Broken Electric Meter and moving

naedanger

bobcat234 wrote: »

So if EDF knew of the fault but did not repair it then the Fair Billing Policy should come in?

In that case, in my view, you should only have to pay for the last 12 months of usage. How detailed are their letters? Is it obvious from them that they knew they had not fixed the meter?

I know they offered to replace the casing for the landlord at a cost but he said he would do it himself for free,

I suspect this point is not relevant, but I cannot really understand it. Why did the casing need to be fixed before they could fix the meter? If it was a safety issue I would have thought they would have disconnected the supply altogether.

but not giving me a means to pay my bills must full on them.

Yes, if they knew about the problem. (For completeness they will not be liable if the meter had been tampered with.)

[Deleted User]

naedanger wrote: »

In that case, in my view, you should only have to pay for the last 12 months of usage. How detailed are their letters? Is it obvious from them that they knew they had not fixed the meter?



I suspect this point is not relevant, but I cannot really understand it. Why did the casing need to be fixed before they could fix the meter? If it was a safety issue I would have thought they would have disconnected the supply altogether.


Yes, if they knew about the problem. (For completeness they will not be liable if the meter had been tampered with.)

By the word "casing needed to be fixed " I presume it is the lower cover.That is usually protected by a metal seal.If that lower casing has been damaged or entered and there are any screws showing evidence of heavy use then the meter has been bypassed and intentionally damaged.There is no battery under that lower cover, just four cables entering

bobcat234

naedanger wrote: »

I suspect this point is not relevant, but I cannot really understand it. Why did the casing need to be fixed before they could fix the meter? If it was a safety issue I would have thought they would have disconnected the supply altogether.

It is the casing on the wire that stops people cutting into it, it needs to be a certain thickness or something like that, The wire runs from the flat downstairs up into mine. I have never tampered with the meter and i assume they would have checked for that right away. The letters say that the battery in the meter needs replacing and that there engineers are in the area. So i book them to come around, they turn up and say the same thing about the wire casing and that they can not fix it but someone else can then they go.

Meter readers come in, say they note the fault and we should hear something soon but nothing.

This is the only time i have had problems paying bills, i am in credit with EDF for gas, they should just take the money from there.

bobcat234

The meter is a Siemens S2s-600a with a lithium battery if that is any help.

naedanger

bobcat234 wrote: »

It is the casing on the wire that stops people cutting into it, it needs to be a certain thickness or something like that, The wire runs from the flat downstairs up into mine. I have never tampered with the meter and i assume they would have checked for that right away. The letters say that the battery in the meter needs replacing and that there engineers are in the area. So i book them to come around, they turn up and say the same thing about the wire casing and that they can not fix it but someone else can then they go.

Meter readers come in, say they note the fault and we should hear something soon but nothing.

This is the only time i have had problems paying bills, i am in credit with EDF for gas, they should just take the money from there.

From your previous posts, it seems EDF are saying the right things. Hopefully they will confirm they were informed but did not fix the problem. (If they can't confirm this from their own records hopefully the letters you kept will do so.)

Thanks for the info on the casing. I still don't understand (I did understand what sacsquacco said, but then didn't understand about the flat above) but I don't think it is relevant.

[Deleted User]

got me baffled there ! "its the casing on the wire that stops people cutting into it " and "its the same wire which runs to the flat below "..anyway it just shows how lax we are at G4S if meter readers can traipse in every 3 months and nothing is ever done.The problem is that suppliers will not extract a report like this and look at it and act on it.The reports are there but no one ever looks at it.Auto billing systems are not set up like that..It costs money to pull out all these reports and an employee has to be paid.Accuread, my former employees until G4S bought them out were exactly the same. I have hundreds of dodgy meters like this every year, blank screens, backward running meters with solar panels, damaged meters and backboards and nothing ever gets done even blatant tampers are escaping proper investigation..thats privatised energy supply for you..hopeless

bobcat234

thank you for the advice, both of you, you have put my mind to rest somewhat about all this. It does seem to be pretty open and shut, especially once they look into how many people have been around to replace the battery and all the meter reader people that i have let in, the trail should be easy to see that EDF should have done more to remedy the problem with me not being able to pay, and hopefully, will lead to the fair billing policy being used. I will update this thread once i have heard from EDF later to let you know how it went. for, now it is getting late, so thank you again, i can sleep abit less worried.

[Deleted User]

bobcat234 wrote: »

The meter is a Siemens S2s-600a with a lithium battery if that is any help.

I ve never seen a Siemens prepay electric key meter in my area, ( South Yorks ) or even in any of the areas around the country I ve worked, London, Peterbrough etc..They have all been Landys and Gyrs, Talexsos or Itron models with no batteries so its a new one on me. All of the meter readers notes can be accessed if anyone takes the time to look so you are in the clear and covered, it just shows how poor we are at getting info like that to the right people, the suppliers and then to to the local DNO who are the people to come out to change these meters.EDF themselves probably wont carry employees with the correct certification to work on meters

modsandmockers

I have no experience of pre-paid meters, but I was under the impression that the very idea of pre-payment is to prevent the possibility of the customer running up a bill which he/she will be unwilling or unable to pay. It seems unfair that the energy supplier can nevertheless present a large retrospective bill because they have ignored the known fact that the prepayment meter has been faulty for some considerable time.