My Final Reading simply ignored - why?

bristolleedsfan

Dolor said:

bristolleedsfan said:

PennineAcute said:

When you give your readings to your new supplier, they are then forwarded to an independent verification company.  They are checked against previous readings to gain an approximation of what it should be (with a lower and upper limit).  If your given readings are within this range then they are accepted to be correct.  If they fall outside then a reading is estimated.

One of the reasons for this is to prevent people giving a reading which is much higer than what it is, in the case where the new supplier is more expensive, or  give a much lower reading if the new supplier is cheaper.

Not giving a reading for a while can cause an exact reading to fall outside the calculated range, amongst other things.

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360018799871-How-do-meter-validation-companies-approve-my-meter-readings-

My last 3 Gas only switches to Scottish Power, So Energy, Green Network Energy these new suppliers all accepted meter reading given by me, they were not forwarded to an independent verification company.

Scottish Power when I left late last year issued final Bill and refunded credit within 10 days of switched out date, So Energy issued final Bill 5 actual days after switched out date they also refunded credit balance within 10 days of that and GNE automatically accepted changeover reading that I gave hence very quick final bill from So Energy

I think that you will find that they were validated in accordance with industry procedures. The more readings that you provide during your contract period reduces the risk of validation changes.

https://octopus.energy/blog/secret-life-opening-meter-reading/

You may well be correct, however all these suppliers did state that they would use meter readings that I gave/give.....( No Smart Meter)

Scottish Power Statement date: 02 December 2020

Your final gas statement for: 21 November 2020 - 26 November 2020

So Energy  Created On 23 Jan 2021 ( switched out date was 20th)

SO BIRCH - GAS 27 Dec 2020 - 19 Jan 2021

I am not disagreeing with stated official procedure merely highlighting not always followed/used

lozzark

I thought I'd join this thread due to my experience switching from OVO to AVRO.  There was nothing remarkable about this switch.  I supplied both companies with the same meter reading on the same day.  However it took the full 6 weeks to get the final statement from OVO and they said the refund of my overpayments would happen in 5 - 10 working days (14 elapsed days).  On the expiry of this time period I wrote to OVO asking where is my money.  In the meantime I had to ring them to stop them taking direct debits.  On the last communication with OVO, they informed me my final readings were in dispute.  So I looked at the final bill from OVO and the start bill from AVRO.  The gas readings matched, but there was a slight difference on the electricity readings of about 19 units (in my favour).  This was because I had a smart meter functioning with OVO and there appears no way to know which reading they are going to use on the final bill. It turned out the reading I used was a days usage higher than it should be.  I wrote back to OVO and asked them why they had not informed me about the reading dispute and 19 units did not seem enough to hold up proceedings.  They rang me pretty quickly and explained they had raised a reading dispute on my behalf (they were doing me a favour) because the independent body had sent them a reading of 703 for gas (not electricity) and I had supplied a reading of 2492.  Both OVO and AVRO had billed me using the 2492 reading.  Obviously the independent verifier had got it wrong. 703 was a reading a year old!  The independent verifier is not visible to the consumer and appears to be able to change agreed readings and throw a very unwanted spanner in the works.  

lozzark

Just to add OVO rang me again and said they would bill me for the discrepancy in the electricity but the original reading dispute on gas was in error.  They'd rushed out a bill to ensure they met the 6 week industry time limit, but because the bill was inaccurate they had not met the timescale for giving me an "accurate bill", and offered me £30 for the inconvenience caused.  That made me feel really good.  OVO's dispute resolution process was brilliant on this occasion.  If only they had told me there was a dispute going on I would not have felt unhappy with them in the first place.

Oneye12

"....an independent verification company...."

"spiro said:
You are legally not allowed to be charged twice for the same energy during a switch...."

I'm interested in this as I've had both old supplier (Ebico/Robin Hood Energy) and new Supplier (SSE) both deciding actual readings shall not be used for final bill / start of new bill.

Eventually sorted SSE by directly contacting OVO CEO, with the estimations eventually being very close to their figures, but still refused to explain why actual readings are not part of the billing procedure.

Ebico in October/November last year sent 3 final bills, each higher than the last based on estimated readings. Ebico/Robin Hood Energy administrators are attempting to enforce payment of the highest bill.

We say it should go to Court with the legal argument {charged twice} above in mind.

 

[Deleted User]

Oneye12 said:

"....an independent verification company...."

"spiro said:
You are legally not allowed to be charged twice for the same energy during a switch...."

I'm interested in this as I've had both old supplier (Ebico/Robin Hood Energy) and new Supplier (SSE) both deciding actual readings shall not be used for final bill / start of new bill.

Eventually sorted SSE by directly contacting OVO CEO, with the estimations eventually being very close to their figures, but still refused to explain why actual readings are not part of the billing procedure.

