British gas and the meter change saga!

dodgy_damo

H4AH:
The original engineer who moved the gas meter took it from the inside and put a new one outside. The gas engineer Siemens sent, said he knew nothing about the electricty board/meter. Gas meter wasnt on the same board as the Electricity meter. Also Only the Electricty supplier or their subbies can go near the board to change it!
Just spoke to M-path, they said that the job hadnt been even passed to thier engineers (Morissons), so I need to ring back tomorrow afternoon, if Morissons dont call me in the morning. Still no light at the end of the tunnel!
Roll on tomorrow!

pianeet

Lakeuk wrote: »

Our gas company has been wanting to change our (10yr+) meter but they've failed to failed to turn up to two and on another arrived 5mins before clocking of time and reconned they didn't have the right meter which is a right royal pain as you have to wait from 8am to early evening.

Now if they want it changed they will do it on our terms at a specified time or not at all - they've messed us about too much

we have had five different dates for a new meter and they have not turned up yet,last time threatening to get a court order to break in,i cant wait for a court date just to turn up with the 5 occasions they have not turned up on

dodgy_damo

Hooray! I think!
I've been given a late morning appointment on Mon 19th Nov with EDF's subby Morrisons to change my board! Lets keep those fingers crossed. Still over 3 weeks away plus the three weeks since my original request with M-Path on 11th Oct, plus the week before when BG made the appointment that never was!

Terrylw1

dodgy_damo wrote: »

BE:
The board is proper rotten! Its practically sawdust. In my opinion and that of a couple of sparkies, its dangerous! M-path said its not classed as an emergency, and the best they'll do is send someone out to "pull the fuse". The meter looks ready to drop, with a knock or a tug.
Terry:
I now understand that BG are not directly responsible for this issue. But they made the appointment with Siemens, and whomever this contractor will be to deal with the electricity meter, and it was cancelled w/o me being informed.
Is BG responsible here? As you said if I made the appointment directly with Siemens then I would have held them directly accountable. So compensation looks out the window. In fact BG never told me who changed the last appointment.
the gas meter was arranged as a new supply, he argused that it wasnt an exchange like you explained...but this chap would have had to come back in a week or 2 and do that very job, in which he was equipped to do in the first place. As a consumer an exchange, or new supply means pretty much that I'm getting a new meter regardless.
BG tells me they are my supplier, but not my distributor? Looking at the meter it has eastern electricty tags from 1971 still attached, i assumed they'd still be the distributor, not EDF as infromed by BG.
As for work being done, I'll do the rewire once this board has been done, so I shouldnt need those certs.
Thanks for your info

Sorry Damo, forgot it had been moved off the relevant board to this one.

Ok. BGas have a duty of care for you over safety on behalf of their agents. Their agents are the Meter Operator & Data Collector.

The Distributor (for the meter board and actual supply & cut out with fuse) are a seperate entity and have a duty of care for you seperately to the Supplier.

So, for your meter board it's the distributor. For all those messed up visits a) if BGas booked the appointments and you agreed to them, they have to pay compo where the visit did not occur within the time you requested. If they don't pay that within Ofgem's timeframe, they have to pay you twice. b) if you called Siemens direct and agreed a set date/time, then the same applies but your Supplier won't know about it. The Meter Operator (Siemens) should refund you for that or pay your Supplier for them to add it to your account.

One post on here suggested the Meter Operator is partially responsible for the meter board...thats not correct. The most they can do is report it to the Distributor. The Meter Operator is only responsible for the meter itself and any isolator/timeswitches, nothing else.

From your OP, its clear that at some point an old supply has been disconnected and a new project for a new supply set up. So, just the meter needed on the end of it. My point is - this will be a brand new MPAN, not the old supply one. So, have you checked that you are quoting the new MPAN? If not, BGas may be the old MPAN's Supplier and you may have no current Supplier so you can avoid BGas and go somewhere else. If thats is the case, you will have big problems with your supply later as well due to crossed MPAN issues. Just a thought.

Might be worth posting this thread on the gas&elec board where similar probs are.

Good luck.

Terrylw1

pianeet wrote: »

we have had five different dates for a new meter and they have not turned up yet,last time threatening to get a court order to break in,i cant wait for a court date just to turn up with the 5 occasions they have not turned up on

They just request a rights of entry warrant from the court. This allows them to enter your property without you even being there. You just get home and find a sticker on the door saying they have drilled & changed your locks.

However, if you have proof you could then get them back as they have illegally obtained a warrant (surely?) if they never mentioned the previous visits.

dodgy_damo

As of 19th Nov, I have a new backing board for my meter!
Morrisons were sent out to put it in, they came promtly at start of appointment, changed the board within an hour (EDF inspector came out to check on them too!)
In fact out of all the firms to deal with Morissons were spot on, I had no less than 4 letters from them confirming the appointment, the customer service was good.
So bring on the rewire now!