British Gas keep turning my power off, and it's almost impossible to contact them.

UndergroundSaxClub

Per the title.

Came home from work last week to find my power off and big puddles below all kitchen appliances due to wasted food. I live in a block of flats and have a credit meter in a cupboard outside (doesn't use a key, nowhere to put key), although I pay my bills manually each month via the app when they are emailed to me.

I try the fusebox and then mains but the power stays off. The meter is talking about activating emergency credit which I enable, then the power is restored. I speak to an agent on live-chat after this as after a 20 minute wait on the phone the agent says they cannot hear me and hangs up.

The agent first tells me it's a power-cut in the area, despite my neighbours having power the entire time, the agent then tells me to top-up my pre-payment meter to restore power which I do not have. Before finally apologising and assuring me multiple times it will not happen again.

I keep an eye on the meter for the next few days, buy a small amount of emergency food for when/if the emergency credit expires and this morning it goes again. Onto the live-chat once more where I am now told I have smart meters and this is due to a signal disruption.

Explain to the agent I do not have smart meters, they ask for the meter serial number and I am now being transferred to a different department where I am number 205 in the queue with a dwindling laptop battery and small amount of data left.

Any tips or advice on what to do in this situation? My account on their site appears fine/paid up, there is nothing to pay, and there is nowhere to even put a key to top-up the meter temporarily.

MattMattMattUK

If you say you pay online, from what you have said it appears a pay on receipt of bill tariff, what is the name of the tariff as per your online account?

Is the meter number on the physical meter that seems to supply your property the same meter number that appears on your bill?

UndergroundSaxClub

Thanks for the reply,

My tarriff appears as:
Quarterly Cash/Cheque

For the meter number, there is a serial number which the live chat agents have told me matches, I am unable to find this anywhere in my account section. Would the MPAN number be any use?


As a small update, I was transferred to the new department who told me I was in the wrong place and have transferred me back to billing where I came from. I am not hopeful my power is going back on anytime soon, how long can BG keep me in this state? I'm going to need to a library or coffee shop for power purposes and to continue the live chat.

QrizB

Apologies, I'm a little bit confused.

Exactly what model of electricity meter do you have? Can you share a photo?

la531983

I dont understand why you would persist on a "Quarterly Cash/Cheque" tariff when you are happy to pay monthly, quarterly billing attracts a higher unit rate around 7% more than monthly/DD ones. You probably need to address this at some point.

UndergroundSaxClub

Thanks all for the replies.

Please find a photo of the elec meter last week, hopefully this has all you need.


As for the billing schedule. It is a rented flat, when I moved in and took over the supply I was placed I think automatically onto monthly. The quarterly thing actually seems like it might be causing some of the confusion here?


I have an engineer coming to see me between 1-3pm so fingers crossed, I can also confirm that my gas is not working, however neighbours are. I'm convinced this is some sort of billing/non-payment issue, I'm unsure if an engineer can do anything or if they are just to confirm the fault is not on my end?

QrizB

UndergroundSaxClub said:

Thanks all for the replies.

Please find a photo of the elec meter last week, hopefully this has all you need.

That's a smart meter, an Aclara SGM1311. I suspect that you also have a smart gas meter.

This explains how BG have been able to cut you off, but not why.

UndergroundSaxClub

Thanks for the reply.

Engineer has been and gone, lovely man who got the power back on.

He confirmed that my account is in good standing, and said that the meter has switched into prepayment mode? However there is nowhere to put a key and he also could not answer why. The meter has been replaced and all appears well, for now.

QrizB

UndergroundSaxClub said:

He confirmed that my account is in good standing, and said that the meter has switched into prepayment mode? However there is nowhere to put a key and he also could not answer why.

Smart prepayment doesn't use keys or cards. It's all done online via your energy account or app. I'm a little bit surprised that the meter man didn't know that!

Glad to know that everything has been sorted out.

MattMattMattUK

UndergroundSaxClub said:

Thanks for the reply.

Engineer has been and gone, lovely man who got the power back on.

Good that you have power back!

UndergroundSaxClub said:

He confirmed that my account is in good standing, and said that the meter has switched into prepayment mode? However there is nowhere to put a key and he also could not answer why. 

All smart metes can be switched to prepayment mode, they do not need a key but are topped up online or via a card in a shop. I would suspect the why is some sort of error, hence...

UndergroundSaxClub said:

The meter has been replaced and all appears well, for now.

This is likely because there had been some glitch that could not be accounted for, or wider issue, cross registration etc. From the engineer's position it guarantees a satisfactory resolution, rather than potential multiple visits.

When you are in a position to I would now submit a formal complaint about the issue, whilst you will likely not get compensation, you are likely to get a "gesture of good will" that should hopefully cover the cost of any defrosted food. As others have said also change your billing method, you are paying 11% more for your energy by choosing to pay on receipt of bill rather than by Direct Debit. 

UndergroundSaxClub

Thanks all for the help.

I think I will go the formal complaint route as I did lose a lot of food the first time, and a smaller amount the 2nd, especially after the agent (who's chat transcript I have saved) assured me it wouldn't happen again.

I am actually due to move house in 2 days time and it's funny the timing of things. I plan to change the provider at the new address to BG but after this incident I am a little concerned. I will make the complaint and put it on the back burner of stresses for now. I will also go down the direct debit route, thanks all for the suggestion.

The engineer did say something strange to me however. We were discussing the house move and how the supplier for the new property is SSE, he said that if/when I change supplier this will happen again at some point as it's an SSE meter and not BG, it wasn't really clear. He urged me to stay with whoever the current supplier is to avoid future headaches.

In regards to energy supplier, the only thing I really care about is customer service, when it hits the fan I need to know I can contact somebody quickly who understands, never realised how important this was until I was much older.