Electric Meters

thesaint

PoppyLurcher wrote: »

NO obligation??? Then how are we meant to read our electricity meters for accurate billing?

You write to the landlord asking him to read the meters twice a year, and supply you with the readings. You then in turn supply this reading to the utility company.

Or, you give the utility company the landlords details, and they will liase with him to get access to their meters.

PoppyLurcher

No it's not like that I am told by eon. I am to read the meter every month in order to pay my bill. They do not ask the landlord to do it... He wouldn't do it anyway....

People seem to have complicated this thread so I think we'll leave it.

45002

Meters must be accessible to the named account holders and Utility suppliers.

Utility suppliers have a lawfully right to read/inspect there meter every two years or less if they suspect fraud.

Sounds like there a locked cupboard to stop tenants changing meters to PPM.

Meters belong to Utility suppliers and No the LL,tennats are free to change there utility suppliers.

thesaint

PoppyLurcher wrote: »

No it's not like that I am told by eon. I am to read the meter every month in order to pay my bill. They do not ask the landlord to do it... He wouldn't do it anyway....

People seem to have complicated this thread so I think we'll leave it.

The dummy has been spat.

45002 wrote: »

Meters must be accessible to the named account holders and Utility suppliers.

Quote the legislation so that the OP can put it in writing for the landlord.

rpc

For gas, it's the law. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/1886/regulation/13/made

For electricity, I don't think there is statute. Tell your supplier that you have no access to the meter, don't know what the opening reading was and won't be able to provide a closing reading. It is their meter after all...

G_M

Sigh!

Dear Mr Landord

(sent by LETTER to address provided "for the serving of notices)

I note that the gas boiler was last inspected over a year ago. I do not have a current valid gas safety certificate.

In order to assist you comply with your legal requirement to provide me with a valid annual certificate,I am happy to facilitate access to the property once you have arranged an engineer to inspect. kindly give me 24 hours notice.

With regards to electricity, I have been unable to either read the meter, or provide access to the utility supplier to read it as I do not have a key to the meter cupboard located (under the stairs/whatever). Kindly provide a key, or, if you donot have one, arrange for a locksmith to access the cupboard, change the lock, and provide keys.

Yours sincerely

A Tenant

mjdh1957

PoppyLurcher wrote: »

Normally first line of approach therefore did not feel I needed to mention a common sense course of action

Common sense is surprisingly uncommon, which is why people recommend simple solutions first.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

PoppyLurcher wrote: »

hello everyone

I'm a newbie, so please forgive if I have posted in the wrong section of the forum.

I have a question relating to electric meters and access with in the property I live in.

I live in a block of 13 flats and all the electric meters are kept in a locked cupboard. As far as I am aware and have found out, non of us tenants have a key so we can not read our meters. We have easy access to our gas meters though.

I am having some billing issues and have requested several times access so I can read and indeed want monthly access so I can pay monthly as this is much more manageable for me. The requests appear to be falling on deaf ears somewhat as texts and voice mails go unanswered!

Could somebody please advise me if there is a legal obligation from my landlord/property manager to give all tenants access and a key so we may read our meters? If not please could you advise on what I can do?

Many thanks

PoppyLurcher wrote: »

Eon chap was outside the other night. He has no key and no window to look through.

PoppyLurcher wrote: »

No it's not like that I am told by eon. I am to read the meter every month in order to pay my bill. They do not ask the landlord to do it... He wouldn't do it anyway....

People seem to have complicated this thread so I think we'll leave it.

Hi PoppyLurcher

As others have said, suppliers have a duty to see meters at least once every two years. This is a regulatory requirement.

We don't wait two years before doing something about it though. If we haven't been able to inspect a meter for 15 months, we'll ask the meter reader for the area to make more attempts to gain access. We'll ask them to try at different times of the day and at weekends.

As the meter belongs to us, we'll make every effort to ensure it's accurate, safe and fit for purpose.

If we continue to draw a blank, we'll send up to three letters asking the customer to contact us and book an appointment that's convenient to them.

Each letter will outline the regulatory requirements. They'll also point out that, in extreme cases, we may need to apply for a magistrate warrant to obtain access to the meter. However, this is very much the last resort. We prefer to work with customers to avoid this.

In the meantime, we'll bill you using estimated meter readings. These estimates will be based on any previous usage history at the property. Where we haven't been able to obtain readings for a long time, the estimates may not be very accurate and can lead to issues later on.

Hope this helps.

Malc