Old electric meter mistakenly discarded. What could be the cost charge??

Phones4Chris

Raise a formal complaint with BG for not taking the old meter away at the time and leaving it for months before doing anything about it. The chap that installed the smart meter should have put a label on the smart meter with the old meters' readings, have a look and take a photo if there is one there and submit that as part of the complaint.

leoguy555

Okay so here's an update about this stupid situation , and it's still a bit worrying as it seems the issue isn't closed yet.

 I asked my boss today about what was happening with this or if anything had been heard back from the electric company about that old meter being thrown out.
 
my boss said the electric company have said that the old, to-be-scrapped obsolete meter was still their property and that the issue of the lost meter is to be passed to the investigation team.
 😬

  They needed the old meter as final proof of the final reading, even tho I know my boss took a picture of the final reading, and I think the electrician guy probably took down the final reading when he disconnected it and left it in the bin bay for all those flipping months 

I asked my boss what this investigation thing would be and they said no real idea about what would happen next, or if there would be a charge for the lost meter 😐 

The problem is that the meter will be loooooong, long, long, gone considering how long ago it was thrown out.  I'm worried as to what the outcome may be or of I've caused my boss a lot of trouble 

Mstty

Like I said before purchase a second hand one the same spec. Smash it up to the point where dials and aerial numbers all gone and say found it where it was left discarded.

QrizB

leoguy555 said:

 I think the electrician guy probably took down the final reading when he disconnected it and left it in the bin bay for all those flipping months

I'd tell them exactly that. Their fitter left it by the bins and it's no longer there, it may have been collected along with the rubbish.

Swipe

It's solely the fitters responsibility to take the old meter away with them and to report the readings back. They are at fault, not you.

leoguy555

Swipe said:

It's solely the fitters responsibility to take the old meter away with them and to report the readings back. They are at fault, not you.

How do you know that 100% though? I still feel awfully guilty about chucking it out with all of the other crap that had accumulated in the bin bay. If I'd known he was EVENTUALLY going to come back after months, I'd have moved it from the bin bay and somewhere safe.

I really have no idea why he left it there and didn't take it away at the time of disconnecting it. He came back many months later to collect it but to discover it had been mistakenly discarded after sitting in the bin bay for months and months and it seems the power company are or were moaning about it. 

It's going to be somewhere out there under thousands of tons of landfill......

Swipe

leoguy555 said:

Swipe said:

It's solely the fitters responsibility to take the old meter away with them and to report the readings back. They are at fault, not you.

How do you know that 100% though? I still feel awfully guilty about chucking it out with all of the other crap that had accumulated in the bin bay. If I'd known he was EVENTUALLY going to come back after months, I'd have moved it from the bin bay and somewhere safe.

I really have no idea why he left it there and didn't take it away at the time of disconnecting it. He came back many months later to collect it but to discover it had been mistakenly discarded after sitting in the bin bay for months and months and it seems the power company are or were moaning about it. 

It's going to be somewhere out there under thousands of tons of landfill......

Because every meter I've had replaced, the old one was taken away by the installer and a card left with the old and new readings on. They obviously forgot to take it with them or else why would they come back at a later date?

SAC2334

Swipe said:

leoguy555 said:

Swipe said:

It's solely the fitters responsibility to take the old meter away with them and to report the readings back. They are at fault, not you.

How do you know that 100% though? I still feel awfully guilty about chucking it out with all of the other crap that had accumulated in the bin bay. If I'd known he was EVENTUALLY going to come back after months, I'd have moved it from the bin bay and somewhere safe.

I really have no idea why he left it there and didn't take it away at the time of disconnecting it. He came back many months later to collect it but to discover it had been mistakenly discarded after sitting in the bin bay for months and months and it seems the power company are or were moaning about it. 

It's going to be somewhere out there under thousands of tons of landfill......

Because every meter I've had replaced, the old one was taken away by the installer and a card left with the old and new readings on. They obviously forgot to take it with them or else why would they come back at a later date?

20 years following round meter exchanges as a meter reader seeing many thousands of them  and I ve never heard of any fitters leaving the meter
.Looks like the standards are dropping nowadays with all these meter fitting companies sprouting up.
 If the old meter was a dial meter I would nt even trust what reading they submitted to supplier.They get them wrong when dial meters pointers are on borders as they frequently are .The most important thing is that card with all the old meter details  .Sounds like a meter fitter on his last week of employment and could nt give a monkeys about the job 

leoguy555

SAC2334 said:

Swipe said:

leoguy555 said:

Swipe said:

It's solely the fitters responsibility to take the old meter away with them and to report the readings back. They are at fault, not you.

How do you know that 100% though? I still feel awfully guilty about chucking it out with all of the other crap that had accumulated in the bin bay. If I'd known he was EVENTUALLY going to come back after months, I'd have moved it from the bin bay and somewhere safe.

I really have no idea why he left it there and didn't take it away at the time of disconnecting it. He came back many months later to collect it but to discover it had been mistakenly discarded after sitting in the bin bay for months and months and it seems the power company are or were moaning about it. 

It's going to be somewhere out there under thousands of tons of landfill......

Because every meter I've had replaced, the old one was taken away by the installer and a card left with the old and new readings on. They obviously forgot to take it with them or else why would they come back at a later date?

20 years following round meter exchanges as a meter reader seeing many thousands of them  and I ve never heard of any fitters leaving the meter
.Looks like the standards are dropping nowadays with all these meter fitting companies sprouting up.
 If the old meter was a dial meter I would nt even trust what reading they submitted to supplier.They get them wrong when dial meters pointers are on borders as they frequently are .The most important thing is that card with all the old meter details  .Sounds like a meter fitter on his last week of employment and could nt give a monkeys about the job 

Well , everyone on this forum has basically said that the meter guy was at fault for leaving the old meter behind and then coming back months and months later to find out the meter had been discarded. He didn't seem that bothered about it when we asked him of the lost meter mattered.  He said that the power company MIGHT charge for oit, but he said that he'd put down in his report "meter was discarded by a third-party worker"

I'm surprised no one seems to be saying it's my fault for throwing it out with other rubbish that accumulated in there. I genuinely genuinely thought it was for the bin simply because he didn't take it away at the time of disconnecting it and left it behind for months.

My boss took a pic of the old meter and its reading, so we do know what the last reading was. I THINK the guy who disconnected it DID report the last reading back, because my boss did receive a letter which basically said something along the lines of "Thanks. We have gotten your last reading, the old meter was collected, and here is your final bill from us"  I don't know if he filled a card with the old meter details.

The issue is that my boss phoned up the company and said "well, no the old meter was mistakenly chucked out." And now the power company have changed their tune and the issue seems to be about they're annoyed a bit of their property is lost and it's to be looked into. 😐 

So what could come of this all, if anything at all? What's the likelihood that my boss or I will get into trouble for throwing this old obsolete mechanical meter out? What's the likelihood that they might charge for the lost meter and how much could that be?  It's going to be under thousands of tons of landfill somewhere.....

wild666

The cost of the meter will be only a few pounds and if the boss has photo's of the readings of the old electric meter they should accept them.