Is over-stating actual gas or electric meter readings against the law - yes or no

dlmcr

It has been suggested on another forum that this is fraud and in the same category as insurance / mortgage fraud but I am struggling to find laws regarding this specific situation. In the T&Cs of the energy supplier there is nothing written about this.

Edit : I am on an SVR so have no interest one way or another, I am just asking this as an academic question as I have seen it come up in other places, but there has been very little conclusive response one way or another other than subjective opinions.. hence I know that the great learned of MSE will be able to back up their opinions with facts!

Curiousgirl1

If you mean over estimate your readings before 1 April so you don’t get charged the higher prices, then yes I believe it is. Wouldn’t work anyway as energy companies usually have a 10% tolerance level where if the reading was way above what is expected it wouldn’t get used anyway & would be estimated. If you insist it’s correct, they will ask for a photo of the meter. They’re not idiots 

[Deleted User]

As above, they are well prepared for this and have mechanisms in place to prevent it. When I first moved in I gave BG my opening reading but it wasn’t recorded properly so when I gave a reading the following month the website said it wasn’t  the value they were expecting so wouldn’t accept it. Luckily I had taken a photograph of the opening reading to resolve the issue. They must take estimate readings alongside the actual ones and if there is a huge difference between them then they will look further into it. 

They will probably be gearing up even further to prevent this as people will be trying it on more so before April. 

Astria

All energy providers estimate your usage, if the figure you supply is wildly outside expectations then they will simply ignore your reading and estimate it instead. They might also schedule a meter reader appointment and he must be able to read the meter in a certain time frame or they may force access to do so (yes, they can do this). Depending on his findings you could be rebilled or even fined if they think it wasn't a genuine mistake.

If you over estimate by about 100 units or so you'll probably get away with it, just don't over estimate what you can't use in a few weeks.

Also note that over estimating may cause them to assume you are using more energy than expected and they might adjust your direct debit to match your new energy consumption.

[Deleted User]

Astria said:

All energy providers estimate your usage, if the figure you supply is wildly outside expectations then they will simply ignore your reading and estimate it instead. They might also schedule a meter reader appointment and he must be able to read the meter in a certain time frame or they may force access to do so (yes, they can do this). Depending on his findings you could be rebilled or even fined if they think it wasn't a genuine mistake.

If you over estimate by about 100 units or so you'll probably get away with it, just don't over estimate what you can't use in a few weeks.

Also note that over estimating may cause them to assume you are using more energy than expected and they might adjust your direct debit to match your new energy consumption.

Yes I thought this was the case. Just looked at my British Gas bill and the couple of estimates that they took are pretty close to my readings. 

I imagine they will really start to push smart meters now to stop false readings being given. 

maisie_cat

People do make mistakes though, a couple of months ago I mistyped a reading as 66619 instead of 66119.
When I tried to correct it the system would not let me but it did allow a new reading a few days later and the erroneous reading never actually appeared on the bill. I assumed their system picked it up as an error and ignored it.

Jaybee_16

In my previous property, my dad had the tv on all day, lights on most of the day and other electrical stuff on. After he died, the meter readings I submitted were about 50% less than before. E-on queried the readings then sent someone to read the meter. 
Following month same again. Queried meter reading and sent someone to read the meter.
Then it settled down. 

ProDave

But what about if you had installed energy saving measures so your use this year was lower than last year, and you did not submit a reading and they over estimated based on previous use.  Then after April you submitted correct readings based on your now lower usage?

wild666

If you do it then it would depend by how many kWh you say you have used if it's one or two then they wouldn't bother but if it's hundreds of kWh then it's a different matter. 
If it's the provider that's over estimated then it could be different especially if you give a reading the next month and the reading is less than the estimated use from the previous month, the money would have being debited from the balance or paid by cash or cheque in good faith.

Curiousgirl1

ProDave said:

But what about if you had installed energy saving measures so your use this year was lower than last year, and you did not submit a reading and they over estimated based on previous use.  Then after April you submitted correct readings based on your now lower usage?

Account would get rebilled back to the last reading & usage averaged out over the time 

Brie

One of the reasons I moved from Bulb was the fact they wouldn't accept that our electricity use had dropped significantly.  We had a hot tub which obviously was power greedy and when it sprang a leak we didn't replace it.  They however assumed I was lying when submitting readings.  I expect we'll have something similar happen when MiL pops her clogs and her lounge is no longer heated beyond what is reasonable for the tropics.