Incorrect 'final' meter reading after smart meter installation

datimms

Hi,
 
I hope someone can help me as I feel pretty hopeless at the moment. We recently switched to EON as part of the MSE deal and I signed up to have the smart meters installed.

On Friday last week EON installed their smart meters. I believe the engineer has made a mistake in his 'final' reading on the old meter, resulting in an abnormally high first bill from EON. This meter reading is coming out at 1350 units used in under 1 month. It does depend on the time of year, however we typically use around 300kWh per month. Our meter is one of the old dial types and all the dials spin in alternating directions, it's therefore tricky to read. I know these guys are probably installing 6 or more meters a day but that doesn't mean they don't get complacent. The 10000 needle was likely touching the next number as the previous reading was in the 49000s and it would have been quite easy to record 50xxx rather than 49xxx if looking quickly. So considering this with our historical usage I think this reading is probably wrong by 1000 units.

I've queried the abnormally high reading with EON and they basically say the engineer's reading is final unless I can provide a photo of the old meter reading... which presumably is now in a bin at Morrison Engineering Services... so that will be impossible. I now heavily regret not taking photos of the old meters - I didn't even consider it, I wasn't expecting to be done over! The only thing I have are regular (monthly ish) readings on my phone in the notes app and a photo from August 2020, which might show how close the needles can be. I should have about 4 years' of previous bills saved which should show a consistent usage. But I doubt those are going to help me.

I have raised a complaint with EON but I'm not expecting much to come out of it. Unless someone is going to go through the bins at the warehouse, find my meter out of the 100s of others, how am I going to get around this? EON are supposed to get back to me in 10 working days and by then it will be too late to even do that. I would hope the engineer would take a photo of the meter, he took other photos (for example showing his electricity test and the boiler test. Is this likely?

The new bill is 3 times what my monthly direct debit is meant to be, I've never had a bill come close. So annoyed at myself for not thinking of this, agreeing to smart meters were supposed to make life easier and now it's just adding more stress.

Is there anything I can do other than bending over and accepting it? Thanks for any help.

[Deleted User]

Have a look at the statement prior to your final bill with the old meter. Is the reading used annotated A, C or E? I suspect it is the latter and what you are seeing is a catch-up bill based on a final actual meter reading. Direct Debits are a meaningless way of monitoring energy use. Any debit or credit balance is accurate for a single day provided it was based on an actual meter reading. Moreover, given that it has been a cold Winter most of us have used a higher than average number of kWhs to keep warm.

Reed_Richards

Your only hope is if you had an actual meter reading not too long before your old meter was removed and can therefore establish that the final reading is inconsistent.  Otherwise EON will believe what @[Deleted User] suggests, that the final reading was simply a catch-up on previous estimates. 

leonj

They have definitely read it wrong, try the omsbudman

[Deleted User]

leonj said:

They have definitely read it wrong, try the omsbudman

How do you know that? The Energy Ombudsman can only adjudicate on the information provided to it by the complainant and the supplier. As posted above, The Energy Ombudsman will reject any approach unless the consumer has followed the supplier’s complaints process.

For others reading this thread, this situation could have been resolved easily had the OP taken a photograph of the meter before it was removed. 

niktheguru

You should always before a meter change submit meter readings a couple of days before the meter is changed. It is helpful to also take photos of the meter before the meter is changed and also to confirm the final readings with whoever is changing the meter before they leave. Its too late for you now.

However, do you submit meter readings monthly? If you do and your bills are all based on actual readings and you have bills going a year or two in advance then i suggest persuing with the formal complaints process and if that doesn't bear fruit or a compromise then go to the ombudsman and have the previous use evidence to hand. If your bills aren't based on actual readings then you're probably stuck.

MWT

What was the meter reading at the point when you switched and what was the date?
What is the reading the engineer submitted and the date of that reading?

Reed_Richards

Everyone is telling you to be wise after the event, which isn't much help.  The only ways you can try to do that are:

1. Look back through your old bills over several years, find the actual meter readings and see if you can establish a pattern of historic usage that would indicate you have been overcharged.
2. Read your new meter regularly for the next year and see if you can establish a pattern of current usage that would indicate you have been overcharged.

By the way if you know how to read a dial meter and the reading is 49xxx then the 10000 needle might well be touching the 5 but because the 1000 needle is on the 9 you know it has to be 49xxx because if it was just over 5 then the 1000 need be would be pointing to 0 or 1.  So the mistake you think happened should not happen to anyone who actually knows how to read a dial meter.     

[Deleted User]

I doubt that there is a supplier in the Country that will uphold a complaint in a year’s time which suggests that a meter read from a meter removed a year ago was faulty. As I suggested at post 2, the OP needs to look back at his previous statement to see if it was based on an estimated reading. If it was, then the simple subtraction of the actual reading on a previous statement from the meter reading shown when the meter was removed would show up an anomaly which needs to be investigated. 

All meter readings have to be validated against historic data before they are used for billing purposes. If the final reading was incorrect then it should have been rejected for billing purposes. As I said previously, my money is on this being a ‘catch up’ bill: that is, the estimated use has for some months been below actual use.

Reed_Richards

datimms said:

The only thing I have are regular (monthly ish) readings on my phone in the notes app and a photo from August 2020, which might show how close the needles can be. I should have about 4 years' of previous bills saved which should show a consistent usage. But I doubt those are going to help me.

Why on earth will these things not help?  August 2020 is not that long ago, forget about how close the needles were, what was the reading then?  When and what was the last reading in your notes app?  

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Datimms, 

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your bill after your meter was exchanged for a Smart Meter. 

Reading the old dial meters can be a bit tricky, engineers/meter readers do sometimes make mistakes with reading the meters so it's not our of the realm of possibility that this has happened on this occasion. 

As Dolor and Reed_Richards have suggested, if your previous meter readings have been estimated, your final actual reading could have caused a 'catch up bill' for the period where you have been billed on estimates and we have now finally received the actual reading and billed you for your actual usage. 

It's definitely worth checking on your online account or on your previous few bills if we have an actual reading. If the reading was much higher than it should be and your most recent readings are actual readings, it's likely that the final reading will have been rejected. 

If your have an actual reading within the last 6 months, we should be able to determine if the final reading that was taken was correct or incorrect. 

Please do check this, we will also check this when your complaint is picked up by a Resolution Manager and we can re-bill you accordingly if the reading taken on your appointment date was incorrect. 

Thanks, Peter