Change of supply process

[Deleted User]

Hi, is there a third party who deals with readings when a new supplier sends readings to the old supplier?

Gerry1

Opening reading validation process

My opening reading is wrong

[Deleted User]

Who would be the validation company between npower and shell?

Gerry1

No idea, it's all very mysterious...

matelodave

I think a lot of us are totally confused about who they are, what they really do, where they get their information from and TBH why they even exist.
Hopefully they wont have a role to play when more people get smart meters - we'll all be able to blame the DCC then

macman

We know more about the workings of MI5 and MI6 than we do about the identity of these mysterious '3rd party validators'...

[Deleted User]

All properties have a record of historical usage data: if the property is old enough, this data goes back 70 years. Suppliers usually engage with a third-party to obtain and maintain this data from which what used to be known as the Estimated Annual Consumption for electricity, and the Annual Quantity for gas is produced for each property. This information is passed between suppliers every time a change of supplier is made. These parties, known as data collectors, will also validate data each time a meter reading is produced and on a switch. Why? Customers misread their meters - either by mistake (think of the old dial meters) or deliberately or, as reported here on many threads, people just do not bother to provide a reading even on transfer of supply. The data collectors provide a useful service: less so with the advent of smart meters and the DCC.

Talldave

[Deleted User] said:

The data collectors provide a useful service: less so with the advent of smart meters and the DCC.

Can't agree with that. Their algorithms are rubbish. They ignore photographs of meter readings (or more likely never accept them) and, from a thread on here, don’t even believe a reading from a smart meter. They're not publicly answerable and should be disbanded or replaced with something less incompetent. 

[Deleted User]

Are these third parties not working on behalf of the suppliers, ie. are they not able to access the data via systems?

timetokill

Switched from BG to Scot Power in Sept. Both companies are charging me now as each uses a different meter number. BG refusing to cancel old a/c as not received termination of 'their' meter. Any thoughts? Is this legal?

Gerry1

timetokill said:

Switched from BG to Scot Power in Sept. Both companies are charging me now as each uses a different meter number. BG refusing to cancel old a/c as not received termination of 'their' meter. Any thoughts? Is this legal?

Welcome to the forum.  Suggest finding out who really supplies you, reversing any DDs that have been wrongly taken and then cancelling them.

Find My Gas Supplier

For electricity, find out who is your DNO and their website will tell you.