Switching - amendments to final reading

hjd

I am in the process of switching from EDF to OVO. Switch date was 24/03/15. OVO requested that I send them meter readings on 21/03, which I did.
Final gas bill today from EDF which shows the closing reading as higher than my supplied reading. This is shown as Estimated.
I rang EDF, who said that the reading is audited by the external body and this is what they have decided the reading should be.
I have read the meters today and they are only just higher than this "amended" reading, after a month. I have got them to give me electricity readings and they have done the same thing there.
Now I have to read the meters again in 2 weeks' time and submit those readings so they can open a dispute procedure.

It seems to me that they do not trust the customer to read the meters correctly. We have only been in the house 2 years so not a lot of history to go on. I have switched before and have always just had my readings accepted.
Is it just me?

pete-20-11

When I moved to edf my previous supplier British Gas ignored the readings, so it is not just them that do it.

I believe edf disputed the readings with British Gas and got them changed. Took ages though!

hjd

pete-20-11 wrote: »

When I moved to edf my previous supplier British Gas ignored the readings, so it is not just them that do it.

I believe edf disputed the readings with British Gas and got them changed. Took ages though!

Glad to know it's not just me!

macman

As long as the opening and closing reads agree, it makes little difference-the increase in one bill is cancelled out by the decrease in the other.

brewerdave

macman wrote: »

As long as the opening and closing reads agree, it makes little difference-the increase in one bill is cancelled out by the decrease in the other.

......with the proviso that the readings difference isn't huge as most people switch to save money ,so a new tariff MAY be appreciably cheaper thus costing the switcher real cash:)
I argued (successfully!) with SP when I left them because their estimated closing readings were much higher than actual given to the new supplier which would have cost me an extra £15:eek:

macman

It can of course go either way, depending on whether the figure used is under or over the actual.

brewerdave

macman wrote: »

It can of course go either way, depending on whether the figure used is under or over the actual.

...wouldn't mind betting that the losing supplier rarely underestimates closing readings/usage:rotfl:

violetta

brewerdave wrote: »

...wouldn't mind betting that the losing supplier rarely underestimates closing readings/usage:rotfl:

EDF did in my case! When I switched to EE last May, EDF did not accept my completely truthful meter reading and closed my account with the previous reading I had given them in March 2014. This meant that they did not charge me for the final two months I was with them but as EE's opening read was adjusted to match, this did not seem to matter much (apart from maybe costing me a small amount as my EDF fix had been at a cheaper tariff).

The unexpected problem though has been that all the electricity used from March - May when I was with EDF, EE think was used May to August (i.e. 5 months worth of electricity used over 3 months) so they now think I am a higher user of electricity than I actually am, and increased the direct debit accordingly, and as we all know from the EE thread, it is not easy, in fact just about impossible, to get EE to help and adjust things in any way, shape or form.

I was really hopeful when EE's online tool to 'Manage your Direct Debit' came on line, but unfortunately the customer is only able to manage their direct debit upwards lol

Haarlem

I had the same problem with Scotish Power not accepting my final reading which was definitely genuine.

Took 4 months for Scotish Power to finally accept the reading. One problem was the call centre in India just did not understand the problem.

sidbee

Seems to be a common experience - I had the same hassle with EDF ignoring my closing reading when I switched from them a couple of years ago and trying to use a higher estimate even though the new supplier had already accepted and used my reading as the opening read. After a lot of arguing they did eventually amend their figure.

Haarlem

sidbee wrote: »

Seems to be a common experience - I had the same hassle with EDF ignoring my closing reading when I switched from them a couple of years ago and trying to use a higher estimate even though the new supplier had already accepted and used my reading as the opening read. After a lot of arguing they did eventually amend their figure.

Adding to my previous post, Eon started using my final reading straight away, but Scotish Power kept insisting on using a much higher closing reading.

The guy in India kept insisting I had to contact my new supplier, Eon and get them to use Scotish Power's inflated closing reading.

Scotish Power would not accept it as a dispute so I could not take it to the ombudsman.

After 4 months I put my problem on Scotish Power's Facebook page, and within a week they used the correct closing reading