Given incorrect meter reads

Panicking87

I have recently realised that I have been giving incorrect Electricity meter reading  since I moved into my (first) house 4 years ago, I did not realise that it had day and night readings and so only ever gave the day readings (default on the screen). 

I have contacted my Energy company (by email) and they say just to update my readings to the correct one, however I have only been in the house for 4 years and if I just add the night reads I will be charged for the night usage for the entire life of the meter which is about 13 years (and the increase will be about 5 years of my normal usage) (I tried to explain this to the company but they don't respond to this point).

I have had 4 different suppliers over this time and have never had a engineer meter read, and my first read was not noted to be lower than the previous leaving occupants.

I don't mind paying what I owe but don't feel it fair to pay for the previous owners/companies bills.
What can be done here?
Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Apologises if i have missed a similar post anywhere, most seem to be the companies making the error.

MWT

There is some hope for you.

... but first a couple of questions, are you on an Economy 7 tariff?

It isn't impossible to be on a single rate tariff with an dual rate meter, but it should still be registered as an E7 meter and so it is a bit odd that it didn't come up at all during any of your switches.

Has there been an option to enter the night rate each time but you have been ignoring it, or has there only been the option to enter the one rate?

The hope for you is that if your supplier knew it was a dual rate meter and should have been expecting two readings to be entered but didn't request the other reading or send out their own meter reader then you may be able to avoid paying for anything earlier than the last 12 months.

It is an odd one though for sure.

Failing that route I would expect your supplier to estimate your usage since you have been with them based on the next few readings. It will be inaccurate but shouldn't leave you paying for metered consumption from 0...

Panicking87

Hi MWT
Thanks for the response, I'm not on a Economy 7 tariff and only have 1 electricity 'option' to put the readings in (although when I go to the desktop web page for my account it classes the past reads as Register: Day/Rate 1, with no other rates).  (This has been the same for all of my suppliers)

I'm assuming the meter is Dual rate as it has 2 Rates and a Total (and the second rate is increasing), but it does not say Eco7 or similar on which is why I never though to check.

Thanks for the info about them hopefully estimating usage, that will hopefully let me sleep better!

Robin9

What readings are on your bills ?
From what you say the day units will have a letter A (for Actual) against them.
Is there a second line which have the letter E (for Estimated) against them.  Does this compare with what's on your meter ? 

[Deleted User]

Hi,

how many days since you noticed it and how many units used on day/night since?

MWT

Panicking87 said:

I'm assuming the meter is Dual rate as it has 2 Rates and a Total (and the second rate is increasing), but it does not say Eco7 or similar on which is why I never though to check.

So from what you've said, your supplier has you on a single rate tariff and is expecting you to enter the total register, not the 'day' register, so the 12 month limit on 'back-billing' isn't going to help you.

Most meters will never mention 'Eco7' or similar on the meter itself as that is a tariff description and the meter itself can be set for any number of variations including single or dual rates etc.

Can you post a photo of the meter?

You say the 2nd rate goes up, can we assume that the 'Total' is the sum of the two rate registers?

If so and you switch to entering the total register you are going to get hit with a huge bill so I'd be inclined to ask for this problem to be escalated to a manager so you can discuss the proper resolution before you get on the wrong side of a stupidly large bill.

DingerUK

Find your most recent bill and check your S Number (MPAN)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_Point_Administration_Number
As you can see, residential properties are either code 01 or 02. Next step Is to check the bill for your meter number and verify this against the physical meter. If it’s a multi rate meter it’s possible for you to be on a single rate price plan, but if this is the case you’d have been asked to enter 2 different “readings” for each time of use (day/night, high/low 1/2 etc) 

Gerry1

MWT said:

So from what you've said, your supplier has you on a single rate tariff and is expecting you to enter the total register, not the 'day' register, so the 12 month limit on 'back-billing' isn't going to help you.

I have an E7 meter but I've often been on a single rate tariff and I've never been asked to submit just one total reading.

I'd argue that if an energy company hasn't billed you correctly because the meter database is wrong then it is their fault and they shouldn't be billing you for any additional consumption from more than 12 months ago.

Panicking87

For the reading on my bill they match the values I have given (the rate 1 only) and are mostly marked as C=customer (although some of my gas ones are down as Actual when they were also only given by me). Some are estimates, when I didn't give a read at the right time of the month but they are all in the region of the meter one.

Eg

Period	Meter no.	Previous	Present	Rate	kilowatt hours
9 Jan 20 to 8 Feb 20	A05N074816	24772 C	24873 C	Normal	101

It has been a month or so since I noticed (left it a bit to check it changed and the company has been slow to respond due to lockdown).

In the month between my pictures it has been 28 days and the rate 2 amount changed by 17 (5108->5125).

The Total is the total of rates 1 and 2

Looking at the S number/ MPAN it is down on the bills as 01  (number in the top left  (not sure if the whole of this number is something I should keep confidential?)) which seems to match with “Domestic unrestricted”  and not a multi-rate one (no other two digit numbers between 00-08).  If this is correct why is rate 2 changing? I can see no number like this on the actual meter only the serial number which does match my bills.  Can the MPAN number be incorrect/meter be installed incorrectly?


The card above the meter in the photo is from the installation the old removed meter had 2 reading but the new one is only down as one "0"


"It is an odd one though for sure." 

MWT

This just gets weirder at every turn.

Was the meter changed around the time you moved in for some reason?

It looks like they replaced the two rate meter with what was supposed to be a single rate meter (judging by the '01') but was actually a meter left in 2 rate mode...

That's puts you more firmly back into the 'not your fault' position.

Do you know why the meter was changed?

Talldave

You could do nothing and quietly save up the approx £600 you've ramped up so far, just in case your current or a future supplier decides to dig deeper. However, as long as your MPAN is an 01, they won't because they won't be able to get their head around it.