Metre wired up to wrong supply

ell_fst

We have had extortionate energy bills far beyond which we know we use, we have had two different electricians sent out to check the the energy use in the flat. The electrician who came to check the energy use notified us that the meter was reading X5 the amount of usage of what we actually was using in the flat. From that, we have had a second electrician install a new meter to rectify the issue however it has been flagged that they believe the meter isn't wired up to said correct flat. When said electrician turned off the energy supply of the flat to change the metre ( metre which was labelled with our flat number / the metres are in the basement of the flat building) energy was still supplied to our apartment. This flagged the issue that potentially our meter was wired up to a different flat.  When we informed bulb of this they have said running a burns test was required however, there are 107 apartments and 107 meters in the basement of this building. They have said this is unfeasible and unattainable to carry out. With that, there is no way of them rectifying and identifying which meter our flat is wired up to. Our meter obviously is reading wrong and bulb have agreed for our payments to be capped at £50 until this is resolved. However, The energy company and our letting agents for said flat/metre are now at a loss of how to proceed. Thus, leaving us with an account with debt recrewed. For context, we live in a 2 bedroom flat we don't use a TV, don't work from home, one of us lives away half the week and we don't use the heating. We have been told by an electrician it is physically impossible for our bills and usage to be reading correct for the size of the flat. For example, £230 per month. 

 

For more context, this has been an ongoing issue with this flat for years which was unknown to us before signing the tenancy agreement. The past tenants for this flat who were with A different energy supplier had the same issue and recrewed over £2000 worth of debt which they are still paying off. The issue was never resolved. Whilst we are still only paying £50 a month are statements are increasing each month. Jumping to higher totals beyond reason. 

 

Our energy company have said running a burns test in this building they would have to turn off the supply for all 107 flats which would be illegal therefore they wouldn't be able to. This leaves us with no other options. We need Bulb and the property management to work out how to proceed in this, finding a solution to reading our energy correctly and voiding the debt incurred so far. 

 

The communication is via a chat service where we have then had it escalated to emails with only one phone call. We have had to wait over two weeks at times for a response, once again whilst our debt is racking up on the account which is affecting our quality of life and mental health worrying about paying hundreds if not potentially thousands of pounds (which the past tenants still are) during a pandemic. This has left us stressed, upset and no better off. We have had no help from anyone involved and do not believe it is a tenants priority or issue to be escalated this issue with the meter which is owned by a landlord and should be managed by an energy company. This issue has been flagged for over two months as it started over a chat referral on their customer service site.

 

We are wondering what the next steps are going forward, how are we going to void the debt racked up and going forward how will the energy company charge us? We want an accurate reading of our energy use as it is not fair for us to be charged so much.

 

Gerry1

Turn on everything in the flat at 3am, especially the tumble dryer, oven, hob rings, boost immersion heater, kettle, panel radiators, any plug in heaters, absolutely the whole lot (but power down and disconnect any sensitive electronic equipment that may be sensitive to spikes).

Go to the basement and find the meter with the red light (marked 1000 Imp/kWh or similar) that's flashing crazily and that one will be yours. Then turn everything off at the consumer unit in the flat and check that the meter's red light no longer flashes.  Make a note of the serial number on that meter and tell Bulb to register it as supplying your flat.  Solved !

niktheguru

Absolutely Gerry1s post is spot on!
Also, what has the landlord said in all this? Surely the responsibility for the property not being wired correctly is theirs to negotiate with the freeholder.

ToomanyPies

Who replaced the meter? Does the serial number on the meter match with the one on your bill? Can you show us a photo of your meter and one of several meters together?
It's quite possible that the flat numbers on the meters are the numbers from the original plans and not the numbering used when the flats were sold. e.g. the flats were renumbered to avoid number 13 

jbuchanangb

Two side issues may arise, but they are not your problem:
(a) who will pay the bill for the meter you were being billed for. Not your problem.
(b) who was paying the bill for your flat. Also not your problem. They will however have a problem when your meter is re-registered to you, because their energy supplier won't know how to bill them. They will have to do the meter detection exercise at 3am themselves!

stewie_griffin

Do the meters say for example flat 20 or simply 20. If the latter then it could be the plot numbers. You'd have to try and get in touch with the developer (or ask your landlord to) to find out which plot became which flat.

theoretica

Would it be illegal to turn 'your' meter off?  And see who complains?

Gerry1

theoretica said:

Would it be illegal to turn 'your' meter off?  And see who complains?

Unlikely you'd be able to do so, the relevant switch will be on the consumer unit and hence not accessible from outside the relevant flat.

theoretica

Gerry1 said:

theoretica said:

Would it be illegal to turn 'your' meter off?  And see who complains?

Unlikely you'd be able to do so, the relevant switch will be on the consumer unit and hence not accessible from outside the relevant flat.

I have a big switch next to my meter and then the one on my consumer unit - but know nothing about how its done in modern flats!

A_Lert

If the alleged usage it implausible for OP's flat, then unless the flats are very different sizes, I wonder if the meter is supplying multiple flats? Or the common area?

To effectively "turn the meter off" an electrician can disconnect the wires that go from the meter to the fusebox. The building freeholder or their agent would need to arrange this though.

Gerry1

theoretica said:

Gerry1 said:

theoretica said:

Would it be illegal to turn 'your' meter off?  And see who complains?

Unlikely you'd be able to do so, the relevant switch will be on the consumer unit and hence not accessible from outside the relevant flat.

I have a big switch next to my meter and then the one on my consumer unit - but know nothing about how its done in modern flats!

The OP's meter is in the basement.  I rather doubt there would be a main switch there, far too easy for the supply to an unoccupied flat to be turned off by mistake or maliciously, resulting in burst pipes, loss of frozen food, burglaries because of failed alarms etc.