Broken Electric Meter for 4 Years..HELP

elsien

All you people being judgemental and implying the OP knew about the fault and ignored it are being unfair.
Not everyone reads their meters regularly - maybe they should, but many people don't. If you are paying a regular dd and people are turning up every 6 months to take a reading, then you know the bills aren't estimates, so people consider there's no need to check the readings. My mother who is a very upright citizen got caught out this way as well - only in her case she was overpaying.

[Deleted User]

elsien wrote: »

All you people being judgemental and implying the OP knew about the fault and ignored it are being unfair.
Not everyone reads their meters regularly - maybe they should, but many people don't. If you are paying a regular dd and people are turning up every 6 months to take a reading, then you know the bills aren't estimates, so people consider there's no need to check the readings. My mother who is a very upright citizen got caught out this way as well - only in her case she was overpaying.

Well if she s been paying a fixed direct debit for over 4 years and that is her rough usage then shes got nothing to worry about. Its odd why the fixed direct debits of £ 55 was nt automatically reduced after each spring review. People I have met with stopped meters, and one was a seven year electric meter stopped, were paying nothing but the standing charges. The same meter reading was going in every now and then but the auto billing systems don`t think anything is wrong even though full gas central heating is being used. Meter readers will have no idea if the meter is stopped unless its a blank digital screen as we (at G4S ) don`t get to see the last reading.They don t allow us to see it for some daft reason. I could catch hundreds more fiddlers and faulty meters if they did.

naedanger

sacsquacco wrote: »

The same meter reading was going in every now and then but the auto billing systems don`t think anything is wrong even though full gas central heating is being used.

Why not? Surely (regardless of whether or not gas is being used) no movement in the meter (or very little or very high movement) should trigger further investigation. The auto billing systems are ultimately the supplier's responsibility.

[Deleted User]

naedanger wrote: »

Why not? Surely (regardless of whether or not gas is being used) no movement in the meter (or very little or very high movement) should trigger further investigation. The auto billing systems are ultimately the supplier's responsibility.

There are reasons why the electric meter is static, vacant, in prison, in Benidorm for the winter, living at someone elses house (like me ) long term hospital or in a care home. Suppliers are not detectives.But when gas central heating is used it needs a small amount of electricity, so an average gas bill and zero electric should get looked at..but it never does.

naedanger

sacsquacco wrote: »

There are reasons why the electric meter is static, vacant, in prison, in Benidorm for the winter, living at someone elses house (like me ) long term hospital or in a care home. Suppliers are not detectives.But when gas central heating is used it needs a small amount of electricity, so an average gas bill and zero electric should get looked at..but it never does.

Of course there are valid reasons why fuel usage might be well outside normal limits, which is why I said such usage should lead to some further investigation. If a valid reason is found then a note could be added to the account (and a date added for when next to review if the unusual usage is expected to be temporary).

The type of investigation will not need any detective skills in the majority of honest cases which could be resolved by a simple enquiry.

For those cases where there is deliberate, criminal avoidance then I would expect the suppliers to have the necessary security skills to deal with these cases. Just as I would expect any other business to have the necessary security skills to protect their business from routine crime (e.g. supermarkets have store detectives etc).

Zandoni

sacsquacco wrote: »

Well done Lewis, you personally can guarantee it all can you ? you sound as gung ho as the real Lewis Hamilton. The OP has withheld the faulty meter for over four long years..thats FOUR years !. There is no defence to that..its too long. Why havent they picked up the phone and reported it ? If there was a problem which was costing the OP they would have been onto the supplier immediately . Suppliers only have to access meters every two years to inspect them. It is down to to the customer to report faults

It's not down to the customer to report meter faults, if your company can't use a simple computer routine to notice that the meter hasn't turned it's their fault alone. There are many installations where the customer can't even get access to their own meter, so how would they notice.

The OP hasn't given enough detail but this needs to be checked properly.

