Meter ID mix-up causes big issues

19Andrew61ma

I did a switch back in October 2019 from Ovo Energy to Orbit Energy. At first all was well until the first estimated bill arrive from £3900, made up mainly from gas charges. I do won a conventional 3 bed semi, rather than an aircraft hanger.

The first issue was lack of engagement, then no way to raise the issue to Ofgem (the issue has to be raised with the supplier first, a process which can extend easily over 60 days plus) , and then the fun rolled. It turns out a third party changed the meter and made a mess of the registration. So, Orbit thought the meter measured in cubic feet, yet it really measured in cubic metres. Additionally the registration reference was wrong. The Orbit website only accepts 4 digit gas meter readings, so missing the vital first digit of a 5 digit display ('01000' is not the same as '10000').

Here we are in June 2020 and the transfer back to Ovo Energy is underway, but are now offering a gas tariff based on industrial customer rates. For a 3 bed house. Indeed.

I appreciate the energy retailers are not responsible for meter ID registration, and evidently the registration system is not able to be changed quickly. Every day this farce continues I remain liable for a phantom bill, which after conversion by Orbit from cubic feet to cubic meters stands at £1900...... still 50% more than I have ever paid!

Buyer beware. Shame on Ofgem.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

You can submit a complaint after 56 days.  And it's to the Ombudsman, not Ofgem.

[Deleted User]

I had a similar problem ages ago. It dragged on for about a year, until it got to the point of them sending a letter threatening to take me to court.

unkyp

I had the same issue with a newbuild, I was with ecotricity as that's the one the developer had selected. The meter id mixup was only on the gas and not the electricity. After 1 month of non-sense with ecotricity and having read the proper process of how to sort this out, I raised an official complaint with ecotricity, they as everyone took their sweet time to not go anywhere, after numerous chaseups (around 1+month later), I asked them to issue me a deadlock letter as clearly ecotricity has no way of sorting this out. Ecotricity then told me that these issues can take upto 8-12 months to resolve, I was like, that is fine, just write that on the deadlock letter and I will raise it with the ombudsman accordingly (this is a condition to take things to ombudsman that you need to first try resolving it with the company itself). They did the supply test etc. and verified that the meter number/id I claimed to be mine was indeed mine and the one on account was someone elses in our new build group of flats. By the time ecotricity resolved this, I had already given my switching notice and moved to bulb. On the last day of the switch ecotricity seemed to have resolved it but couldn't confirm/deny whether it will be changed in the ofgem database. 

Moved to bulb, another 3 months of drama.... bulb said that since my meter number is not what i am claiming it to be and that they can not find me anymore on the database they can't change anything as the meter number i claimed to be mine was with ecotricity. I said to bulb, that this is perfect therefore, you can not charge me for gas as my meter is not with bulb and ecotricity can't charge me either as they are not my supplier, so essentially i have free gas. Ofcourse the bulb guy wasn't too happy to hear that and said they will continue to look into it. I suggested the same thing to bulb as I did with ecotricity, asked them to do a supply test, they did that and after 3 months it got resolved. for all this hassle bulb offered me a paltry £20 as compensation. I asked for £150, in the end settled for a £100 in compensation for all the hassle and they rectified all the bills. Took roughly 4-5 months ... not so bad afterall
PM me if anyone needs advice on this, might be able to help.