reading the meter wrong

scottyf

i changed my mothers dual fuel over from powergen to edf in june due to her getting very high bills and edf being alot cheaper for electric and slightly cheaper for gas(she had been with powergen for about 4 years and on a very expensive tarrif)
she recieved a letter to say that a someone would call to read the meters on the day of change over.she waited but they never turned up so she rang in her meter readings to edf and powergen to make sure she was billed for the correct amount.
she recieved her final bill from powergen for £130 which seemed high as she was paying £80 a month for gas/electric but she payed it,knowing that edf would be alot cheaper

anyway i told her to keep regular readings on her electric meter just to check as her bills for powergen seemed far to high for electric.so shes been writing them down every week.
i was there last week and she asked me to read the meter and write it down for her.after reading the meter and reading her readings,ive discovered shes been reading the meter wrong.
as some of the dials go one way and some go the other instead of going back to the lowest number shes been going forward on the second number

for example
44220 (second digit just past 4)
shes reading it at
45220
by chance the meter reading man came by the day after and comfirmed shes been reading it wrong.she says shes been reading it this way since she switched over and started keeping check.
this means that shes paid powergen on her final bill for a 1000 units shes never used(which explains the high final bill)obviously since shes only used about 1200 units since the switch to edf its not there problem.

what i would like to know is can she claim back the money from powergen or is it to late and has lost the money.how can she prove the readings.

any advice would be great

SwanJon

See if you can work out what the changeover read should have been.
Call EDF and ask them to dispute the read.
It's in their interest as they'll get the money and not Powergen.
It might take a while to work it's way through, but they should see that it's been a mistake and fix it.

Terrylw1

Hi,

This is very common with pointer meters. It's been a well known fact over the years that these meters are especially confusing to older people. So, it's not something a Supplier isn't used to dealing with. Anyone can make the mistake if you don't have a guide or a meter man to ask. Even Suppliers get it wrong!

Yes, she can get this sorted a s SwanJon stated. The meter reading can be disputed for up to 14 months after the date of changeover. It can be disputed upto 28 months oin some regions if the area is underperforming and has been declared in need of a cleanse.

So, contact your new Supplier and get them to dispute it since it's cash to them and not PGen. Obviously, it makes more sense for you as it will be cheaper per Kwh.

Disputes in general an take 4-8 weeks, but it can also be longer. If it's a pretty simple issue it shouldn't be too bad. If you know how she's been reading it wrong, give EDF the correct reading which they can then work on replacing the incorrect one with.

This link will be useful for her if she is unsure again as there is an example on there from EDF:

http://www.edfenergy.com/powerup/keystage3/introducing/page4.html

scottyf

thanks

i dont see how its money owed to edf though

basically on the switch over she gave the reading of 43995 to both partys this was infact 42995 so she paid the extra money to powergen,shes since been phoning in readings to edf(keeping her bills up to date) but always being 1000 units off so edf have been paid for the right amount of energy used but just have the wrong readings,so its quite simple for them to update the system to say that her start readings are 42995 and her current is 44220 not a start of 43995 and a current of 45220 that shes told them if you get what i mean.

she has every weekly meter reading written down so she knows whats shes used.
thats how i thought it would be a problem as shes going to have to chase up powergen for a refund and i though it may be a problem with not really having any proof apart from the fact that if they try to stick with her wrong reading it would mean that shes used about 450 units in 5 months.

i will ring up edf in the morning and see what they say

Terrylw1

Hi Scotty,

PGen don't owe any money at this stage. You need to dispute the opening reading given to EDF so that they agree to adjust it back 1000 units. Then PGen will be able to refund for 1000 units to you.

At this stage you are not up to date with EDF. Readings are how Suppliers are billed and how you are billed for energy use. At this stage she has effectively overpaid 1000 units against her elec. EDF can easily correct this as long as a current meter reading isn't lower than that change of supply reading. If it is, they have to amend the change of supply reading first. Luckily, thats not the case for you though so they can amend the current bill to 44220 or amend it with a reading when the next bill is due.

