Gas meter over read pickle

jane_doe

I've been with my current for the last three and half years, gas and electric. At some point early on with them, I misread the gas meter and ended up providing a meter reading higher than the correct one. Rather than admit my mistake, I just thought I'd let it correct itself out gradually over time. So over the last 3 years or so, I've submitted a a further 3 or 4 'high' readings to cover up for the initial mistake.

I thought it would have worked itself out by now, and I've not been too worried as I know I'm in credit rather than arrears. But it hasn't - I've just sat down and gone through the bill history, and it looks like I'm still about 3 years worth of gas ahead on the bills than the real usage. For example - the number on the meter today is still lower than the reading I provided in summer 2022! It sounds like a huge amount, but I don't actually use that much gas. By my estimation I'm about £400 in credit.

They've not sent out a meter reader in the entire time they've been my supplier, and looking back through old bills, the last time my gas meter was read by a meter reader was back in 2017 (about 5 suppliers ago)! Since then every bill has been based on either estimated readings or my customer supplied ones. The last gas customer reading I supplied was about a year ago (but my true usage is obviously still about 2 years behind that one).

The gas board were doing repairs to the gas main in my street recently, so someone from Wales and West did read my meter (think he took a photo of it too) about 6 months ago. It appears that reading wasn't passed on to my supplier though, but at least a third party did get an accurate reading at that point

I'm not sure what the best way to resolve this mess now actually is?? The way I see it is that I can either give my current supplier an accurate reading now, or I can switch supplier (something that I really want to do anyway, because my current supplier isn't competitive) and give an accurate reading at the point of switching.

If I do the former, I'm worried how the current supplier will react (I can imagine they might try to force a prepayment meter on me, or accuse me of tampering with the meter and stealing gas). But if I do the latter and switch first, I'll end up with a significant credit with the previous supplier, and it might be difficult to get my money back. I suppose it's also possible that a query over the gas readings might lead the current supplier to block my request to switch anyway?

The only other thing would be to sit tight and stick with current supplier and try and get the readings back in line by myself. But that'll take about 3 years, and in the meantime I'm over paying for both gas and electric. And there's still a chance that a meter reader might come out, or the gas board will change my meter (they told me 6 months ago that it's very old and over due for replacement). At which point the supplier will get a true reading anyway. 

Since it's multiple customer supplied readings that are wrong, and it's so far out, I can imagine it's going to look really dodgy on my part. Don't really relish the idea of theft or fraud accusations. 

marcia_

jane_doe said:

I've been with my current for the last three and half years, gas and electric. At some point early on with them, I misread the gas meter and ended up providing a meter reading higher than the correct one. Rather than admit my mistake, I just thought I'd let it correct itself out gradually over time. So over the last 3 years or so, I've submitted a a further 3 or 4 'high' readings to cover up for the initial mistake.

I thought it would have worked itself out by now, and I've not been too worried as I know I'm in credit rather than arrears. But it hasn't - I've just sat down and gone through the bill history, and it looks like I'm still about 3 years worth of gas ahead on the bills than the real usage. For example - the number on the meter today is still lower than the reading I provided in summer 2022! It sounds like a huge amount, but I don't actually use that much gas. By my estimation I'm about £400 in credit.

They've not sent out a meter reader in the entire time they've been my supplier, and looking back through old bills, the last time my gas meter was read by a meter reader was back in 2017 (about 5 suppliers ago)! Since then every bill has been based on either estimated readings or my customer supplied ones. The last gas customer reading I supplied was about a year ago (but my true usage is obviously still about 2 years behind that one).

The gas board were doing repairs to the gas main in my street recently, so someone from Wales and West did read my meter (think he took a photo of it too) about 6 months ago. It appears that reading wasn't passed on to my supplier though, but at least a third party did get an accurate reading at that point

I'm not sure what the best way to resolve this mess now actually is?? The way I see it is that I can either give my current supplier an accurate reading now, or I can switch supplier (something that I really want to do anyway, because my current supplier isn't competitive) and give an accurate reading at the point of switching.

