meter tampering

misterbarlow

if its in your name you are liable..
first time offence usually comes to around £200 in charges and lost units....

macman

k4n3y wrote: »

i rent out my flat as i stay with my fiance and my tenant has called to confess to tampering with the electic meter as it has caused a smallfire in the fuse box area and has melted part of the meter, i have made the flat safe and the tenant has gone to their parents for the weekend,i now have to contact my energy company and try to explain what has happened ,what worries me is that it was a prepayment meter and the account is still in my name so could i be in trouble with the law or will the tenant still be held responsible,i know a big bill may be on the way but tenant assures they will pay,i'm more worried about the legal side.

Do you really trust the word of someone who attempts to fiddle a meter and could have burnt the property down, killed themselves or others living there?

chanz4

torbrex wrote: »

I visited over 300 jobs in my role as an RPU inspector and would never be arrogant enough to say I was 100% expert on any of them.

I have been for the last 10 years, and deal in the field for an rpu

newbie1980

6 months rent paid in advance
i would smell a rat
more than likely he had a cannabis factory which has overloaded the circuitry and the meter had been bypassed

[Deleted User]

I find quite a few prepay electric tampers. I read meters for Brit Gas , EDF and Scot Power, my company G4S also do RPU work for BG and Scot Power. I am reliably informed by my freind who deals with electric prepay bypasses that there is a new meter charge which totals to over £400, and of course an estimate of the ammount tampered which will be loaded onto the new meter as debt. No prosecutions are likely by the suppliers as they dont like the cost of the solicitors and all the "get out of it " claims by the tamperer so they prefer to encourage further dangerous lethal bypassing and give them a little slap on the wrist which means nothing. All the home grown cannabis farms are funded by these incredibly lax bypassing laws. Until we get a Regulator with teeth it will only get worse. I have just found one in Grimsby, the same chav had done the same thing 6 months previously
OP should get it reported asap, If the tenant is an official one, and is a short term lease there will be no comebacks on you, it happens all the time. If not I am sure the Suppliers wont give a toss so long as you make good the loss and pay for a new meter.
I think Newbie1980 is probably correct in that your "tenant " overloaded his bypass link when running too many electric heaters to grow his 14 ( the limit for personal use ) cannabis plants. There will be little chance of getting the approx £700 ( to pay for new meter and back useage out of him I would have thought, so this will be yet another free energy customer burdoning the National Grid

Alias_Omega

In a former life, i have broken the meter seals to terminate new tails into the meter from the consumer unit.

Its hard for the supplier to prove who broke the seals, plus most of the lead ones can be put back into place if cut in the middle.

If you know the meter reading of the new meter installed, you can setup a new account for the tenant, then report the issue...

"Yeah yeah, i rang you in March about this. You said you would sort it..."

chanz4

Alias_Omega wrote: »

In a former life, i have broken the meter seals to terminate new tails into the meter from the consumer unit.

Its hard for the supplier to prove who broke the seals, plus most of the lead ones can be put back into place if cut in the middle.

If you know the meter reading of the new meter installed, you can setup a new account for the tenant, then report the issue...

"Yeah yeah, i rang you in March about this. You said you would sort it..."

As long aas their is evidence of new work its fine, however really you should notify the dno before and after

k4n3y

Well my tenant isn't Mr big cannabis grower after all but he is a !!!!,meter has been replaced and fitted with two isolaters,one for 24hr domestic and other for storage heaters,had to get electrician to fit the tails from consumer units but at least power is back on,just waiting to here outcome from supplier now

lemontart

k4n3y wrote: »

Well my tenant isn't Mr big cannabis grower after all but he is a !!!!,meter has been replaced and fitted with two isolaters,one for 24hr domestic and other for storage heaters,had to get electrician to fit the tails from consumer units but at least power is back on,just waiting to here outcome from supplier now

do hope you got a deposit off the tenant which will go towards these costs

chanz4

who was the rpu that attended to investigate?