Phantom Meter at my property

AnyGaffer

Twice, i have tried to switch energy supplier with MSE.

Twice, the transfer has gone horribly wrong.

It seems that there are TWO electricity meters registered to my address. i live in a detached house - there is no second meter.

And both times i have tried to switch dual fuel, the supplier has looked up my address and switched the phantom meter. This soon falls apart when they take a reading and their system rejects it as unreasonable.

it then takes them months and months to sort out the mess.

British Gas, Scottish power and Sainsburys say that the phantom meter is registered to Avo. Avo say there is nothing wrong with their records. And they won't tell me where the meter is registered to, just that it isn't me.

The supplier being switched from says "not our problem".
The supplier being switched to says "We can fix the erroneous transfer but we can't change AVO's records.
Avo say "nothing wrong" (and don't care - I'm not their customer)
I can't get the ombudsman involved 'till I have two suppliers who say "we're at an impass"

How do i get this mess sorted out?

Scratching my head in Skelmorlie...

zaax

Do the meter(s) serial numbers tally from your bill(s) to the meter?

footyguy

AnyGaffer wrote: »

Twice, i have tried to switch energy supplier with MSE.

Twice, the transfer has gone horribly wrong.

It seems that there are TWO electricity meters registered to my address. i live in a detached house - there is no second meter.

And both times i have tried to switch dual fuel, the supplier has looked up my address and switched the phantom meter. This soon falls apart when they take a reading and their system rejects it as unreasonable.

it then takes them months and months to sort out the mess.

British Gas, Scottish power and Sainsburys say that the phantom meter is registered to Avo. Avo say there is nothing wrong with their records. And they won't tell me where the meter is registered to, just that it isn't me.

The supplier being switched from says "not our problem".
The supplier being switched to says "We can fix the erroneous transfer but we can't change AVO's records.
Avo say "nothing wrong" (and don't care - I'm not their customer)
I can't get the ombudsman involved 'till I have two suppliers who say "we're at an impass"

How do i get this mess sorted out?

Scratching my head in Skelmorlie...

My first thought was that you are on a legacy tariff which has 2 MPANs associated with it.

But that is probably wrong as:
(a) you make no mention of being on a leagacy tariff
(b) You say the other meter is not registered to you

So the current supplier supplies you on one MPAN.
I can't see why any other supplier can't take over that supply (even if there is another meter on your property that you say is registered to someone else - have you seen outside flats/converted houses? There can be half a dozen or more meters at the same property, and so one usually has any issue switching supplier). Even your current supplier is saying they are not objecting to you leaving for another supplier.

As a matter of interest, who is your current supplier, please?


What you could do is refer to your MPAN



Unless the Meter Time Switch Code is in the range 500 - 509 or 800 - 999, you probably will not be able to switch supplier, sorry.

mnw1888

Hi,




Why not try a Subject access request to Ovo , this may be needed to get all the info they have on you.


Unfortunately it does cost £10 but should get to the bottom of this.
Send this request including the £10 fee to the address which your data holder has registered with the Data Protection Commissioner as the address of the Data Controller.
They have up to 40 days to reply If they do not respond, send them a 7 day reminder.


If you have two meters look for two service heads that is the incoming cables prior to the meter.


Also do Ovo send you bills for the second meter?

footyguy

mnw1888 - It's Avo; nothing to do with energy supplier Ovo

Avo have already given the OP the information they have on him (1 meter connected with him, the other at the property is not). No need to waste £10 as I don't know what other info the OP could possibly want from Avo that spending £10 would provide.

AnyGaffer

I don't get bills for the phantom meter. it just gets in the way when I try to transfer (next time I'll make sure they go by my meter number, not the address) and it raises concern - is something fraudulent going on here?

zaax:

Yes, my bills tally with my meter. it is just when i tried to switch supplier, they looked up my address and found a meter that is not on my property.

footyguy:

i have no reason to believe that I am on a Legacy tariff (what's that?) I don't know the MPAN for the phantom meter because I've never been billed against it. i do have a Meter Point Number for the phantom, it is a 13 digit number - does not seem to be the same thing.

My current electricity supplier is British Gas.

mnw1888:

Interesting approach. i think that the real problem lies with the national database, which lists each meter, it's address and who supplies the power. This is the database that everyone except AVO says is wrong. if i pay £10 to see that, then it will tell me: the meter Number (that I can't do anything with), my address and tell me that the supplier is AVO. I don't think that helps me :-(

If I pay my £10 and insist that they delete the erroneous record with my address in it, Avo are likely to re-create it again.

macman

A legacy tariff is an obsolete tariff. We are thinking something like Economy 10/Heatwise, which has 2 MPAN's. and unique metering. So please confirm if your sole meter is single rate, E7, etc?
And what specific tariff you are on for each fuel?

SwanJon

footyguy wrote: »

(even if there is another meter on your property that you say is registered to someone else - have you seen outside flats/converted houses?

Also possible with new builds - plot 5 becomes house number 10, one supplier supplies this house, another suppliers plot 10 and confusion reigns.

AnyGaffer wrote: »

I don't know the MPAN for the phantom meter because I've never been billed against it. i do have a Meter Point Number for the phantom, it is a 13 digit number

sounds like this is the same thing - although the full MPAN has both rows of numbers, the bottom row (16 6789 0123 222) is often refered to as the MPAN and is 13 digits long.

footyguy wrote: »

If you know your MPAN and meter serial number it sounds like the only way to switch is to go direct to the suppplier you wnat and give them this information. Tell them there is an error on the national database and not to use the address. Sadly you'll miss out on any cashback.

A subject access request to Ovo/Avo is of no use to you if you are not their customer. They will have no information about you to release and you'll just waste time and money.
It might be that Ovo/Avo have updated their systems but not the national database and as their customer is not complaining they have no impetus to do anything. The more times you try to switch the more annoyed that other customer will get...

The best you could do is write to Ovo/Avo with all the details (your MPAN, MSN, address, the other MPAN and any details you have) asking them to update the national databse - a call often has less impact than a letter.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Who are AVO?

footyguy

AnyGaffer wrote: »

...
footyguy:

i have no reason to believe that I am on a Legacy tariff (what's that?) I don't know the MPAN for the phantom meter because I've never been billed against it. i do have a Meter Point Number for the phantom, it is a 13 digit number - does not seem to be the same thing.

My current electricity supplier is British Gas.

...

Don't worry about the other meter/supply; it's not even in your name you tell us.

British Gas have taken over your electricity supply at some time in the past, (so you are not on a legacy tariff either) and I see no valid reason any other supplier couldn't do likewise today. (see my earlier comment about the meter time switch code though)

The MPAN is the Metering Point Administration Number, sometimes referred to as a Supply number or S number and relates to your electricity supply.


(By contrast, a gas supply has an MPRN or Meter Point Reference Number, also sometimes referred to as an M number)