Billing anomaly after smart meter was swapped

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Smart meter fiddle by new energy supplier?.

Cynicalyorkie

Has anybody experienced what appears to be blatant "clocking" of a smart meter reading.  I recently changed suppliers. This is the first time that I have done this.  The new supplier stated that my smart meter was too old and they would have to replace it. Two weeks into the new contact the engineer duly arrived and replaced the smart meter.  Fortunately I took a photograph of the old meter reading the day before I switched to the new supplier.  The first bill received from the new supplier showed a massive bill of around £685 for the first two weeks electricity supply.  I obviously contacted them straight away and they initially removed the £685.71 from my bill.  However two months later the amount returned.  Their system shows that the start reading on the old meter was massively less than the actual reading on switch over, hence the huge overcharge. They have now lodged a complaint with the old supplier.  If my assumptions are correct is criminal activity being practiced?

MWT

Cynicalyorkie said:

Has anybody experienced what appears to be blatant "clocking" of a smart meter reading.  I recently changed suppliers. This is the first time that I have done this.  The new supplier stated that my smart meter was too old and they would have to replace it. Two weeks into the new contact the engineer duly arrived and replaced the smart meter.  Fortunately I took a photograph of the old meter reading the day before I switched to the new supplier.  The first bill received from the new supplier showed a massive bill of around £685 for the first two weeks electricity supply.  I obviously contacted them straight away and they initially removed the £685.71 from my bill.  However two months later the amount returned.  Their system shows that the start reading on the old meter was massively less than the actual reading on switch over, hence the huge overcharge. They have now lodged a complaint with the old supplier.  If my assumptions are correct is criminal activity being practiced?

The actual reading at changeover can get altered by the industry process, not usually by such a large amount though.

What matters is which reading did your old supplier use for the final bill? ... if it is the same as the opening reading being used by your new supplier then you are not being overcharged, but you can still appeal due to the size of the change, and that is probably what your current supplier has done.

This is not 'criminal' as both suppliers are obliged to use the reading provided by the industry process.