Inflated gas readings

ImranQ

Hi,
I've recently seen recommendations from Martin to people on old pre-pay meters to pay in advance as much as possible and 'stock up'.
So my question is, is anyone doing this on ordinary meters and giving inflated readings before 31st March to their supplier to "lock in the old rate" and if so, is this legal?
Regards,
Imran

Gerry1

No, it's fraud.

MWT

ImranQ said:

... and if so, is this legal?

No, that would involve fraud.

Martin has backed off of the advice on the Pre-pay meters as well recently...

ImranQ

@Gerry1 I agree but was wondering on the legality of the prepayment meter advice as surely prepaying say 3X what you would normally use, in advance, can't be legal either. 

@MWT Thanks for clearing that up regarding Martin.

[Deleted User]

ImranQ said:

Hi,
I've recently seen recommendations from Martin to people on old pre-pay meters to pay in advance as much as possible and 'stock up'.
So my question is, is anyone doing this on ordinary meters and giving inflated readings before 31st March to their supplier to "lock in the old rate" and if so, is this legal?
Regards,
Imran

Suppliers are required to accept customer meter readings for billing purposes unless they deem them to be unreasonable. How is this tested? All meter readings are ‘validated’ by the supplier’s nominated data collector ( a company that provides meter reading services etc). The data collector will validate any customer reading by looking back at past meter readings (historical data for your property). If the meter reading is deemed to be too high or too low, then it will be rejected for billing purposes and the data collector will come up with an estimated reading.

Yes, it would be fraud if the system allowed the incorrect reading/s to stand. In most cases, the validation system will prevent this from happening. 

Gerry1

ImranQ said:

@Gerry1 I agree but was wondering on the legality of the prepayment meter advice as surely prepaying say 3X what you would normally use, in advance, can't be legal either.

There's nothing to stop you topping up your card or meter (although your supplier may set limits) but you may find you're still paying the higher rates from 1 April (especially for gas) if the system automatically applies the new rates or your supplier claws back the difference.

There's nothing to lose (apart from a tiny amount of savings interest), but it may prove to be a waste of time.

Chrysalis

Wrong meter reading deliberately is fraud, topping up prepay isnt? I dont see how its illegal to put extra on a prepay.

But I think Gerry's post above mine makes a good point, the amount you billed on prepay may actually happen when you use the electric rather than when you top up.

Ultrasonic

Chrysalis said:

Wrong meter reading deliberately is fraud, topping up prepay isnt? I dont see how its illegal to put extra on a prepay.

It isn't illegal to put extra on prepay.

savers_united

Deliberately over reading a meter is fraud, however there is over reading and there is over reading.
If you send in your meter readings that are say 500kwh over you will likely be ok and within a month will have caught up, but when your sending in a reading that is well over there is no excuse and you run the risk that it could take months for you to actually get to that reading especially during the warmer months when not much gas has been used, at anytime you could get a meter reader, or a safety check, how do answer that when they take a reading that is lower than the reading you took a couple of months earlier and maybe a few more since.

For the savings involved its just not really worth it and you could end up on a higher reading when prices fall back. 

Ultrasonic

savers_united said:

Deliberately over reading a meter is fraud, 

This is where you should have stopped writing IMHO. Let's not get into 'a little bit if fraud is OK' territory.

savers_united

Ultrasonic said:

savers_united said:

Deliberately over reading a meter is fraud, 

This is where you should have stopped writing IMHO. Let's not get into 'a little bit if fraud is OK' territory.

Totally agree, I was just trying to highlight that a bit over would probably slip under the radar but not really worth risking for savings involved, a lot over would probably not fly anyway and would be alot more risky, message was don't do it as just not worth it. 

However I would point out before I had a smart meter installed that on the odd occasion I would miss a reading an estimate would be generated and being an estimate were sometimes way out against the actual reading, once when my fixed deal ended and I moved across to the SVT for a few months I was out of pocket as the estimates were quite a bit lower and so when I did submit my readings far more was on the higher SVT than I actually used, swings and roundabouts I guess. Although going off topic.