Been paying someone else's smart meter bills

Lukasholden12

Hi there, hoping somebody can give me a little help here as I have no clue. In December 2019 we moved into a 1 bed apartment in a new church conversion which has 12 apartments, 6 of which are 2 bed apartments. We set up our account with British gas with the meter marked for our apartment. I had noticed our bills were ridiculously high considering how little time we spend in the flat, but british gas would not come look at it due to COVID. As I have gone to check my meter today, it seems my meter has now been marked as another flat's meter. There is no longer a meter marked up as mine. I have spoken to my letting agents and they tell me that several meters were marked up wrong during the conversion. So we have been paying almost £200 a month for the electric of a 2 bed flat for the past year and a half. Could anyone let me know what options I have in regards to complaining and potentially getting some money back? I don't know where to start or if I have any grounds to complain.

Thanks in advance 😊

niktheguru

You definitely have grounds to complain.
Firstly you need to establish which meter is yours and how much energy you have ACTUALLY been using.
It sounds like you are "letting" the property. You need to speak with the landlord and letting agent about this. If they have told you that the marked meter was yours and it was infact incorrect then they should potentially be liable to sorting this mess out.

I'm sure people who are far more knowledgeable than me regarding this will post soon, but i think you need to do the following.
1. Check which meter is yours.......preferably in the middle of the night (small hours of the morning) go and look at all the meters. Then go and turn on ALL the electric devices in your flat (kettle, shower, heating, oven etc) and go back to the meters and see which one is now going crazy and is incrementing fastest (or has flashing red light going on overdrive), that will be your meter, note down the MPAN and serial number.
2. Contact letting agent and landlord, give them a complaint saying you were misinformed about the correct meter in the property and you have been paying for someone elses energy. Ask what they are going to do about this.
3. Inform British gas - tell them since moving in you have been paying for the wrong meter and the MPAN is incorrect for the address, inform them of which one is the correct one.
4. Find out whose meter you have been paying for....speak to them and inform them of this and give the meter readings (opening and latest) so you can prove how much energy you've been paying for
5. Find out who has been paying for your meter.....find out how much energy you've been using.

Think this would be a start.

Lukasholden12

Thanks for your comment @niktheguru I shall start doing all that tonight, fingers crossed it gets us somewhere! 

[Deleted User]

Most of these problems are the result of mis-registration by builders; DNOs and gas transporters. Sadly, they usually do not affect just a single property. For example, I live in Plot 6/No14. My MPAN and electricity meter serial number was registered as No 6. No5/Plot 14 was registered as No 14. You can see how this cascades around the development. Do not attempt to disconnect the meter serial number on your statement from the MPAN. If you do, then there will be total confusion. Once you have found the correct meter serial number, then contact ‘who is my supplier’. Explain the problem to them, give them the correct meter serial number and they should be able to confirm the correct MPAN for your property, and the erroneous postal address that it has been listed against. Pass all this information on to your supplier.

In sum, it is the address that needs to be changed but, if possible, this is best done in concert with your neighbours. I have been there and got the tee shirt. It took Scottish Power 6 months to get 14 properties properly registered.

Hasbeen

And to all the great advice given. It is always advisable to check any actual meter readings, even smarts against actual bills received to ensure all is correct. And you are getting billed accordingly.

teddysmum

My son thought his payments in his new build semi were high and happened to catch a meter man checking his meter(set in a hole outside). He noticed that his meter had a different code than that on his bills, so asked for an investigation. The the codes for meters on the cul de sac of 6 homes had all been misallocated and my son's family was paying the bill of those in the opposite house, who had the same family makeup, but often had a number of the man's adult family members, staying for a few weeks, so the house's bills should have been much higher.
The households which overpaid had a refund, but those who underpaid were charged no extra.

rtwuk

We bought a new build 9 years ago.  Our electric was mixed up with next door and our water was mixed up with 3 properties.

One cause is that builders use plot numbers - which is what goes into all the gas/electric/water MPAN type registers.  And then you move in with a house number and hey presto.... a mismatch mess!!

It took 6-12 months to sort it out with a lot of toing and froing.