Meter mix up

Robin9

How long have you been a SP Electric customer. Have you readings from when you started and for today (and what are the night and day rates ?) . Let the members on this forum do some number crunching for you.

mmmmikey

Hi - this is going to catch up with you sooner or later, and the longer you leave it the worse it will get. Also, once sorted you can relax and stop worrying about it. If you call them and explain the situation nicely they are likely to be sympathetic and write-off some of what you owe them and/or allow you to pay them what you owe gradually. If you shout at them and demand your rights, or they think you are trying it on they are likely to be less sympathetic, play it by the book and do the minimum they have to. Note that although they have made a mistake, to be fair you are partly to blame too if you have known about this and haven't told them.

nigelbb

If Scottish Power have ever read your meter & not relied entirely on you submitting readings then they are to blame. If their professional meter reader submitted incorrect readings how would you as a consumer be expected to know that there has been a mistake.

If SP have read your meter then they can only backbill 12 months.

[Deleted User]

Hi,


if you're on such a 'good deal' just now, why do you want to move.

[Deleted User]

nigelbb wrote: »

If Scottish Power have ever read your meter & not relied entirely on you submitting readings then they are to blame. If their professional meter reader submitted incorrect readings how would you as a consumer be expected to know that there has been a mistake.

If SP have read your meter then they can only backbill 12 months.

Scottish Power use our lot to read their meters and have done for a decade. Our lot, are or were Accuread, followed by G4S and then presently MDS, Morrisons Data Services
. We have been merrily transposing the day/night on Eco 7 for years because our handheld computers are set up Rate 1= Night, Rate 2 = Day...So any meter reader not clued up, most of them, will input anything with R 1 they see on a digital eco 7 meter into the night field when most Eco 7 digital meters R1 =Day. Auto billing system then takes over and records a transposed reading which will greatly benefit those with an Eco 7 meter but with gas central heating..Honest customers who spot the error inform the supplier.Those who claim or don`t understand the meters/billing stick their heads in the sand and sit back with a much reduced bill. Night storage users spot it straight away and contact the supplier because their bills rise.
Management are well aware of this but they assume that the supplier will spot it and reverse the readings..EDF spot it mostly but BG don t and neither do Scot Power.
OP , I have scant regard for most suppliers because they are plain stupid with this sort of mess up.The new supplier you go to, especially if its a small supplier are unlikely to question the readings. Personally I would switch away from SP because they will attempt to rebill the full amount.

MrsOs

I have only just noticed it because my deal came to an end and i was thinking of switching so i asked for my usage. I couldnt believe it when they said i used 3773 night and 733 day! So i watched the readings and (2) is day and (1) is night so im assuming they have been switched around by SP. We have been with SP for 12 years and had people come to read the meter and i have also always emailed our readings in to a lady there with the right (1) and 2 next to the numbers so its their fault surely. Im terrified now im gonna be back billed 12 bloody years. Im really stressed about this.

MrsOs

If i switch to a standard tariff for both day and night with someone else will it be spotted in the transfer?

Quentin

MrsOs wrote: »

If i switch to a standard tariff for both day and night with someone else will it be spotted in the transfer?

It's possible of course!

No-one could possibly give you an answer you can rely on.

MrsOs

i think i have no choice but to contact SP and tell them what ive noticed.. and hope that the back billing rule will apply as this is not our fault. Then i can switch suppliers. Is there any other option?

[Deleted User]

MrsOs wrote: »

i think i have no choice but to contact SP and tell them what ive noticed.. and hope that the back billing rule will apply as this is not our fault. Then i can switch suppliers. Is there any other option?

Personally, as a meter reader for 4 of the big 6 for 20 years I think you should have a go at just switching away from Scot Power. They re hopeless ! You have nothing to lose but to just switch to one of the more incompetent smaller suppliers ( not Bulb ) because we read for them too. .Plenty to choose from.
I agree its not your fault they are so incompetent , but this has been going on since the dawn of the cheap and nasty digital meter which is a fraction of the price of a proper analogue meter, .suppliers can buy one for around £10 each. There was never any transposed Eco 7 meters with the old correctly labelled analogue meters .Even the most untrained agency employee could nt get it wrong with Night/day or Low and normal writ large on every meter instead of 1 and 2