Ebico in October/November last year sent 3 final bills, each higher than the last based on estimated readings. Ebico/Robin Hood Energy administrators are attempting to enforce payment of the highest bill.

We say it should go to Court with the legal argument {charged twice} above in mind.

 

There are mandated industry processes for agreeing the readings that are used to open and close accounts. Suppliers are required to follow the transfer of supply process in full with the gaining supplier having overall responsibility for managing the transfer of supply. Any reading supplied by a consumer to the losing supplier for Final Billing should be ignored. That said, a supplier will normally raise a bill based on that reading but it isn’t the Final Bill. It’s not a perfect system and no doubt it will change once everyone has a smart meter.

https://octopus.energy/blog/handover-meter-readings/

Tallerdave

[Deleted User] said:

Oneye12 said:

"....an independent verification company...."

"spiro said:
You are legally not allowed to be charged twice for the same energy during a switch...."

I'm interested in this as I've had both old supplier (Ebico/Robin Hood Energy) and new Supplier (SSE) both deciding actual readings shall not be used for final bill / start of new bill.

Eventually sorted SSE by directly contacting OVO CEO, with the estimations eventually being very close to their figures, but still refused to explain why actual readings are not part of the billing procedure.

Ebico in October/November last year sent 3 final bills, each higher than the last based on estimated readings. Ebico/Robin Hood Energy administrators are attempting to enforce payment of the highest bill.

We say it should go to Court with the legal argument {charged twice} above in mind.

 

There are mandated industry processes for agreeing the readings that are used to open and close accounts. Suppliers are required to follow the transfer of supply process in full with the gaining supplier having overall responsibility for managing the transfer of supply. Any reading supplied by a consumer to the losing supplier for Final Billing should be ignored. That said, a supplier will normally raise a bill based on that reading but it isn’t the Final Bill. It’s not a perfect system and no doubt it will change once everyone has a smart meter.

It should have changed already for anyone with a smart meter. It's an indication of just how inept the energy industry is that it didn't already have the correct process in place before the first smart meter was installed.  

But hey, who cares about inconvenience and disruption for customers whilst the energy industry continues to disagree with its own smart meters until the year 2040 something when it eventually gets around to thinking about the issue!

Tallerdave

[Deleted User] said:

Oneye12 said:

"....an independent verification company...."

"spiro said:
You are legally not allowed to be charged twice for the same energy during a switch...."

I'm interested in this as I've had both old supplier (Ebico/Robin Hood Energy) and new Supplier (SSE) both deciding actual readings shall not be used for final bill / start of new bill.

Eventually sorted SSE by directly contacting OVO CEO, with the estimations eventually being very close to their figures, but still refused to explain why actual readings are not part of the billing procedure.

Ebico in October/November last year sent 3 final bills, each higher than the last based on estimated readings. Ebico/Robin Hood Energy administrators are attempting to enforce payment of the highest bill.

We say it should go to Court with the legal argument {charged twice} above in mind.

 

There are mandated industry processes for agreeing the readings that are used to open and close accounts. Suppliers are required to follow the transfer of supply process in full with the gaining supplier having overall responsibility for managing the transfer of supply. Any reading supplied by a consumer to the losing supplier for Final Billing should be ignored. That said, a supplier will normally raise a bill based on that reading but it isn’t the Final Bill. It’s not a perfect system and no doubt it will change once everyone has a smart meter.

It should have changed already for anyone with a smart meter. It's an indication of just how inept the energy industry is that it didn't already have the correct process in place before the first smart meter was installed.  

But hey, who cares about inconvenience and disruption for customers whilst the energy industry continues to disagree with its own smart meters until the year 2040 something when it eventually gets around to thinking about the issue!

Norman_Castle

Oneye12 said:

"....an independent verification company...."

"spiro said:
You are legally not allowed to be charged twice for the same energy during a switch...."

I'm interested in this as I've had both old supplier (Ebico/Robin Hood Energy) and new Supplier (SSE) both deciding actual readings shall not be used for final bill / start of new bill.

We say it should go to Court with the legal argument {charged twice} above in mind.

Are you being charged twice for the same energy? If the suppliers agree when one supply ends and the other begins there is no overlap so no double charging.

Oneye12

"Are you being charged twice for the same energy? If the suppliers agree when one supply ends and the other begins there is no overlap so no double charging."

Yes ... the suppliers haven't agreed to anything.

"There are mandated industry processes for agreeing the readings that are used to open and close accounts. Suppliers are required to follow the transfer of supply process in full with the gaining supplier having overall responsibility for managing the transfer of supply."
Clearly those processes haven't worked on this occasion.

jaybeetoo

I have recently switched and had my meter reading ignored even though I provided photographs.

Worse, I ended up being charged twice for the same gas.  It was only sorted after I used Resolver (although I’m still waiting for my refund).

The switching process is broken.  There are no checks and balances.  It’s all smoke and mirrors.  The Regulator is useless.