Unregistered gas meter / MPRN issues

GR555

Hi all!

I wonder if someone could please give me some advice. I moved into a property (the "Property") around 4 months ago as a tenant, and am having real trouble registering with a gas supplier due to meter issues.

The Property is a Victorian conversion consisting of four flats (numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4). I am number 2. There are four gas meters in a cupboard outside the Property, and I was able to identify the meter for my flat through a burn test ("My Meter"). However, when I tried to register with a supplier I was told that there was no record of My Meter's serial number on the national database.

After some investigations I have been able to ascertain that there are four MPRNs for the four flats at the Property. Three of the MPRNs are correctly linked to the serial numbers for the gas meters for flats 1, 3 and 4. However, the MPRN for my flat is linked to a gas meter which is not located at the property at all (the "Eon Meter"), while My Meter is not associated with any MPRN. The Eon Meter is a pay-as-you-go top-up meter (which My Meter isn't) supplied by Eon, and according to Eon it remains active. However, Eon don't seem to know its actual physical location.

I have spoken to Cadent, the local gas transporter, to see if they can create another MPRN for My Meter. They have said that they will not do this because there are already four MPRNs for the four flats at the Property. This leaves me in a position where my flat has an MPRN, but it is incorrectly associated with the Eon Meter rather than My Meter. Because the Eon Meter is a pay-as-you-go top-up meter no one is billing me for it (although Eon are presumably charging someone for its use), and I have not paid for any gas at all since I moved in in August, despite using it. This makes me pretty uncomfortable!

I think the way forward must be for Eon to disassociate the Eon Meter from my MPRN so that I can link the MPRN to My Meter, register with a supplier and start paying bills. Cadent also suggested that this was an issue for Eon to resolve. However, so far Eon have been unwilling/unable to help. While they were initially helpful on the phone I think that this is an unusual issue and so nothing is being done about it. I have been promised call-backs which have never arrived and my emails are also now being ignored.

Please could someone advise on appropriate next steps? Should I be raising a complaint with Eon (despite the fact I am not currently their customer) to get them to move the Eon Meter off my MPRN? Given the passage of time I would really like to get this resolved as soon as possible!

Thanks,

Gareth

[Deleted User]

Mis-registration of properties is all too common. Each flat/property is allocated a MPAN and a MPRN (if there is gas). The problem occurs because builders tend to use plot numbers as they do not know the postal address. In my case, Plot 6 was registered as No6 et seq. it follows that if one apartment is wrong then so will a number of others. Only your supplier can sort this out; however, what you must not do is allow the supplier to change the meter serial number linked to your MPRN. You need to ask them to check the database to see which MPRN is linked to your meter. The supplier then needs to change the property address aligned to that MPRN. The correct meter and MPRN will then be linked to your property. 

GR555

Thanks Dolor. The issue is that My Meter isn't linked to an MPRN at all. There is an MPRN for my address on the national database, but the meter serial number linked to that MPRN is not located at the Property at all. It sounds like I might need to ask Eon to change the address for that MPRN (which they supply) away from my address, then get a new MPRN for my address and link My Meter's serial number to it?

MWT

GR555 said:

.... It sounds like I might need to ask Eon to change the address for that MPRN (which they supply) away from my address, then get a new MPRN for my address and link My Meter's serial number to it?

Take care with that approach, if you end up with a 'new' MPRN with no supplier you are going to have a very hard time persuading a supplier to take you on at the moment.

It is possible that your MPRN got tangled up in an erroneous transfer and they have 'corrected' it the wrong way, Cadent should be able to give you the history for your MPRN to see where it was before E.ON.

[Deleted User]

MWT said:

GR555 said:

.... It sounds like I might need to ask Eon to change the address for that MPRN (which they supply) away from my address, then get a new MPRN for my address and link My Meter's serial number to it?

Take care with that approach, if you end up with a 'new' MPRN with no supplier you are going to have a very hard time persuading a supplier to take you on at the moment.