Suppliers cannot amend opening readings like that as you suggest. The reason why is that when they amend back to 42995, they will bill you 1000 extra to catch up. However, you have already paid that to PGen.

When you dispute the opening read with EDF, they will set a process rolling that will amend the closing reading with PGen. Until that runs it's course, they cannot amend your opening bill.

Be wary if they just amend your opening reading with challenging the old Supplier as that would mean you would be billed for 1000 units of energy twice - once by each Supplier due to the reading overlap.

Now, EDF can gain 1000 units of payment by changing your opening reading (and getting PGen to amend their closing reading) however, some Suppliers have a threshold where they don't waste their time amending. Some Suppliers have this set at 1000 units. So, they may tell you to leave it as it's a lot of work for very little money to them. However, if EDF's rate is cheaper than PGen, you should push them to do it or you will lose out from your own pocket.

Does that make sense?

scottyf

just an update on this

i rang edf explained the situation they said there had been a query raised on the account after the meter reading by themselves they changed the start reading and new reading no problem.the account was updated online next day and a new paper bill arrived 2 days later and the bill remained the same with just different meter values.

now just to contact powergen to query the final reading.do i do this by phone or by letter,email.

Terrylw1

Hi Scotty,

Thats good news. However, your current Supplier should have already done this as they have amended your opening reading.

Your old Supplier will need them to initiate a Disputed Reading request which will feed through a new reading to them.

If your new Supplier has just changed your account (apart from breeching the industry policy!!!) you will be forced to try and get your old Supplier to agree that what you are asking is rational. They may just refuse and they have the right to. If they do, get your new Supplier to follow the process to dispute your reading.

I would suggest you initially call PGen as they are very likely to refuse to do this anyway until your new Supplier tells them to.

scottyf

i asked while on the phone how we go about sorting out the overpayment to powergen and they said that its something we will have to sort out ourselves and they cant do anything about it.

as the changeover reading was supplied by my mother and not an official reading and the offical reading that took place last week confirms what has happened.it seems that all they have done is just change the readings to what they should have been.

Terrylw1

It sounded like that when you posted the update. Thats good for sorting out your new Supplier and further bills. However, your old Supplier is within their rights to refuse without the new Supplier making a formal dispute.

However, it may be possible to convince PGen that this was an error.

Have all the previous bills & readings with PGen been correct and only the final bill was wrong? If yes, they will easily spot the error and amend it.

If she has always had bills incorrect like this, your old Supplier will have to potentially back out a lot of bills. If they have a reading from the meter readers, it will prove it to them. If not, they only have your word for it.

They have no power to visit the address now, so they depend on the new Supplier submitting the dispute. You can ask them, but if they refuse you have to tell your new Supplier to follow the industry process which is to raise a Change Of Supply Reading Dispute. However, it could take a couple of months to be resolved as it does through each Supplier's meter reader company (Data Collector)

In the case of any elec change of supply, the readings go through agents to validate them. So, it sounds like the meter readers haven't been out for a while or they have no data. If your old Supplier had initially had this correct, then the final bill would have produced a massive jump.

EDIT - Ignore the above statement in read as it's a pointer meter, so it's a simple issue which will not be affected by what I said in read.

elektra

Hindsight is an easy thing but I think you have made this more complicated to sort out.

It would have been better to accept that you now have the current reading correct and that you paid Powergen for those 1000 units rather than paying EDF for them.

I don't know what the price difference between the two would have been but now you have the hassle factor of trying to sort it out with Powergen.

Terrylw1

elektra wrote: »

Hindsight is an easy thing but I think you have made this more complicated to sort out.

It would have been better to accept that you now have the current reading correct and that you paid Powergen for those 1000 units rather than paying EDF for them.

I don't know what the price difference between the two would have been but now you have the hassle factor of trying to sort it out with Powergen.

Thats not strictly true.

If the meter reader came out and took a reading which was lower than the change of supply reading, the Supplier would have to initiate an investigation anyway.

There is also a good chance that the customer would get over estimated until the Supplier's billed readings advance beyond this incorrect handover reading.

Now Scotty does have to get it sorted as PGen have charged for the same units as his new Supplier has. So, the energy has been paid for twice.