Electricity Meter Faulty - Big Bill

mrmike1989

Hi Everyone,

TLDR; Meter has overconsumed due to being faulty, neither my old supplier or new supplier will take responsibility for my bill.

I have a tricky situation on my hands. I moved to a new energy provider and provided my new supplier with the final reading displayed on my meter, it was a little difficult as the numbers were very faint, like a solar powered calculator in a poorly lit room.

This is the 1st time I have given a reading in almost a full year. I was expecting to be refunded the credit that was in my old suppliers' account, however, a couple of weeks later I was sent a rather large final bill.

I ran the numbers and it turns out that our average consumption over the last year (based on the final reading and previous reading) is almost double the consumption we had consumed during previous years!

This did not seem right to me, so I did some investigation. I went to my meter to see what our consumption had been over the past couple of weeks and to my surprise, the display was completely blank, however, the flashing IMP light was still functional.

I began switching appliances off and timing the blink rate, eventually, I ended up isolation the consumer unit only to discover that the IMP was still blinking! I measured the time between the blinks using my camera and calculated that it was consuming at least 100watts with the consumer unit isolated.

I highly suspect that the meter is faulty and has been overconsuming, I'm not sure for how long, but what I do know is that there's no way I could have consumed all that electricity.

I raised a complaint with both suppliers as they kept referring me to each other...not surprisingly. I was advised by my previous supplier that they cannot check the meter for accuracy as they are no longer my supplier. They also stated that the regulations advise the old supplier cannot change the final reading and that the new supplier is responsible for providing the final reading.

I insisted that they were the ones who have billed me for inaccurately recorded consumption, but my official complaints handler advised they couldn't help and refused me an 'open' complaint.

The complaints handler for my new supplier has advised that they cannot / will not perform an accuracy test because the display is no longer functional (the IMP has also stopped working now).

Instead of checking the meter's accuracy, they arranged for someone to replace the meter. FYI, the new meter shows consumption that is in line with what we would expect, which re-enforces the notion that the old meter was indeed over-consuming.

I am almost 100% certain that I will need to complain to the energy ombudsman, however, I fear that I may never see my money ever again. What do you think my chances are? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances of winning this case?

Skools_Out

mrmike1989 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

TLDR; Meter has overconsumed due to being faulty, neither my old supplier or new supplier will take responsibility for my bill.

I have a tricky situation on my hands. I moved to a new energy provider and provided my new supplier with the final reading displayed on my meter, it was a little difficult as the numbers were very faint, like a solar powered calculator in a poorly lit room.

This is the 1st time I have given a reading in almost a full year. I was expecting to be refunded the credit that was in my old suppliers' account, however, a couple of weeks later I was sent a rather large final bill.

I ran the numbers and it turns out that our average consumption over the last year (based on the final reading and previous reading) is almost double the consumption we had consumed during previous years!

This did not seem right to me, so I did some investigation. I went to my meter to see what our consumption had been over the past couple of weeks and to my surprise, the display was completely blank, however, the flashing IMP light was still functional.

I began switching appliances off and timing the blink rate, eventually, I ended up isolation the consumer unit only to discover that the IMP was still blinking! I measured the time between the blinks using my camera and calculated that it was consuming at least 100watts with the consumer unit isolated.

I highly suspect that the meter is faulty and has been overconsuming, I'm not sure for how long, but what I do know is that there's no way I could have consumed all that electricity.

I raised a complaint with both suppliers as they kept referring me to each other...not surprisingly. I was advised by my previous supplier that they cannot check the meter for accuracy as they are no longer my supplier. They also stated that the regulations advise the old supplier cannot change the final reading and that the new supplier is responsible for providing the final reading.

I insisted that they were the ones who have billed me for inaccurately recorded consumption, but my official complaints handler advised they couldn't help and refused me an 'open' complaint.

The complaints handler for my new supplier has advised that they cannot / will not perform an accuracy test because the display is no longer functional (the IMP has also stopped working now).

Instead of checking the meter's accuracy, they arranged for someone to replace the meter. FYI, the new meter shows consumption that is in line with what we would expect, which re-enforces the notion that the old meter was indeed over-consuming.

I am almost 100% certain that I will need to complain to the energy ombudsman, however, I fear that I may never see my money ever again. What do you think my chances are? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances of winning this case?

TLDR: Where is your proof that the meter is faulty? :huh:

Alright, so I lied. It seems to be based entirely on unsubstantiated suspicion :cool:

Take responsibility...

mrmike1989

Skools_Out wrote: »

TLDR: Where is your proof that the meter is faulty? :huh:

Well, given that they replaced it kind of points in the direction that it was faulty. Also, the fact that it was recording consumption when the consumer unit was isolated would also indicate that it was faulty.

