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

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 

Can you think of any ligitimate reason whatsoever that would merit the fitter leaving a disconnected and decommissioned meter at the premises for several months, or is this a complete no-no on the side of the fitter? It's definitely a case of the meter should've been taken away immediately?

Funny you should mention a  dial meter. There is a similar post on this forum of a fitter replacing a dial meter for a smart meter, grossly misreading the dial meter by at least a thousand units, sending the wrong reading back to power company, chucking out the old meter, and the consumer having a vastly over-cost bill. So the situation was they no final reading (or proper final reading) and a lost/discarded meter that they couldn't retrieve to check.

The consumer had a hell of a job proving the engineer messed up, but after an investigation by the power company, the emergence of a photo of the meter someone had taken before the dial meter had been disconnected, and looking at past bills/readings, the power company eventually gave a amended final bill and a small credit to the consumer's account

Mstty

Response from BG on Twitter for you and your boss.

leoguy555

Mstty said:

Response from BG on Twitter for you and your boss.

Ok. But there were 2 old meters first, which were replaced with just one. What's described above is exactly what he did with only one of them. The other meter that he abandoned was not replaced with another meter or anything. The wires are still there but nothing is connected. And he left no sticker or info about the old meter.

What you should've really asked BG is is there is any legitimate reason a fitter would disconnect a old meter and then leave it at the person's premises for about 3 to 4 months, before deciding to come back then for it? If it gets thrown out during that 3 to 4 month period as it was believed to have been abandoned and destined for  scrapping is this the fault of the meter fitter because he left it behind?

Mstty

Well you managed to create an account on this forum why don't you create a Twitter account and private message British gas. You can then word all questions how you would want them👍

BobT36

leoguy555 said:

Mstty said:

Response from BG on Twitter for you and your boss.

Ok. But there were 2 old meters first, which were replaced with just one. What's described above is exactly what he did with only one of them. The other meter that he abandoned was not replaced with another meter or anything. The wires are still there but nothing is connected. And he left no sticker or info about the old meter.

What you should've really asked BG is is there is any legitimate reason a fitter would disconnect a old meter and then leave it at the person's premises for about 3 to 4 months, before deciding to come back then for it? If it gets thrown out during that 3 to 4 month period as it was believed to have been abandoned and destined for  scrapping is this the fault of the meter fitter because he left it behind?

You're thinking too specific, mate. 
What he's done there for you is get out of their own mouths, their policy & procedure on how disconnecting meters and reporting the final readings should be handled. 

Doesn't matter YOUR situation was two, or left or whatever else. What matters is that the procedure in that tweet was not followed by THEIR operative. Sure he did it for one and not the other...EXACTLY. 
One meter, he followed the procedure, the other, he did not. Ergo, their procedure for THAT meter was not followed by THEIR operative, which means this is their fault & problem, not yours. 

Find that tweet, save the link and archive the tweet itself using one of the archiving services, that's your evidence that this is their f-up, and nothing to do with you or your boss. Therefore you're not liable for any payments. 

BikingBud

There's a saying about those that don't want to be helped but giving the OP the benefit of the doubt:

Were there 2 supplies, two meters and two accounts or only one account covering two meters?

If I understand correctly one of the supplies has now been terminated and final bill presented. Is this correct?

Are the readings, including those recorded at removal of two old meters and smart meter install, and subsequent bills all in line with historic consumption rates?

If yes - winner no problem Complain to BG saying there is no additional (unbilled) consumption and the loss of the meter is down to the actions of their agent, follow complaint procedure to closure or if necessary raise to EO.

If not which are different and by how much? Address this difference, but follow up by complaining to BG that the loss of the meter is the making of their agent, follow complaint procedure to closure or if necessary raise to EO.

This should not be about fault but understanding what may have gone wrong and addressing it to rectify the situation.

The meter has gone forget it, move on.

STOP WORRYING

leoguy555

BikingBud said:

There's a saying about those that don't want to be helped but giving the OP the benefit of the doubt:

Were there 2 supplies, two meters and two accounts or only one account covering two meters?

