Stuck in limbo paying two suppliers

SeymoreButts

Help, I can’t figure this out. This is complicated, I’m sorry for what follows:

The house we are in is a new build. The house was built on the site of a demolished house - 59 Newland St. Two new houses were built. My house should have been 1 Henrietta St and the other new house next door should have been 1A Henrietta St.

But the builder gave my house the address 59 Newland and the house next door became 1 Henrietta. Our house kept the old meters from the demolished house.

When we bought the house the conveyancer picked up that the address was wrong, the council insisted it must be changed… so I had to assume next door’s address and it’s been a massive pain in the !!!!!!.

1A is supplied by British gas, they didn’t change the address of their meters, so their meters are at 1 Henrietta according to the database. I did ask them to. My house was supplied by UW, I did change the meter addresses from 59 to 1 on my account but it only worked for gas, so for a year I’ve been getting bills addressed to two different houses from UW. No one could fix that.

I tried to switch to octopus in February but British Gas objected (because next doors meters are shown as being in my house and apparently the account is in debit). But somehow the gas switch did go through so I’m paying octopus £200/month. Octopus can’t find our address at all in the national database and they can’t find the meter number yet they are now my current supplier. The £200 I was quoted was for gas and electric. They’re about to take another £200 for gas. I can’t supply them with meter readings, they have nothing on file. I’ve been in a back and forth with them for over a month now and we’re getting nowhere. They’re not suggesting anything but happy to keep taking the money.

I am also still paying UW full whack, they are my current supplier for electricity. The address is still 59 Newland St even though I have asked them to change it on the national database. 

Has anyone got any ideas? Close down both accounts somehow? Ask for a smart meter? Demolish both houses and try again? I wish I could access the national database myself… I’d put it right in 5 minutes

gm0

You are already on the right track. Getting a consistent relationship of MPAN, M number and addresses in place on national DBs for gas and electric.  So that the poor dim suppliers don't melt down each time anyone moves in or out of these properties.

I had a misaligned MPAN and address. Left over around construction and new supply commissioning.  And in my region the DNO ENWL sorted the update for me. Circa 2018 - not sure if they have fiddled with who can do what since.  It hadn't caused a problem for 20 years up to that point so they did not feel any great urgency over it.

But I would start with the meter point operator/DNO as they tend to have more of a clue.  From whatever MPAS helpline you are on in your region - you may be able to get the correct email address for the national DB correction data to be sent to. It is a secret apparently.  (There are some moderately good signal and noise reasons why they don't splash it around).

Talking to supplier billing customer services about this stuff or metering in general is beyond hopeless.  If your local distribution outfit has already been failing to sort it then I don't know what else to suggest.