Broken prepayment meter

Ladystardust78

Hi,
Two weeks ago tomorrow, we had a thunderstorm and a power surge which killed my electric meter. The display is blank and we cant top up. The day before the storm i put in £40, which was down to £34 the next evening. Currently we have no way of telling how much, if anything we have left.

Our supplier, spark, have been less than helpful. They will not look at the meter until we run out of credit, which by my estimate should of been early this week. I tried to request a regular scheduled repair, two weeks hence, which was cancelled as they have no meters. Meters are for emergencies only. I had the CAB contact spark on my behalf, but the CAB ended up agreeing with spark that it is not an emergency.

I have googled broken meters and spoken to two different suppliers, both of which have said that as it is faulty it may be in non disconnect setting and will never go off. Spark, rather snottily told me this can never happen. Right now, it looks like it can and it has, as we are still running.

I would like to switch supplier, as my money saving expert alert says bulb are now cheaper, but here i am in limbo. I cannot switch as i have a broken meter, but it is not broken enough for spark to repair.

Also, if we are on the mythical non disconnect, won't spark at some point work out a bill as I don't think free electric is allowed even if your meter is broken:( How they could work this out, is a mystery to me as nothing will be accurate. Spark advised I should wait a month before contacting them again, to allow credit to run out. £34 would never last a week, let alone a month. And surely I'd owe something, if we let things go on that long?

Has anyone else been in this situation and if so how did you sort it?

I have spent almost two weeks chasing up something that i thought should of been straightforward, but has become a headache. Honestly, as part of a family of five, I have better thing to do than wait for my power to go off! Plus as I live in NE Scotland I doubt Sparks claims that a repair would be done within 3 hours. Nothing happens that quickly here:)

Has anyone got any suggestions on how to resolve this?

MovingForwards

Have you tried lodging a complaint?

Ladystardust78

Hi,
Yes, that's what got me scheduled repair booking......which was cancelled within 24 hours:(

AndyCF

I think they would likely base a bill on an estimate based on previous use.

It should be fixed though it is in their interests to do so.

It is quite possible it might stay on although that seems more likely with gas ones due to battery issues whereas this is mains powered, unless the relay contacts melted together!

What type of meter is it ? Regular one with the token type key ? (looks vaguely like a usb stick but different connector obviously!)

I can see your dilemma here as if it does decide it is still decrementing the credit and will turn off it will do it at the most inconvenient point, I'd not actually rely on the friendly hours or day working either given its current (no pun intended) condition. Although the legacy key/token meters only some regard Sunday as a 'friendly' day, others just have friendly times of something like < 9AM and > 6PM or so, the supplier can adjust this at topup time if they want though, but that's quite rare.

I'd lodge a complaint as indicated. , I can't believe they won't look though at it. Unless they have a 24/7 callout number where they will appear within 3-4 hours 24/7 if/when it decides its had enough.

amcg100

Why not ask your local electrician to come round and bypass the meter. Inform spark that you have done so and tell them you will pay for the electricity you use. Also tell them you expect them to pay the electrician's fees and that you will be the judge on how much electricity is used whilst your meter is not working.
Make a formal complaint to Spark requesting that they should repair the meter without delay. After 8 weeks you can take the case to the ombudsman if they do not respond favourably.
I generally find that a bold stance is the only way to deal with energy companies as they are all bullies. - sadly not many have the bottle to stand against them.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

amcg100 wrote: »

Why not ask your local electrician to come round and bypass the meter.

Oops, to bypass a meter is illegal, whether by 'local electrician' or by tenant/occupier.

AndyCF

I avoided posting something like that for that very reason.

Perhaps a cheeky note might work then if nothing else ( )

Explain again that it is not working and you thank them for the unmetered supply due to the meter fault. You propose to pay a complete and total sum of no more than £2 daily for this supply including the standing charge until such time as it is rectified.

No idea on the legality of that however you are then not stealing anything and have made them an offer for the supply...

Ladystardust78

Thanks all for your responses.

Yes, it is illegal to have anyone touch you meter that isn't your supplier. I googled it when spark suggested I contact my landlord and have them deal with the fault.

I've told them I think I'm on free supply and it's in their best interests to install a working meter, but the emergency rule still stands &#55357;&#56853;

I've lodged complaint, they aren't bothered.

Honestly, I'm stumped. I'm usually pretty good at getting things sorted, faulty dryers, broken appliances etc but I'm up against a brick wall here.

Ladystardust78

To answer earlier questions, it's a key meter (like usb) and probably about 7 years old so not new by any means. We reckon that'll it'll go off at most inconvenient time (if at all), like halfway through dinner or shower or on a Sunday.
We had to call out distributor last week as it was producing a fishy smell. They've vouched its safe.....as far as the junction box (that's the extent of their remit), but can't speak for the meter itself. Still spark wont budge.

I have no issue with taking the bold stance, but this time there's no moving them. Looked at ombudsmen but have 6 weeks to wait.

[Deleted User]

I have seen many of these blank screen prepayment key meters.
If they are not tampered , then it can be caused by an electrical surge. I have seen more than one meter in the same street pack in and go blank but they have all continued to stay delivering electricity without a top up.
In most cases I have found that the Occupiers fail to inform the supplier and leave it up to us meter readers to discover it.

AndyCF

If the friendly times are functional then it should not go off before 9AM or after about 6PM any day of the week. Supplier can change these times, can vary between summer/winter too.

I seem to recall the later ones (yours is probably one of these) were vaguely intelligent enough to know what day was a "Sunday" and not turn off on that day, but I'd not want to vouch for that. It went on models produced after a certain year if I remember.

IDK how they get their time/datestamps though I suspect its via the mains or topup to check/adjust the clock perhaps. Either that or RDS. I suppose I could look into that at some point.

I'm assuming here its this meter, or something very similar as they seem to be quite a common one. The other common one is card fed so its not that:



In some ways I miss mine actually as it was simple and reliable. Downside was a low E.C limit and the not so great 'friendly' hours, at least compared to my Smart unit.