It is possible that your MPRN got tangled up in an erroneous transfer and they have 'corrected' it the wrong way, Cadent should be able to give you the history for your MPRN to see where it was before E.ON.

I agree. Someone in your development has done exactly what I said the OP shouldn’t do. Getting a supplier to change the meter serial number allocated to a MPAN/MPRN leaves a property isolated. If you can, talk to the developer. When this happened on my small development, the developer was able to give me a list of the MPAN/MPRNs allocated to a particular plot number/postal address. 

Curiousgirl1

[Deleted User] said:

MWT said:

GR555 said:

.... It sounds like I might need to ask Eon to change the address for that MPRN (which they supply) away from my address, then get a new MPRN for my address and link My Meter's serial number to it?

Take care with that approach, if you end up with a 'new' MPRN with no supplier you are going to have a very hard time persuading a supplier to take you on at the moment.

It is possible that your MPRN got tangled up in an erroneous transfer and they have 'corrected' it the wrong way, Cadent should be able to give you the history for your MPRN to see where it was before E.ON.

I agree. Someone in your development has done exactly what I said the OP shouldn’t do. Getting a supplier to change the meter serial number allocated to a MPAN/MPRN leaves a property isolated. If you can, talk to the developer. When this happened on my small development, the developer was able to give me a list of the MPAN/MPRNs allocated to a particular plot number/postal address. 

This is not a new development it is a house conversion to 4 flats 

[Deleted User]

Curiousgirl1 said:

[Deleted User] said:

MWT said:

GR555 said:

.... It sounds like I might need to ask Eon to change the address for that MPRN (which they supply) away from my address, then get a new MPRN for my address and link My Meter's serial number to it?

Take care with that approach, if you end up with a 'new' MPRN with no supplier you are going to have a very hard time persuading a supplier to take you on at the moment.

It is possible that your MPRN got tangled up in an erroneous transfer and they have 'corrected' it the wrong way, Cadent should be able to give you the history for your MPRN to see where it was before E.ON.

I agree. Someone in your development has done exactly what I said the OP shouldn’t do. Getting a supplier to change the meter serial number allocated to a MPAN/MPRN leaves a property isolated. If you can, talk to the developer. When this happened on my small development, the developer was able to give me a list of the MPAN/MPRNs allocated to a particular plot number/postal address. 

This is not a new development it is a house conversion to 4 flats 

In my book, a house conversion is a development. That said, whether it is or isn’t it changes nothing: the flats appear to have been mis-registered. 

molerat

It is EON's responsibility to sort it out. You need to raise a formal complaint with EON.  If the MPRN correctly links to your flat you need to lay out the complaint clearly stating your case - you live at xxx, the national database links MPRN yyy to that property and meter serial zzz serves that property giving them the date you took over responsibility and the meter reading at that time.

Curiousgirl1

Is there a sticker on your meter showing exchange details. Could be the pre pay meter was once there, exchanged but never correctly updated. If it’s now in another property it would still be showing as being used. 

If the MPRN is linked to your address I don’t understand why EON say they don’t know where it is, presumably they have an account for your property & are your supplier & think the meter is there. 

Give them a ring, check to see if they have an account for your MPRN & address & send them a photo of the meter which they should be able to update. Raise it as a complaint & get the reference number, that way someone is responsible for it & it won’t be ignored 

The info that @[Deleted User] has given is correct for new developments but not for older existing supplies 

GR555

Thanks all, very helpful. Eon did suggest when I spoke to them that based on their records the meter may have been exchanged in June 2021 (a few months before I moved in) and serial number details linked to the MPRN never properly updated. I didn't realise a removed meter could then be re-installed elsewhere, but that would explain why the meter that was apparently here before being replaced in June 2021 is still showing as active despite not being at the property. The yellow sticker is there on my meter but hasn't been populated, so it doesn't provide much help! I will get on to Eon and ask them to change the details for my MPRN to the correct meter serial number, which sounds like the best option here. 

Spies

Just send them a recorded letter with the issue clearly stated, if they don't act on it, it's not your problem anymore, don't waste a load of time on something that's not your fault.