ChumpusRex

naedanger wrote: »

The type of investigation will not need any detective skills in the majority of honest cases which could be resolved by a simple enquiry.

The problem is that unless there is a change in the way in which the utility market is regulated, then there is no incentive to deal with this.

At present, your meter reading is not only used by your supplier to determine your bill, but power generators use it to determine how much to bill your supplier.

Suppliers don't care if a meter is broken and you are using gas/electricity, because the energy they are supplying to you, is also missing off their bills to the wholesalers.

It's a similar issue with meter tampering an bypassing. If a supplier discovers bypassing or tampering and issues a corrected bill - then their suppliers also get the corrected reading, and issue a new bill. So the supplier has to pay the wholesalers for the "missing" energy. However, what are the supplier's chances of getting payment for the "missing" energy from a cannabis farmer who has done a runner, or someone who, impecunious, has turned to meter bypass out of desperation?

[Deleted User]

Zandoni wrote: »

It's not down to the customer to report meter faults, if your company can't use a simple computer routine to notice that the meter hasn't turned it's their fault alone. There are many installations where the customer can't even get access to their own meter, so how would they notice.

The OP hasn't given enough detail but this needs to be checked properly.

Have a long look through the T and Cs of your supplier and you will find the faulty meter clause. Every customer can get access to their own meter..some can t be bothered and some get letting agencies boss them with b/s. I agree G4S are ridiculously lax , (and Accuread before them ) that a simple report of a dodgy meter can t get acted upon. I ve complained many times and my complaints just get binned. Of course the user is beholden to report faulty meters. We know some people expect the suppliers to manage their every move in a nanny state sort of way. If they were nt obliged to report faulty meters they could just lay a hammer into the glass and sit back and say its nothing to do with me. I ve seen that happen often enough as well. Some people on here seem totally immune to how the other half live and think every one is honest and respectful..Sorry, there`s a section who feel its their "right " to free energy, thieving it year in and year out ( and they can well afford to pay it ) and the suppliers ( BG excepted ) hardly lift a finger to stop them.. because its cheaper for them to ignore it and let us pay for it.

Zandoni

sacsquacco wrote: »

Have a long look through the T and Cs of your supplier and you will find the faulty meter clause. Every customer can get access to their own meter..some can t be bothered and some get letting agencies boss them with b/s. I agree G4S are ridiculously lax , (and Accuread before them ) that a simple report of a dodgy meter can t get acted upon. I ve complained many times and my complaints just get binned. Of course the user is beholden to report faulty meters. We know some people expect the suppliers to manage their every move in a nanny state sort of way. If they were nt obliged to report faulty meters they could just lay a hammer into the glass and sit back and say its nothing to do with me. I ve seen that happen often enough as well. Some people on here seem totally immune to how the other half live and think every one is honest and respectful..Sorry, there`s a section who feel its their "right " to free energy, thieving it year in and year out ( and they can well afford to pay it ) and the suppliers ( BG excepted ) hardly lift a finger to stop them.. because its cheaper for them to ignore it and let us pay for it.

A consumer only needs to report a meter if they know it's faulty, they have no liability to check it, just to ensure its kept safe. As you may know they are not able to check its accuracy.

[Deleted User]

Zandoni wrote: »

A consumer only needs to report a meter if they know it's faulty, they have no liability to check it, just to ensure its kept safe. As you may know they are not able to check its accuracy.

So we are agreed then, consumers are obliged to report faulty meters..and a meter which has stopped is clearly faulty.Consumers know when they suddenly stop paying electricity, well eventually they do. It might take a year or even more but 4.5 years is stretching it. Dont forget that suppliers do not have to access meters for two years, 5 years in the case of BG. Many of the big suppliers definitely do not stick to the two year rule anyway,, EDF and Scot Power most certainly don t, I work for those two as well as BG who are the only ones to run their business properly and at least try very hard to stop energy theft.