it be their !!!!-up? The readings were supplied by the concierge acting as your 'agent'. he picked the wrong meter, not EDF. You were then billed on that basis. The error is not that of the supplier, and you have already gained £360 by the application of the back billing rule (which I can't quite see would apply in this instance)?

dogshome

Doesn't appear to be a caretakers c*ck-up, but the usual mis-information from Flat Builders to Utility Co., in which case the back-billing will apply.

EDF now seem to be claiming that the OP used more power than was recorded and billed for by the 'wrong' meter, but without a Start Reading or Final Reading from the correct meter, EDF's calculations can only be based on Guesswork, and even that is based on Readings after another tenant has been in the flat for appx. 10 months.

The OP writes of a 'Bill', but if this is just a demand or letter, he/she should WRITE to EDF heading the letter Complaint asking that they supply a fully detailed bill with a Start readings, End readings and complete useage, tariff and price details

[Deleted User]

Dont accept the readings from the concierge. There should be no reason why you cant have a key to see your own meter. This will proberbly carry on in the future unless you get access and do a check test to identify exactly your meter, then label it prominently and get back to the supplier if the serials numbers are crossed with another meter

edcs

E.On phoned today to say that they would be crediting the account to the value of the remainder owed as a gesture of goodwill.

macman

sacsquacco wrote: »

Dont accept the readings from the concierge. There should be no reason why you cant have a key to see your own meter. This will proberbly carry on in the future unless you get access and do a check test to identify exactly your meter, then label it prominently and get back to the supplier if the serials numbers are crossed with another meter

The problem here is that the OP is no longer at the property, and it seems that no closing reading was taken by them.