Faulty electric meter.

happy_wanderer

Hi everyone. I's like some opinions/advice on the following please.

A little over two months ago I had my electric meter read. Shortly afterwards my supplier contacted me by letter saying that I had not used any electricity for the past quarter. When I called them as requested to give a meter reading I was informed that the meter reading hadn't changed since October 2016. An engineers appointment was arranged and the guy attended to confirm that my meter had stopped working. He replaced it with a new one before leaving.

The thing is I haven't heard anything since, no estimated bills, no nothing. I presume that they wouldn't lump two estimated bills in with the one which is due next month?

House_Martin

Is your electric meter an analogue meter make called Weston Sangamo ? These old usually reliable meters have a habit of sticking on the 5 th digit when they drop a blank square instead of a zero , usually following two 9s on the 3 rd and 4 th digit..A good thump on the side usually restarts it although most people I met as a meter reader quite liked their old meter and would nt want to exchange it..Meter readers mostly are not aware of this trick and they record the blank as a zero.I ve known them to last years getting zero billing on kwh usage. I ve been called an "effin " jobsworth by one old boy who did nt like me finding it faulty even though I just restarted it and recorded the meter as faulty...
I have not known digital meters sticking, they just usually lose the reading and go blank..OP, what make and model meter was it if I may ask, just for my own records ?
I work mostly for BG and two others of the big 6 and they usually side with the occupier and underestimate usage and are quite fair. If you do not pay by direct debit they will allow you to spread out the repayments if you ask them I m sure as its not your fault the DNO s equipment has failed..The meters themselves are not owned by suppliers.

footyguy

happy_wanderer wrote: »

Hi everyone. I's like some opinions/advice on the following please.

A little over two months ago I had my electric meter read. Shortly afterwards my supplier contacted me by letter saying that I had not used any electricity for the past quarter. When I called them as requested to give a meter reading I was informed that the meter reading hadn't changed since October 2016. An engineers appointment was arranged and the guy attended to confirm that my meter had stopped working. He replaced it with a new one before leaving.

The thing is I haven't heard anything since, no estimated bills, no nothing. I presume that they wouldn't lump two estimated bills in with the one which is due next month?

You appear to be on quarterly billing, and the last bill was due only 2 months ago.

I don't quite follow how, based on what you have written, it could only be seen 2 months ago that the meter had stopped recording from Oct.

You see, based on what you have written, there is an actaul meter reading for Oct 2016

I had first thought that Jan 2017 may have been estimated, but that must have been an actual reading too, based on what you have said.
So why did you not notice an issue on Jan 2017 bill?

What did you get by way of a bill in Apr 2017 (the last scheduled billing date?)

Your next bill (which will be estimated to account for incorrect recording by the meter until it was changed) is due in July 2017 as you say.

If you have trouble paying this bill, then contact your supplier immediately. They should be able to offer you a payment plan if necessary, and since you will be paying monthly then, it may be worth asking for a better tariff
(paying monthly by DD usually is chaeper than paying on receipt of bills)

happy_wanderer

Hi.

The meter was an old analogue type - it must have been there since the house was built in the fifties. The fault came to light at the end of April, the meter was changed the start of May - I had to wait two weeks for an engineers visit.

There was a meter reading for Oct 2017 - I was told that the meter reading hadn't changed since then.

The meter wasn't read in January, but the end of April. I got two estimated bills fro the period inbetween Oct 2016 and April 2017, one was only a matter of twenty pounds or so and the other stating I was in credit.

What I really want to know is, is it permissible for the energy supplier to hit me with three quarterly bills in one go (the one I am due in July and the two which have been miscalculated due to the meter being kaput.) Personally, I thought it would be best practice to send a revised bill as soon as the problem was identified/rectified?