If I do the former, I'm worried how the current supplier will react (I can imagine they might try to force a prepayment meter on me, or accuse me of tampering with the meter and stealing gas). But if I do the latter and switch first, I'll end up with a significant credit with the previous supplier, and it might be difficult to get my money back. I suppose it's also possible that a query over the gas readings might lead the current supplier to block my request to switch anyway?

The only other thing would be to sit tight and stick with current supplier and try and get the readings back in line by myself. But that'll take about 3 years, and in the meantime I'm over paying for both gas and electric. And there's still a chance that a meter reader might come out, or the gas board will change my meter (they told me 6 months ago that it's very old and over due for replacement). At which point the supplier will get a true reading anyway. 

Since it's multiple customer supplied readings that are wrong, and it's so far out, I can imagine it's going to look really dodgy on my part. Don't really relish the idea of theft or fraud accusations. 

 Why would you do such a thing?
 I submitted a wrong reading and got a £13k bill. I rang and explained and corrected my reading. All sorted there and then 

jaybeetoo

Just phone up your existing supplier and give them the correct meter reading.  They will then issue a corrected bill.  You can then ask for any credit on your account to be paid back to you.

MattMattMattUK

jane_doe said:

Since it's multiple customer supplied readings that are wrong, and it's so far out, I can imagine it's going to look really dodgy on my part. Don't really relish the idea of theft or fraud accusations. 

You will likely get some sort of revenue protection checks as from the supplier side it would look like the meter had gone backwards. 

How many cubic meters/cubit feet is your actual read ahead of your most recent billed read?

jane_doe

MattMattMattUK said:

jane_doe said:

Since it's multiple customer supplied readings that are wrong, and it's so far out, I can imagine it's going to look really dodgy on my part. Don't really relish the idea of theft or fraud accusations. 

You will likely get some sort of revenue protection checks as from the supplier side it would look like the meter had gone backwards. 

How many cubic meters/cubit feet is your actual read ahead of your most recent billed read?

I'm not relishing the idea of revenue protection checks (meter obviously hasn't been tampered with though).
I think actual reading is about 600 m3 below the last estimated reading (3 months ago). Which is about 6600 kWh, about £450 worth of gas, if I'm doing the calculations properly. Looks to be about a years worth of gas based on my historic usage. 

Xbigman

By far the simplest solution is to not give readings for a couple of years (so the new reading is well above the last reading you gave) and then give the correct reading and let your supplier give you a correct bill. Just don't forget when the couple of years is up.
The only downside is you can't switch.


Darren

MWT

Unfortunately this is a technique used by those planning to avoid price increases so it is going to attract some attention, but I'd still suggest simply being honest at this point and admit it was a mistake in the first place, and a bigger mistake to try and keep it going...

MeteredOut

MWT said:

Unfortunately this is a technique used by those planning to avoid price increases so it is going to attract some attention, but I'd still suggest simply being honest at this point and admit it was a mistake in the first place, and a bigger mistake to try and keep it going...

Gas prices have varied significantly over the 3 1/2 years since the OP submitted the erroneous reading. From my figures, around 2.5-4p/kWh 3 1/2 years ago, quickly rising to over 7-10p for 12-15 months, and then 6-7p since.

I wonder how this will affect their credit balance - if the over-reading was originally billed at 2.5p, but the gas actually used when the price was 10p, the credit might be eaten up. 

I agree to admit the mistake now and let them re-bill.

jane_doe

MeteredOut said:

MWT said:

Unfortunately this is a technique used by those planning to avoid price increases so it is going to attract some attention, but I'd still suggest simply being honest at this point and admit it was a mistake in the first place, and a bigger mistake to try and keep it going...

Gas prices have varied significantly over the 3 1/2 years since the OP submitted the erroneous reading. From my figures, around 2.5-4p/kWh 3 1/2 years ago, quickly rising to over 7-10p for 12-15 months, and then 6-7p since.