If I understand correctly one of the supplies has now been terminated and final bill presented. Is this correct?

Are the readings, including those recorded at removal of two old meters and smart meter install, and subsequent bills all in line with historic consumption rates?

If yes - winner no problem Complain to BG saying there is no additional (unbilled) consumption and the loss of the meter is down to the actions of their agent, follow complaint procedure to closure or if necessary raise to EO.

If not which are different and by how much? Address this difference, but follow up by complaining to BG that the loss of the meter is the making of their agent, follow complaint procedure to closure or if necessary raise to EO.

This should not be about fault but understanding what may have gone wrong and addressing it to rectify the situation.

The meter has gone forget it, move on.

STOP WORRYING

Hi. Some of your questions I know the answer and some I'm unsure.

There was one mechanical 3-phase meter. THAT one was disconnected, taken away, a 3-phase smart meter put in its place, a sticker with the old mechanical reading and the start reading of the new smart meter.

The other old meter was a normal mechanical single phase meter. THAT one was disconnected, and it's the one he left behind abandoned, which was the one that eventually got thrown out. There's NOTHING whatsoever connected in place of where that meter was, and no sticker of old/new readings. The wires where that meter was are still there, but they're just capped off now. There's nothing there registering  additional consumption out with the smart meter.. So it looks like the only supply we have now, the whole place runs off a 3-phase supply which is metered, and the other single phase supply is either disconnected or its un-metered. As far as I know, no further installations of anything are to take place. There's no further work planned at the metering cupboard.

So, two old meters got replaced with a single smart meter. I don't know if was two accounts, two meters, or of it was one account covering two meters. I'd assume now it's one account with just a single smart meter. 

I don't know any details of whether bills match readings or anything like that. I think my boss would find it a bit weird for me to try prying Into their private financial affairs like that.

Weeks and weeks ago now, my boss did get a letter from them saying something along the lines of "thanks. We've got your final reading, the meter was collected, and here's a final bill.". But the boss phoned them up and told them the old meter had been chucked rather than collected and that's when BG seemed to change their tune about "we can't close the account and that the meter was still property and may have to charge for it. Blah blah." 

I'm assuming that even tho that old meter was chucked out, Im ASSUMING that the fitter recorded the last readings anyway and maybe just said that both meters had been collected, (even tho one had been lost), and that's how BG sent that final bill.  I think my boss should've just paid it and kept shut about it.

I know that photographs of the old meters and their final readings were taken by the boss,.  

So I'm not sure of the real issue. I don't know if BG are are moaning about an  old, to-be-scrapped meter, or if it's they don't have a final reading and they can't close the account or calculate a final reading/bill. I don't know 

NandoDave

Have you seen any evidence of this 'investigation', or the phone call by your boss to BG to inform them? I do wonder reading this if you're being given the starring role in a workplace prank.

jbainbridge

Sounds to like everything was fine until your boss rang up and mentioned the missing meter. He sounds like an idiot.

Also .. if the single phase supply is now no longer connected it sounds like it was not in use. Sometimes a premises will start with a single phase supply. Then as they have greater power requirements they upgrade to a 3 phase supply.

Again .. try not to worry .. it's unlikely anything significant will happen.

savers_united

OP I really don't get why you have been stressing about this. If and its a big If they had only left it a week or 2 then maybe you should have taken better care of it. But the fitter should 100% of taken it with him, he left it and neither he or BG made any contact regarding its collection / return within a reasonable time frame.

So that proves the meter was of little importance to them, however by raising this issue it does seem you have now alerted them to this missing meter and made them suspicious regarding its whereabouts, why is it missing / destroyed as its very rare I guess that a meter is not returned unless there is something to hide.

I am sure if BG want to pursue this they would need to take it up with the fitter / contract company for not following procedure, they would have no grounds against you as a customer having left it at your business premises for months with no contact. If it was me I might have contacted them to let them know they left the meter behind stating its a hazards and needs to go, but within a week or 2 it would have gone had no one collected it.