new flats and unable to find meter

V2001

im moving into a new build flat. no one has ever lived there before.  there are 16 flats in total.
i been told British Gas supply electric and gas.   
so i need to setup with them, but where the meters are located outside are in a locked storage room with door.  i dont have access to this.

so i cant read the smart meter, can British gas still set me up, what do i do if i cant read the meters or access them

itsthelittlethings

Is there a management company?

V2001

Ef79 said:

Is there a management company?

not that i know of

la531983

As above, speak to the management company.  A word of warning though that this is the worst setup you could have moved into.

itsthelittlethings

la531983 said:

As above, speak to the management company.  A word of warning though that this is the worst setup you could have moved into.

Why so bad? In our flats the meters are behind a locked door, the housing association just gave me a key to read the meter.

Robin9

Make a nuisance of yourself - lean on the freeholder and get a key.

Contact all the other flat occupiers and get them to do the same.


Is the gas a communal boiler set up ?

la531983

Ef79 said:

la531983 said:

As above, speak to the management company.  A word of warning though that this is the worst setup you could have moved into.

Why so bad? In our flats the meters are behind a locked door, the housing association just gave me a key to read the meter.

That might not be the case here. You might have to send an email, and then the caretaker MIGHT get round to reading it at some point in the next few days. So your opening reading may not be accurate at all, same will apply with the end reading.

I lived in a place like this once, all the keys for the building were kept in the caretakers cupboard behind a keypad door, I took a punt the code for the door would be a year of birth for the caretaker and within 15 guesses I was in, went and cut myself a key for the electric room. Try and get a key yourself as Robin said above.

V2001

it has its own boiler inside the flat.  i will find out about getting a key to the meters.   now the dillema about the water meter also..

DullGreyGuy

Our electric meters are all in one cupboard that's accessed with a FB2 key that anyone can buy for a few quid. The gas meters are in variable places depending on where you are in the building. I have been in electric only places where the Concierge kept the key to the meter cupboards (one per floor) but that was easily fixed by switching to a smart meter. 

You are presumably not in Scotland so contact the freeholder, managing agent, developer or landlord as appropriate to ask for the location of the meters and how they're accessed. Alternatively get to know your neighbours and ask them where theirs are, normally in flats they are grouped together.

matt_drummer

Are you buying the flat or renting it?

If it's a new build and you are buying it then you could ask the developer or agent your are buying it from or through.

If you are renting you could ask the landlord or the letting agent if there is one.

Who told you that British Gas was the supplier, maybe this person will know about access to meters?

Scot_39

You are iirc legally entitled to access the meters to read which can be strictly supervised and not necessarily by own key.

Standard meter cabinets are locked for several reasons, safety, security against tampering etc. 

If yours are in a storage room - the freeholder will have good reason not to alow unsupervised access - so who stores things there and how often is it accessed by them ?

Smart meters often will still report on the wan, via dcc network to suppliers, and so reading data will be accessible via apps like bright, loop etc.

So when you get access - get meter serial numbers etc. - to help check against bills and register for smart meter apps.

And try and do a meter sanity check (high low use test etc) to ensure you have identified the right meter(s) for your flat - don't just rely on the labelling stickers - its rare but small risk can be wrong.

As in many flats unless newer dual band or in a larger block alt han comms hub tech in place the little in home display (ihd) are often too remote to work.  And so often never provided.  BG have had few posts here of not providing even in more normal setups.

Some suppliers also do their own apps which report usage if they have it.