Skools_Out wrote: »

Alright, so I lied. It seems to be based entirely on unsubstantiated suspicion :cool:

You lied about what now? :huh: My suspicions are entirely substantiated.

Skools_Out wrote: »

Take responsibility...

Perhaps they should take responsibility for their faulty meters.

[Deleted User]

if you have switched off the main fuse and the meter is still blinking then it looks like you can request a check meter to be installed with no fear of the supplier billing you the costs ( £75 approx ) if the check meter revealed no faults.
It looks like your meter has gone blank screen. This is extremely common with a the very cheap small white digital meter made by either Ampy, Siemens or Landis Gyr. I have been finding on average one a week blank screen meters in my area
Don`t let them exchange the meter because the proof that its been over consuming will be lost. You can demand a check meter
suppliers bill average consumption when the meter go s blank and some of my customers I see as a meter reader are very happy with their blank screen meter and hang onto it for years.
Personally I was nt aware that this type of meter over consumed before it died but if what you say is correct an engineer from the supplier needs to visit to record this happening

D_M_E

Customer services people can say whatever they like on the phone.

You need to write to each supplier and head your letter COMPLAINT in big bold letters detailing what you have discovered - stick to facts and don't dramatise - and tell them what outcome you expect.
Also include in your complaint that you will correspond in writing only (this will give you a paper trail should you take it further) and will not accept phone calls on the matter.

If, after 8 weeks, your complaint has not been resolved, you can escalate it to the Ombudsman.

mrmike1989

@Houbara

A check meter would not work in this scenario because they cannot compare the healthy meter's reading to the suspected faulty meter's reading as the display is blank.

I did contemplate refusing to allow them to exchange my meter so that I could retain proof, however, I am not legally intelligent enough to know if that decision would have had a positive/useful outcome.

At the end of the day, I've advised them that I suspected the meter was faulty and requested an accuracy test which they have failed to provide.

mrmike1989

D_M_E wrote: »

Customer services people can say whatever they like on the phone.

You need to write to each supplier and head your letter COMPLAINT in big bold letters detailing what you have discovered - stick to facts and don't dramatise - and tell them what outcome you expect.
Also include in your complaint that you will correspond in writing only (this will give you a paper trail should you take it further) and will not accept phone calls on the matter.

If, after 8 weeks, your complaint has not been resolved, you can escalate it to the Ombudsman.

Yes, I came to that understanding after numerous phone calls to the customer service folk. I was eventually assigned an official complaints handler, who also seems to be an imbecile, he advised that my doubled electrical consumption was due to the cold winter.
I have stuck to the facts, I even plotted my previous consumption readings on a graph to demonstrate the drastic increase. I have a digital record of all communications.

After exchanging my meter they advised they would send a letter out regarding my (still open) complaint. No doubt I will be contesting whatever they have written, and raising this with the Ombudsman.

mrmike1989

Just to update the thread, my new supplier has only gone and used the suspected faulty meter reading to generate an estimated consumption value during the time we had no display on the meter. This means that not only do we have a huge bill from the old supplier, we now have a huge bill from the new supplier! And they have increased our direct debit by 39%.

It's awful how these Energy companies can simply take your money or ruin your chances of ever being able to secure a mortgage (trashing your credit rating).

All in all, we have probably been overcharged around £650 in the space of a few months.

D_M_E

In that bcase you need to raise a formal complaint with your new supplier.

poppellerant

There is one small lesson in this, which I hope you will have learnt by now - submit meter readings once a month. Set a date to read the meters before your billing date, such as the last day of each month.

But I now suspect that it is too late in your case. While I don't envy you, it's an unfortunate and expensive lesson.

Energy companies cannot trash your credit rating, unless you fail to pay. If you find a sympathetic advisor with your current provider on the phone, they may be persuaded to let you spread the cost over 6 or even 12 months and add this to your direct debit. Your previous energy company on the other hand is likely to be less flexible with time frames as you're not with them any more.

If you have historic and actual (not estimated) meter readings with your previous provider, you might be able to convince them of your past usage. But expect the gas to be slightly higher due to our long winter this year.

If you remain calm and rational, you will be able to fix this problem yourself. Right now you are doing the right thing by asking people for help.

mrmike1989

D_M_E wrote: »

In that bcase you need to raise a formal complaint with your new supplier.

I raised a complaint with both suppliers as they kept referring me to each other...not surprisingly. I was advised by my previous supplier that they cannot check the meter for accuracy as they are no longer my supplier. They also stated that the regulations advise the old supplier cannot change the final reading and that the new supplier is responsible for providing the final reading.

I insisted that they were the ones who have billed me for inaccurately recorded consumption, but my official complaints handler advised they couldn't help and refused me an 'open' complaint.

The complaints handler for my new supplier has advised that they cannot / will not perform an accuracy test because the display is no longer functional (the IMP has also stopped working now).