British Gas faulty smart meters replaced with new

vanman87

Hi,
Newbie here, I am a British Gas customer (not for much longer) and had smart meters fitted a couple of years ago which became faulty because they wouldn't communicate meter reads back to them so I had to submit my own each month. I queried this with them as I thought I was on peak Sundays with half priced electricity then they contacted me to repair them or replace.
They booked the replacement but I didn't take a photo of the readings before they removed them so all I have is my last few readings on my account.
I used between 1000 units of electricity in the winter per month which reduced down to around 500-600 units in the spring. My latest bill shows the installers reading of 3000 units higher than I was expecting so costing me ~£800 extra on this months bill. I have contacted them but as expected there is nothing I can do because I have no photo evidence and the old meter is probably long gone.
I would have thought that the installer should take a picture themselves to back up their one time reading and for audit purposes but no so it's very much little old me against a big corporation so don't like my chances there and looks like I have to take this one on the chin.
This is really to see if anybody else has been caught out like me or even anyone that had evidence and challenged the installers reading as I am sure, like Horizon, I'm not the only one

MP1995

This definitely sounds exactly like the Horizon scandal. I can tell you have been falsely accused of stealing money, made to look like a thief in your local village and town and locked up.

Joking aside check if they have left a sticker with the old meter reads in the meter box/cupboard.

BarelySentientAI

vanman87 said:

I would have thought that the installer should take a picture themselves to back up their one time reading and for audit purposes

Some might, if it's part of their work card, but nothing says they have to.

There should be a card or sticker in the meter box or on the new meter though.

vanman87

Just checked and yes there is a sticker but nothing to say what the reading was. 

When I was asked for the monthly reading I checked their own instructions for reading my old meter and double checked each reading before submitting so I am confident they were right. 

My wife was here when he installed the meters and did say he was on his phone a lot of the time.
Once bitten twice shy, I plan to keep photos of my own monthly readings as well as multiple other situations ie private enterprise parking tickets with entry and exit dashcam videos, yes been there too.

poppellerant

When they take them back to wherever, I believe they read the meters during their checks to ensure it hasn't been tampered with and to find the cause of any faults.