I wonder how this will affect their credit balance - if the over-reading was originally billed at 2.5p, but the gas actually used when the price was 10p, the credit might be eaten up. 

I agree to admit the mistake now and let them re-bill.

Looks like the unit price was about 7p when the erroneous reading went through, and current price is almost exactly the same again now. I've no idea how to account accurately for the fluctuations in between, other than I was paying approximately at the rate I was using, so it should still be well in credit.

If I initiate a supplier switch, at what point does the outgoing supplier get meter readings? If they only find out about the discrepancy after they've agreed to the transfer would they still be able to block it?

MWT

jane_doe said:

MeteredOut said:

MWT said:

Unfortunately this is a technique used by those planning to avoid price increases so it is going to attract some attention, but I'd still suggest simply being honest at this point and admit it was a mistake in the first place, and a bigger mistake to try and keep it going...

Gas prices have varied significantly over the 3 1/2 years since the OP submitted the erroneous reading. From my figures, around 2.5-4p/kWh 3 1/2 years ago, quickly rising to over 7-10p for 12-15 months, and then 6-7p since.

I wonder how this will affect their credit balance - if the over-reading was originally billed at 2.5p, but the gas actually used when the price was 10p, the credit might be eaten up. 

I agree to admit the mistake now and let them re-bill.

Looks like the unit price was about 7p when the erroneous reading went through, and current price is almost exactly the same again now. I've no idea how to account accurately for the fluctuations in between, other than I was paying approximately at the rate I was using, so it should still be well in credit.

If I initiate a supplier switch, at what point does the outgoing supplier get meter readings? If they only find out about the discrepancy after they've agreed to the transfer would they still be able to block it?

The problem is that if you try to initiate a supplier switch without fixing the problem first, the industry body that validates the meter readings before allowing the losing and gaining suppliers to use the reading is going to reject your accurate reading because it is below where it believes you should be based on your previous false readings...

All of this is much better to fix now with your current supplier and then switch or you could be debating this and trying to sort out what refund you are due, if any, for months.

You made a mistake, you compounded the mistake with further false readings, it is time to sort it out and then move.

MeteredOut

jane_doe said:

MeteredOut said:

MWT said:

Unfortunately this is a technique used by those planning to avoid price increases so it is going to attract some attention, but I'd still suggest simply being honest at this point and admit it was a mistake in the first place, and a bigger mistake to try and keep it going...

Gas prices have varied significantly over the 3 1/2 years since the OP submitted the erroneous reading. From my figures, around 2.5-4p/kWh 3 1/2 years ago, quickly rising to over 7-10p for 12-15 months, and then 6-7p since.

I wonder how this will affect their credit balance - if the over-reading was originally billed at 2.5p, but the gas actually used when the price was 10p, the credit might be eaten up. 

I agree to admit the mistake now and let them re-bill.

Looks like the unit price was about 7p when the erroneous reading went through, and current price is almost exactly the same again now. I've no idea how to account accurately for the fluctuations in between, other than I was paying approximately at the rate I was using, so it should still be well in credit.

If I initiate a supplier switch, at what point does the outgoing supplier get meter readings? If they only find out about the discrepancy after they've agreed to the transfer would they still be able to block it?

With the additional energy included in the erroneous submission charged at 7p, if your "catching up" submissions were at periods where the rate was 10p (before falling back to the 6-7p now), then i suspect it'll all balance out.

When you do a switch, they'll ask you for a final meter reading, and send you a final bill based on that. If the final reading is lower than your previous reading, their systems would normally re-bill back to a point where that final reading is greater than one of the previous readings you've submitted. But, it sounds like that was 3 1/2 years ago and it might be different for a final bill.

If it does not get flagged, and you are in credit, you'll be refunded and the switch should go ahead. If in debit, you'll likely be asked to pay the difference before the switch can proceed. 

But if their system suspects funny business, they could block the transfer then whilst they investigate.