Meter mix up - anyone had any experience?

LEB01

Hi everyone. New here, just asking for some advice. Moved in to a new build property a few years ago. Had no problems up until now. It’s become apparent that my gas and electricity meters and my neighbours next door have been registered to our addresses the wrong way round. Only discovered this after the neighbours next door moved out late last year (after moving in at the same time as us) and we recently received a bill from a different supplier to my address, but the meter serial numbers on the bill didn’t match the serial numbers on my meters. After some digging and contacting them to say I thought this was an error, they checked the national database to find the meters had in fact been registered the wrong way round. I’ve contacted my own supplier to tell them of the issue, given them pictures of my meters to confirm the serial numbers, completed a burns test to confirm those meters supply my address etc.
My question is, has anybody else ever had this problem? My supplier are incredibly slow to respond via email (it was advised to email them for a quicker response and I wanted a ‘paper trail’ in case they ever didn’t log anything on my file if it was via phone). How long did this issue take to get resolved? It’s just a case of altering the national database to swap the addresses round that the meters are registered to. I’ve directly contacted my gas supplier, who said they couldn’t help as it was my suppliers issue to sort. Also directly contacted my electricity supplier who said they could check the database but it was ultimately down to my supplier to sort. Is there anything else I can do?

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

LEB01 said:

My question is, has anybody else ever had this problem?

Yes, we get a couple of people a month in your situation.

How long did this issue take to get resolved?

Not everyone reports back once it's fixed, but for those who do it's typically 3-4 months later.

[Deleted User]

Yes, I have been there and got the scars. When a property is built it is allocated a Plot number; a MPAN and a MPRN. The electricity and gas meters are linked to the MPAN and MPRN. Sadly, in my case, the plot number was registered as if it was our postal address. On a small development of 14 properties this resulted in 6 months of chaos with people being billed for a neighbour's meters.

Sorting this out requires an intervention from your present supplier. The postal address needs to be changed on the two National Databases. For example, we were Plot 6 which had been registered as number 6 but we live at number 14.

DO NOT under any circumstances attempt to de-link the meter serial numbers from their respective MPAN and MPRN. If you do, then you will end up in a worse situation. Get the MPAN and MPRN postal addresses changed and the correct meter serial numbers will be linked to your home.

LEB01

Thank you both for your replies! This situation is already causing me stress at the slow response times, as I work during the week I can’t always guarantee I can phone my supplier during their openings hours (and they’re closed at weekends) so email was the easiest option. 

The last email I had from them they stated:
“To every property there is two unique reference numbers: 

Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN for electricity) 

Meter Point Reference number (MPRN for gas) 

These are unique to your property address and refers to the supply point of your household energy. 

There is also a Meter Serial Number (MSN), this is a unique number specific to the meter at the property.

As such the MSN can change (for instance if there is a meter exchange at the property) however the MPAN/MPRN will always remain the same unless the property is demolished, rebuilt or disconnected.

At the moment the national database is showing the MSN that matches the image of the meter you sent us. However, another property in the same area believes their MSN is the same as yours and therefore that meter supplies their property. This is often referred to as a ‘crossed meter’. 

This is typically an issue caused by the installing supplier, and simply means there is an error on the national database. It does not mean that one property is being supplied by another's meter, however it does mean that a meter detail update is needed”

I have since replied to confirm my supply address and completed the burns test.

Now you’ve mentioned unlinking the meters from their MPAN/MPRN I’ve re-read this email and it sounds to me as if this may be their intention. Have I read that right? Or does it sound like they will keep the meters matched to their MPAN/MPRN and just change the postal address? 

Dolor - from what I can gather it’s just mine and my neighbours postal address which is mixed up. Although I was always plot 4 which became number 4, and next door was plot 3 which became number 3. We are in two blocks of 3 houses and both end houses with a gap between us. It’s the engineer who fitted the meters who has got 3 and 4 the wrong way round. Neither us or our old neighbours were aware of this until our old neighbours moved out a few months ago, a new supplier took over and the bill was sent to my address. My confusion over this whole situation is why on my online bills from my supplier (I don’t receive postal bills) they have my supply address as my correct address with the correct meters for my property, but they never picked up on the fact they don’t match on the national database. Given we were new builds and we had to clarify the serial numbers on the meters when setting up an account with my supplier, surely they’d have noticed something. The bills I’m receiving from the supplier intended for next door has clearly picked up on it but not until almost 3 years later! 

My other question is, will resolving this issue lead to re-billing for both properties? As there is a huge difference in usage between the two!