Crossed Meter Advice

Stitch99

alleycat` said:

Doesn't make sense about your neighbour.

A meter getting replaced would go back to zero.

If the BG system didn't know that it'd treat his meter as if it had gone around the clock (unless it just happened to be close to doing that).

The usage value would be hugely "out" I'd have thought.

I thought the same, as I have worked out we would have gone from whatever to 0.   Who knows?!

Stitch99

jbuchanangb said:

Does this affect your electricity bills too? A gas smart meter relies on on a communications hub attached to the electricity smart meter in order to send data to the registered supplier. You need to check that Shell are billing you for the proper meter for electricity also.

I hope that Shell will acknowledge your desire for peace of mind, take down the proper details including meter serial numbers and readings for both your meters, and start billing you on those meters from now on.

There will be problems to be sorted out regarding which meters are allocated to which property on the national database, but those problems are for Shell to sort out, not you. Your neighbour's energy billing will have to be sorted out as well, but that is between him and British Gas.

I think Electricity is OK.  They connected the correct meter - so I can only presume that what it reads and I have been seeing is correct.

Stitch99

So an update...
So EON have emailed me to say they are looking into the complaint.

Shell have said my account is frozen but I should keep paying my monthly amount to avoid getting behind.  They are sending an engineer out urgently to do a trace and burns test.  Unfortunately urgently seems to be a bit longer than I would gave thought, I have to wait until Nov 18th for this appointment.  I guess nothing more will happen until that has been completed?!

Stitch99

A further update.

It has now been 4 months since I posted.  
E:on have disappeared.  Following their help in finding out the last true meter reading and then promising to look into the incorrectly fitted meter I have had nothing.  Repeated calls and email receive only "you don't have an account with us, we can't help you".  Noone seems to know who Dean is (the man I spoke with and presumably raised my initial complaint).  So a dead end.

Shell in the meantime asked me to email them weekly with a photo of my real meter until they could send an engineer to check my issue.
The engineer finally came out on 18th November.  He looked at my meter, and my neighbours, agrees there had been a !!!!!! up, took a photo and left.

Today (19th Dec) I received an email stating just "The meter exchange have been updated successfully.
Thank you for your patience and understanding."

That's it!

I called the helpline to ask Annnnnd....?  Do I owe you money, do you owe me money?  When will the last meter reading on my account change as its still got the last incorrect smart meter showing and if I input the current it looks like I've used 4000+ units!
Will I get a replacement smart meter?

What happens next?!

Operative said after talking to supervisor I needed to take a further 7 daily photos and they would use that to estimate the last missing 4 months!!  What about the last 4 months of weekly photos?  "Weekly photos aren't helpful, just send us the next 7 days".  
I asked - if I needed to do that, why didn't the email state that as the next step?
He answered honestly "I don't know but that's what you need to do".

I'm so tired of the worry and stress.  I wish I could switch but I'm guessing in the midst of this confusion and with the government energy scheme in place now is the wrong time.

Did speak to Ofgem too for advice.  Was told that although over the 8 weeks complaint procedure, Shell had fixed my issue in some way and I should think myself lucky as other customers with smart meter issues have been waiting over 2 years.

I miss the days when you could walk into a shop or office and actually speak to 1 person who would see your problem through to the end.  They couldn't hide behind their keyboards or pass the buck.

[Deleted User]

Stitch99 said:

I miss the days when you could walk into a shop or office and actually speak to 1 person who would see your problem through to the end.  They couldn't hide behind their keyboards or pass the buck.

You will have a very long wait!  Don’t forget to stop off at your Bank on your way: our closest Bank is 13 miles away.

Normally, in crossed meter situations, the supplier will just re-bill you using the correct meter index as you will have used that amount of energy. It will raise estimates for the dates of any tariff changes. I think CS have told you what happens when a faulty meter is replaced. Your situation is different as you have a working meter. 

EssexHebridean

Is it also relevant to point out that regular photos taken over the past 10 days or so are going to be very misleading as to use simply because of how cold it has been? 

Steve182

EssexHebridean said:

Is it also relevant to point out that regular photos taken over the past 10 days or so are going to be very misleading as to use simply because of how cold it has been? 

A good company would account for that by comparing the OP's readings with other users with smart meters over the past 10 days, then look at their longer term usage for a more realistic estimate.

But I would not necessarily trust them to do that, so for 10 days I'd turn the boiler down, use electric heaters some of the time and go to my parent's house for showers!   

Ectophile

Operative said after talking to supervisor I needed to take a further 7 daily photos and they would use that to estimate the last missing 4 months!!  What about the last 4 months of weekly photos?  "Weekly photos aren't helpful, just send us the next 7 days".  
I asked - if I needed to do that, why didn't the email state that as the next step?
He answered honestly "I don't know but that's what you need to do".

I would refuse to cooperate with them on that one.  You can't estimate the usage over 4 months based on 7 days in December.

Mstty

In July 2020 when your meter was supposed to be replaced with a smart meter did you not take a meter read then? Or do you have an historic meter read you have taken.

Reason I ask is that meter is still in place and the one you are clocking up usage on (if I have read this correctly)

So no need to estimate you would.be able to work out your exact use from an historic read. Even if it was the read when you first moved in to the property.

Stitch99

Mstty said:

In July 2020 when your meter was supposed to be replaced with a smart meter did you not take a meter read then? Or do you have an historic meter read you have taken.

Reason I ask is that meter is still in place and the one you are clocking up usage on (if I have read this correctly)

So no need to estimate you would.be able to work out your exact use from an historic read. Even if it was the read when you first moved in to the property.

Exactly!  I have the last true meter reading from MY meter that Eon has confirmed from May 2020.  Using the data from the meter now, you can work out that my "average monthly use" over a year is approx 175 units.

Shell have today informed me that they have worked out that I have used 515 units and so now owe them them £235, which they've taken from the credit on my account.  This works out as an average of 42 units a month - more than I in fact used the whole of December 2022 when we had that cold snap!
They have worked this out from an Initial meter reading stated from September 2021.  I have contacted them today to ask where they got this figure from - "they're getting back to me". 
It means that in the 16 months I was with Eon and then Green, I used 163 units (and this was the covid year when we were all stuck at home 24/7) but then on switching to Shell they reckon I used 515 over the next year.

I have sent them annual statements from the last 5 years proving my average annual gas usage has between 160 and 260 units a year.  I cannot fathom how my usage has more than doubled since being with them.

My online meter readings including the inital one on my Shell Account showed the Smart Meter reading (my neighbours!)
They need to prove how they have gained this new "inital" meter reading - as if they had it, why bill me on the smart meter reading which was wholly different (smart meter started at 00417, my meter was on at least 03950!

When energy costs are so challenging to frankly pull figures out of the sky is disgusting.  Having prepared the figures from the start, I expected the difference to be about 35 units or so - and that they would owe me - and was happy to write this off and start paying the accurate from September 2022.   I hope my evidence will be enough to help me prove their figures are very wrong.