How hard can it be to get a MPRN ?

snakeydave24

Hi everyone

I moved into a property back in November of 2020, at the time I did all the usual things, take meter readings etc and that is where the problems started.

There was a letter from British Gas saying that we supply your property but on further investigation the address and the gas meter serial number didn't match what I had in front of me, A quick walk outside gave quite a simple answer, the person living at the property before me had been paying for the wrong meter which due to its location I can see how this happened but if you actually followed the pipes you'd see what meter actually supplied the property.

Anyway, a phone call to British Gas and about 2 hours later I thought we had got somewhere, now for simplicity I'm going to list a few edited details below 

I live in a converted house which is split into 3 flats, prior to 2011 this was a shop with 1 or 2 flats, and the address was different (Shop 22, 22A/22B) the information is a little hard to find...

Anyway now, we are as below, Flat's and not 22A/B/C

Flat 1 is supplied by meter serial number 0001
Flat 2 is supplied by meter serial number 0002
Flat 3 is supplied by meter serial number 0003

Now it transpires that the previous tenant or someone else got confused somewhere along the line and had told British Gas that Flat 3 or (22A(old address))  was actually supplied by meter serial number 0001, now I'm not sure how this can possibly happen at British Gas' end but Flat 1 was also supplied by British Gas using the correct meter serial number 0001, so yes 1 meter had 2 MPRN's for different addresses and this was confirmed down the phone to me more than once...

After speaking to British Gas I was advised that meter serial number 0003 was not registered on the system at all and they could find no record of it and that I should contact cadet, which I did, who then told me to sign up with any supplier and get them to register it which I did, so I called SSE, explained everything and they said, sit tight, in 6-10 weeks everything will be sorted out and we shall supply you, no need to contact us, we have your details and we will contact you and this is where the fun begins...

Timeline 
Moved in November, called SSE 6-10 week wait 
12 weeks later: Nothing 
14 weeks later: Nothing, so I called and they said they'll ring me back at some point 
16 weeks later: Nothing, so I called and they said they'll ring me back at some point 
18 weeks later: Nothing, so I called and spoke to someone who said the person dealing with it was currently off sick with covid ?
25 weeks later: Nothing, so I called, they said they can see my request and that nothing has happened so they are going to send off a new one, wait 6-10 more weeks and we will get back to you

30 weeks later: I get a bill from British Gas saying I owe them £300 for the wrong meter and they want to request a warrant of entry, I ring and explain everything again they say not to worry this will go away...

36 weeks later: Nothing, so I called, they told me to email this person, I never got a response
40 weeks later: Nothing, so I called, they said they would ring me back later in the day, sure enough, they actually did but said they can't actually request an update because cadet are dealing with it
45 weeks later, Nothing, so I called, they asked me to leave some details and cadent will be in touch and apologised for the delay 
The next day, I get a phone call from Cadent, asking for some details, and for a site visit but this also won't be able to happen for a month, we agree on a date, they confirmed at least twice the day and actually tuned up, engineers checks everything, makes a long detailed report and sends it off 

47 weeks later: A phone call from Cadent, you will have your MPRN in 13 working days,
13 working days later: a phone call and confirmation that I have an MPRN WooHoo


Woo Hoo or so I thought, Now obviously we are now in an energy crisis at the moment, I had received some emails from SSE months ago when this all started that when I had the MPRN to reply back too, now when I did they got sent straight back to me saying this email address is no longer in use, no worries, I'll give them a ring, hours go by, no one can seem to find my account or anything about it, they transfer me to new connections or new customer to be told "I'm really sorry but we aren't taking on new customers at the moment" well technically I'm not a new customer you just took your sweet time to do your job and now you're saying your not interested? Oh well, I'll go somewhere else, pretty much no one is taking on new customers, but I sign up with Utility Warehouse and everything seems good so far, not been billed yet or had much information sent to me but it seems promising.

50 weeks later: I check my credit score to see that it's dropped by over 100points due to a late payment, what could that be ??? British Gas, apparently I owe them £500, so I gave them a phone call and they said no sir, your account has been closed and you owe us nothing, it must be a mistake.

Today, I receive a bill for £600 for gas from British Gas... another 2 hours on the phone, oh sorry sir we have now closed your account and removed the outstanding balance

 

jbuchanangb

Wonderful account. You have been so systematic. The good news should be that you won't be charged for gas you used before CADENT assigned the MPRN. You may not have heard the last from BG though! It might be a good idea to start their complaint process. Or at the very least write to them and ask for written confirmation that the account is closed with nothing owing.

t0rt0ise

I had similar with British Gas sending me bills for someone else. It took a formal complaint to see them off. Someone from complaints called me to say it was sorted so I asked for that in writing and he did send me a letter which I kept in case it started off again. Now sadly I find myself with them as PfP went bust and they have just refused my transfer out. I have complained.

snakeydave24

You may have noticed I posted this in November of last year, but today I received a phone call from UW and they are sending an engineer out tomorrow to sort everything out, so maybe I'll get lucky just before the prices skyrocket even more