British Gas have replaced smart meter and it now has a vastly different reading

VanillaSlice

Hi

Like many here I have had no end of "fun" with British Gas switching on and switching off my smart meter monitor (I've had endless conversations with British Gas over the past six months and kept the screenshots of the conversations via Twitter)

Today I find that my smart meter doesnt work at all two days before I have to give a meter reading for the quarterly bill.

(The last reading I had was on 12 Nov).

I managed to get an emergency call out and to British Gas' credit they turned up after 1.5 hours and replaced the meter

The meter now has a reading of 1652.4 when the last reading on 12 Nov was 3685, and I'm worried for two reasons:

1. The big difference in the readings. I'm worried that British Gas will try to claim I used nearly 7000 units of gas in the intervening 17 day period. Fortunately  I have a date and timestamped photo of the 12 Nov reading.

2. When talking to British Gas this morning they said that they would send a report to their back office regarding the use of "unmetered energy" between the last reading and today. I asked what that meant and got a vague answer that they would look into the matter. Fortunately I record all my conversations with companies like British Gas to prevent them trying it on (many, many years ago I was doneover by Norweb on a similar meter replacement issue where I ended up with a different meter with a higher reading and had to pay an increased amount until I threatened to go to a national newspaper (Norweb even denied they had changed the meter) and I eventually got a refund). But I'm worried that they will try to claim that I've been stealing energy even though I have a recording of the engineer telling me the meter had failed.

How do I deal with British Gas when they try to send a grossly and inflated bill. I dont want to have to complain to the consumer column of a national newspaper

[Deleted User]

VanillaSlice said:

How do I deal with British Gas when they try to send a grossly and inflated bill. I dont want to have to complain to the consumer column of a national newspaper

How about you wait and see what bill they actually send you, and what readings they have used, rather than assuming they're going to "grossly inflate" it?

When we actually know what they have done, rather than just your guess, we might be able to help more.

TadleyBaggie

When a new meter is fitted the starting reading should be submitted to the supplier by the installer. This is very routine.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

are you talking about the 'monitor' (IHD), or the actual meter readings?

You should've got a reading from old meter and new meter when they were exchanged

Robin9

Is there a sticker on the new meter with the reading of the new meter on it ?

Wait for the bill which should show the meter change -  double check the serial numbers and meter readings.

VanillaSlice

So I'm talking about the actual meter

The new meter has old reading "blank" (because it had failed and had nothing on the display - hence me calling them) and new meter reading on it (1652.4)

I logged into my account and old my old readings had disappeared, fortunately I'dd taken daily photos (of the monitor when it was working) and of the actual meter (and then used the info button on the iPhone software for it to display time and date and then grabbed a screenshot of that)

VanillaSlice

TadleyBaggie said:

When a new meter is fitted the starting reading should be submitted to the supplier by the installer. This is very routine.

This isnt in dispute, just the very large discrepancy ....

MikeJXE

New Smart meter would surely read zero as mine did 

VanillaSlice

Deleted_User said:

VanillaSlice said:

How do I deal with British Gas when they try to send a grossly and inflated bill. I dont want to have to complain to the consumer column of a national newspaper

How about you wait and see what bill they actually send you, and what readings they have used, rather than assuming they're going to "grossly inflate" it?

When we actually know what they have done, rather than just your guess, we might be able to help more.

Because I find it strange that it just stopped working before I had to supply a meter reading, especially since I dont pay for my gas via DD but when the bill comes in and so they really dont make (fleece) money out of me like they do with normal customers (last year my total annual bill was £370!)

Cynics like me might suggest that they switched it off deliberately to try and scam me for a lot more money (a bit like Norweb did)

VanillaSlice

MikeJXE said:

New Smart meter would surely read zero as mine did 

Nope, 1652.4 - I have photo of the new meter with that reading on the label

MikeJXE

Could it be a new old one ?