Crossed electricity meter issue still not resolved after six months. Is this normal?

Philly_G

In mid May this year, I reported an issue with my electricity meter to my electricity supplier as the meter readings on my bill were consistently about 50% higher than on my smart meter I was actually using.

After a few phone calls, emails and undertaking a load test it came apparent that I had a crossed meter issue. They said this issue would be transferred to their crossed meter team and would take 6 weeks to resolve. In late July, I sent an email to the electricity supplier asking for an update and the customer service agent said they would chase it. However after six months this has still not been resolved. I checked on my account page this week and the meter number on the account page is still the incorrect one. I sent another email at the start of this week asking for an update, but I have still not heard back.

Is it normal for this sort of issue to take so long to resolve? Should I escalate the issue to Ofgem due to the time it is taking resolve the issue?

victor2

Philly_G said:

In mid May this year, I reported an issue with my electricity meter to my electricity supplier as the meter readings on my bill were consistently about 50% higher than on my smart meter I was actually using.

After a few phone calls, emails and undertaking a load test it came apparent that I had a crossed meter issue. They said this issue would be transferred to their crossed meter team and would take 6 weeks to resolve. In late July, I sent an email to the electricity supplier asking for an update and the customer service agent said they would chase it. However after six months this has still not been resolved. I checked on my account page this week and the meter number on the account page is still the incorrect one. I sent another email at the start of this week asking for an update, but I have still not heard back.

Is it normal for this sort of issue to take so long to resolve? Should I escalate the issue to Ofgem due to the time it is taking resolve the issue?

If you have followed your supplier's published complaints procedure (should be on their website), you can usually refer it to the Energy Ombudsman (not Ofgem) after 8 weeks without a resolution.

Chrysalis

Raise a complaint asap if you havent already done so, this will be a requirement if you wish to later follow it up with the energy ombudsman.

Mobtr

crossed metering issues can take months to be fully resolved if the property your meter is crossed with is with a different supplier as your supplier needs to liaise with them & some companies are not very quick with their responses

It sounds like you have been getting the reads send from the comms hub at the other property & probably vice versa. 

Just updating the serial number on your account won’t fully resolve the issue as your supplier will still get the readings from the other meter, both comms hubs would need to be decommissioned & probably exchanged for it all to work fully. Again, this needs co-operation with the other supplier. 

I would have thought it should have been raised as a complaint from the beginning with you getting regular updates as to what is happening. Which company are you with? 

[Deleted User]

Just to add to @mobtr ‘s excellent post. The worst possible thing that any supplier can do is to transfer the meter serial number to your address. They must transfer either the MPAN or MPRN (or both) and the meter attached to these numbers will follow. 

When there is a crossed meter situation it isn’t a one off. For example, on my small development 12 out of 14 meters were mis-registered. Plot 6 (No 14) became No 6 etc etc. Your supplier cannot just grab someone else’s MPAN or MPRN without talking to the designated supplier on the National Databases.

If any supplier has stupidly broken the link between the meter serial number and the MPAN or  MPRN then the situation becomes much more complicated. Someone will end up up with a meter and no MPAN or MPRN or a MPAN or MPRN and no meter.

On my new build, it took Scottish Power Energy Networks 6 months to resolve the situation. They did so after I sent them a list of property addresses and meter serial numbers.

SAC2334

[Deleted User] said:

Just to add to @mobtr ‘s excellent post. The worst possible thing that any supplier can do is to transfer the meter serial number to your address. They must transfer either the MPAN or MPRN (or both) and the meter attached to these numbers will follow. 

When there is a crossed meter situation it isn’t a one off. For example, on my small development 12 out of 14 meters were mis-registered. Plot 6 (No 14) became No 6 etc etc. Your supplier cannot just grab someone else’s MPAN or MPRN without talking to the designated supplier on the National Databases.

If any supplier has stupidly broken the link between the meter serial number and the MPAN or  MPRN then the situation becomes much more complicated. Someone will end up up with a meter and no MPAN or MPRN or a MPAN or MPRN and no meter.

On my new build, it took Scottish Power Energy Networks 6 months to resolve the situation. They did so after I sent them a list of property addresses and meter serial numbers.

And that is what it takes to begin to sort out a number of crossed meters in a development .Someone knowledgeable who lives there who can check each residents meter against the serial  number on the bill . This sort of work is too difficult for a meter reader to do . 
I had similar blocks of flats which were never properly sorted out especially when several suppliers are involved plus residents coming and going . 

Philly_G

Thank you for all your replies, I have submitted a complaint this evening to the electricity supplier: E.ON Next. I have requested that they reply with an update on why it is taking so long to resolve and when it is likely to be resolved by the 2nd December otherwise I will escalate further to the energy Ombudsman.

I am in a new development and I did a few months ago provide photographs both of the meter I am be billed to and the meter that I think I should be billed to. 

[Deleted User]

I am in a new development 

Talk to your developer. They usually use a third-party to notify the gaining supplier of new connections. These new connections will not have been carried out by the supplier itself. For example, my electricity meter was installed by my DNO and my gas supply by an independent gas transporter. 

When I got a copy of all the registrations, a blind man could have worked out in 5 minutes what had gone wrong. The problem is that Councils allocate postcodes and house numbers late in the day. Meters are registered against a plot number and the word plot gets left off the database.

You can also check with the DNO and the gas transporter. Give them a call; explain the problem and ask if they can do a database search using your meter serial numbers. They will usually give you the MPAN and the MPRN that the meter serial numbers are linked to along with the property postal address.

smugwalrus

[Deleted User] said:

The problem is that Councils allocate postcodes and house numbers late in the day.

Source?  Developers approach the relevant council for Street Naming and Numbering.  The council allocates the first part of the address.  The last 2 lines of an address (postal town and postcode) are allocated by Royal Mail.  

The utilities won't be connected without an address and postcode being in place.

[Deleted User]

The utilities won't be connected without an address and postcode being in place. 

If only that was true. I live on a small development sitting behind 2 existing properties on a main road with a postcode XY13 1NB.

Our properties were registered as plots using the post code XY13 1NB. The new development was subsequently given its own postcode (I bow to your superior knowledge about who allocates what). To complicate matters, the word ‘plot’ was omitted from the registration.

I recall that there was a new development recently that were all registered against existing properties for the same reason. Existing properties suddenly ended up with two MPANs/MPRNs and 4 meters.

Mis-registration of meters by developers is an ongoing problem - and has been for years.

https://community.bulb.co.uk/t/incorrect-smart-meter-registered-to-address/111540

marksman86

So what was the outcome with this issue OP?