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broken electric meter
ozvaldinho
Posts: 446 Forumite
in Energy
When I recieved my last bill, it indicated I'd not used any electricity for the last few months. I currently have £65 credit on my account, but I'm worried I'll get a huge bill when they finally replace my meter and correct my bill. Does anyone here have experience of this situation?
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Comments
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Have you checked that the electricity company have not over estimated the previous bills and have now had a true reading and therefore the bills have caught up? Have you checked the reading against the meter?
If the meter is wrong/not working then the sooner it is replaced the better to stop any problems. However, if they do decide to charge you for the usage whilst it was faulty, they should request that you take readings so they can work out a daily average. They'll then use this daily average to calculate the bill. If it is high, they may come to a pay arrangement to get it cleared. I know this arranagement happened many years ago when I worked for an utility company.
hope this helps0 -
it may very well an estimation factor. I have a prepayment meter, but I received a statement showing I owe money, which had me confused as to why, when I pay in advance, so they requested a meter reading, and sent me an ammended statement.0
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Hi, thanks for the advice. The meter is definitely broken, it has been read several times over the last couple of years, but appears to to have stopped dead sometime around February.
Powergen have apparently sent the contractors a job sheet and I'm still waiting to hear when they can do the replacement work. I wasn't too impressed with the call centre staff in India, who were unsure of how they'd sort my bill out when it's fixed.0 -
As said above when they change the meter the will work out on past usage your daily average. They will then times the daily average by the number of days that your meter was broken and work out the bill. only problem is you will never know how much elec you have used or how long the meter has act been broken so its a guessing game but you can haggle with them until you think the bill is correct. If you are in credit then i would'nt worry too much unless you are a big user.Filiss0
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I'm still waiting for a new meter. I've cancelled my DD as a precaution and left £65 credit on my account.
Just a thought... when they ask for an reading for estimating the amounts used, what sort of timeframe do they use? A week, month, 28 days? I'd ideally like to do it over a period I'm on holiday...
Thanks to everyone for their useful advice.0 -
This happened to me. Bills kept decreasing until the last bill was £0.00. Contacted the utility company who immediately asked me if I had tampered with the meter !!
After the meter was replaced we received an estimated bill (don't know what it was based on) and offered them half of the estimate (Been on holiday, I was working away from home for 5 days a week leaving only one person in the house, new energy effecient freezer etc - all true BTW) They accepted the amount.
The guy who replaced the meter suggested that they would have to accept a reasonable offer.
If it happened to me again, I'd offer them half of what they ask and work from there.He who knows all the answers has not yet been asked all the questions.0 -
Thanks for the advice, Lazy Hippo! We had noticed our bills were low for some time, it never occurred to me the meter could be faulty.
It must be worrying to have been accused of tampering with the meter. Has anyone else had a similar accusation/ question asked of them?
Our meter was installed in 1991. Is this length of time normal for a meter? Don't the utility companies need to test them from time to time, or do they just wait till they stop?
Thanks for all the advice.0 -
One more point,
as the prices are going up soon, if the estimate is on the new tarriff, do you think I'm entitled to reduce it by the 7.5% increase as well as offering half the estimate?
Was haggling difficult?0 -
meters have to be changed every 20-25 years and thats it. if i was you i would haggle as much as you can and make sure its on the old prices not the new pricesFiliss0
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Still waiting for Siemens to come change the meter.0
This discussion has been closed.
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