Meter readers

Azari

[Deleted User] wrote:

How do expect to ne notified when a meter reader is due.

It's dead simple, Eon manage it.

and you want a specific time?

No.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Azari wrote: »

It's dead simple, Eon manage it.

Wow. so Eon tell you 'We will have a meter reader knocking your door at, say, 9.47 tomorrow morning, is this convienienyt, if not let us know.

SailorSam

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,



Wow. so Eon tell you 'We will have a meter reader knocking your door at, say, 9.47 tomorrow morning, is this convienienyt, if not let us know.

I don't get home from the gym until 10am.
Will he wait outside for 15mins ?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

If I was the energy company, I would apply to the beak, get the sledgehammer out, break down the door and cut OP off.

Problem solved.

Faith177

barmonkey wrote: »

Im my old house the gas meter was under the stairs in a cupboard full of stuff. so very inconvenient to get at.

Same here my cupboard is full of junk takes me an age to get it all out and then an age to put it all back

Plus only place I can put it is in the front room so have to lock the dogs up so they don't get into the kitchen to annoy the cats while i take the stuff through from the cupboard

I asked one if he could go and do my neighbours meters and come back to me so I could have time to sort it out and he told me that "he didn't have all day to be mucked about" I said I was sorry but it wasn't a quick job as it was only me in to do it he came back later and spent the whole time huffing and puffing

Also when I raised a dispute with British Gas due to a £500 discrepancy they said they would get it sorted after 4 months I called them and they told that it was found to go in my favour as my meter reading taking 2 months before matched their records. I asked how they had obtained the readings as the meter was under my stairs and no-one had been in turned out the meter reader had fudged the figures! They didn't even notify me he was coming or anything otherwise I would have taken the day off to let him in

Azari

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

If I was the energy company, I would apply to the beak, get the sledgehammer out, break down the door and cut OP off.

Except that:

1) You would not get the necessary warrant unless the meter had not been read for approaching or over two years.

2) If you had a warrant, the householder would let you in, so your little sledgehammer fantasy (bless) would be out of the window.

3) The warrant would entitle you to read the meter, not cut off the householder, so if you did that you would be in trouble with your regulator.

All in all, I think it would be better if you left the meter reading to the professionals and deployed your febrile imagination elsewhere.

cherie1122

A meter reader came to my door one day last year and I refused to let him in. My husband had just died and I had a huge dog that needed to be taken out into the garden or he may have attacked the visitor.

The guy threatened me with the Police if I didn't let him in but couldn't even tell me who my supplier was or my name so I wasn't too bothered. He was downright rude.

Fast forward to one day this summer when another meter reader knocked on my door - he was polite and happy - knew my name and the name of my supplier and I had no problems letting him in to read the meters.

I think some of the meter readers would benefit from re-training. :-)

rhialwencomp

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,



How do expect to ne notified when a meter reader is due, jungs, they are doing about 200 houses a day, and you want a specific time?

You might have trouble with time in advance, but they could at least do day. Or even week like they do with planned water maintenance (perhaps if the only communication the customer can receive is by post).
Couriers have no problem letting you know when they'll be there, and they're much less likely to know where they have to go from day to day.
Granted, sometimes it feels like that is more of an theoretical day of arrival than a definite, but at the other end of the scale some couriers will even give you windows down to fifteen minutes and let you watch the van on a little map.

It's not unreasonable to expect some kind of a schedule from people who want access to your house.

JReacher1

I'm always at work when they come round. British Gas tend to leave a card saying when they will come back and check again (usually a 4 hour slot in the next week). I tend to just ignore it though as I am always out.

We are all moving to smart meters in the next few years which will mean they won't really have to come round anymore (and a large number of these people will lose their jobs).

On a similar subject there was a BBC video diary about a TV license inspector who was complaining about how people were rude to her when she knocked on the door. I felt like tweeting her it was because she works in a terrible job that exists for the sole purpose of persecuting people.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Azari wrote: »

No, the energy company should let you know when the reader is coming.

Eon send an email before the meter reading is due.

The energy companies have statutory right of entry to your property once every two years. If they want entry at any other time they must fit in with your availability.

One would hope that in the vast majority of cases this will not be an issue, but if, for some reason, it is not convenient, then they will just have to lump, it and accept a customer reading, or make an estimate; exactly the same as they do when there is no answer, a situation that is going to result in vastly more failed attempts at reading the meter than the rare indisposition of the householder.

Azari wrote: »

It's dead simple, Eon manage it.

Azari wrote: »

No, the energy company should let you know when the reader is coming.

Eon send an email before the meter reading is due.

Hi Azari and thanks posting this. Thought it might help if I expand a little for the benefit of some of our other customers.

We do send emails, that's right, but only to customers who have either registered with our website or given us readings online before. The email is sent 14 days before the next bill date.

For other customers, we'll continue to turn up when a visit is flagged on the meter reading cycle. This is usually every 6 months but customers are well within their rights to refuse entry if inconvenient. In these cases, we'll be happy to accept a customer's readings (online, by phone or through our Smartphone App) or arrange a more convenient time. Where we don't have readings, an estimated bill will be raised but this can always be re-billed later if the customer lets us have readings.

As you say, we do need to see meters at least once every two years. This is to make sure they're safe and recording accurately. Where we haven't been able to do this, we'll write to the customer asking them to contact us so a visit can be arranged at a mutually convenient time.

The new Smart Meters we're fitting will take away the need for visits apart from, that is, the two yearly check. These meters send us readings via electronic messages once a month so accounts can be kept up to date and accurate. They're not available everywhere yet but we're looking to offer them to all our customers eventually.

Hope this is of interest Azari and thanks for letting us have your readings in the past.

Malc