Electric turned off inside flat but meter still running

Willow92 · 13 April 2018 at 2:21PM

I'm glad you got it sorted! I come across this fairly regularly, I work for an energy company

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc · 13 April 2018 at 5:51PM

MaggieSimpson wrote: »

Hi I was wondering if anyone can help, I moved into a 1 bed new build flat (rented) a month ago. I!!!8217;ve just received my first bill from Eon and it said I!!!8217;ve used 383 kWh in the space of a month! I knew this was impossible so I made sure all plugs were turned off, then I turned off the electric by the main fuse box. Took a meter reading. In the morning the meter had jumped up by about 6 kWh even though I had no electricity coming into my flat.
How do I know whether it!!!8217;s Eon responsibility to check this out or my landlords? Eon say if they come out and the fault isn!!!8217;t with the meter itself, but the wiring to it they won!!!8217;t refund the £64 charge for testing. My housing association is saying if they come out and the fault lies with the meter and Eon, not themselves, then they!!!8217;ll charge me £100. I!!!8217;m on a very low income right now and the added stress of this is making me ill. Every day my bill is being added to through no fault of my own and I need to get it sorted but don!!!8217;t know who to get to come out and look.
Could anyone please advise me as I!!!8217;m desperate. Thank you
P.s communal hallway lights in the flats are still coming on so they aren!!!8217;t hooked up to my meter...but something not inside my flat is running up the meter

MaggieSimpson wrote: »

UPDATE. I am officially an imbecile. Decided to turn everything off by the fuse box again and look at all 3 meters. Noticed the one labelled for flat 4 had a red glow around it. Came back and switched the electricity back on, went back to the no 4 meter. Red glow had disappeared. Just to be sure I tried the 2 switches by no 4 meter. Electricity was cut off to my flat. The wrong bloody meter had been assigned to me. Whether it was E-on or the housing association that had labelled it incorrectly I do not know. I will still update after it has been sorted, but thank you all for your advice and being patient with me having a total freak out. You saved me £64 and more importantly my sanity :eek::rotfl: . I was so busy worrying I did not see what was literally in front of me. Anxiety will do that to a person unfortunately.

MaggieSimpson wrote: »

I think I answered this upthread, but the meter serial number on the bill is the one for meter 3, as it’s a new build and E-on asked for the serial number when I registered for their services. When I signed for the flat I was told meter 3 was mine and had a 3 written on it, which is my door number (as well as 16, which is the plot number of my flat). After I speak to Eon I’ll get in touch with my housing association to let them know and so they can change the numbering. I’ll also talk to the people who live at no 4 to let them know the meter they were told was theirs is in fact mine, and show them how to check what one really is their meter

Hello MaggieSimpson and sorry I'm late coming in here. On my own this week and playing catch up and, must admit, I've only just noticed your thread. I don't think you needed me though as you've already received excellent advice. Thanks all.

As you've identified, this looks like a crossed meter. This is where we've been billing to a different meter to the one recording usage at your property. They tend to happen mainly on new builds. They can take a time to sort out as there can sometimes be quite a few properties involved. Don't worry, we've specialist teams who look after crossed meters. They investigate what has been mixed up, put it right and rebill the account using the right meter and readings. Sometimes a visit is necessary (no charge to you) to help move things forward.[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] I'd recommend talking to this team. Let them have as many details as possible including the meter serial number, opening and up to date readings plus all relevant dates. Photos would be great. They'll keep you up to speed with their investigation and when you can expect a resolution. Contact details are on our website. It's under our New Connections (Developer) team.

On new builds, meters are installed on individual plots often a long time before the occupier moves in or a postal address is created. It's usually down to the builder/developer or their agents to let us have details of the meters at individual addresses. These details aren't always given to us as they should be and so become mixed up as appears to have happened here

Once all's done and dusted, if there's a debit balance, we'll be happy to look at setting up a payment plan to help spread the amount over a more manageable period.

Let us know if you need any more help. Although I'm not here now until next Wednesday, Helena will be in Monday. I'll drop her an email to let her know about this thread. We'll be happy to help.

Have a good weekend MaggieSimpson and hope you can start enjoying your new home.

Malc

D_M_E · 13 April 2018 at 6:57PM

Malc - from what MaggieSimpson has written, she has been paying Eon bills for the wrong meter and I would think, from what's been described, that she will have a large rebate due when it's all sorted out.

MaggieSimson - you need to photo the meter card for the correct meter - this should show the start reading - and send Eon a copy and they should eventually give you a correct bill.

Since you are the original first and only occupant the reading on the card should be your start reading.

The only problem here is that, being on your own, you probably don't use much energy but the people in the flat whose meter you were paying for are likely to use a lot more than you and could well get a big unexpected bill when it's all sorted.

EDIT - if the cards are all mixed up, then make sure you match the card to the correct meter using the serial number printed on the card.
Had this problem myself a few years ago and it took over a year to sort out - not with Eon, though.

Carrot007 · 14 April 2018 at 11:32AM

All to common a problem on new builds and especially flats. Builders care little about getting meters right as there is no come back for them.

If you all have the same supplier still then it will be easier to sort out as you can raise a common issue with the supplier. Unfortunatly if the suppliers are differnet this could go on for years as you might get yours fixed but there will be a duplicate meter on a different mpan for the other customer.

If you are all reasonable people it can be worked out but the flats need to work together. Maybe they are high users as they knew about this and will be a pain getting it sorted out. Hopefully not though.

Smodlet · 14 April 2018 at 12:49PM

MaggieSimpson wrote: »

Haha I am no good at all with games like Call Of Duty etc., whereas I do quite enjoy causing chaos on The Sims 4 :rotfl:

Bless your heart, MaggieSimpson, I have no idea what you just said. Bit technically challenged (as in way)

As for paying your bill, I would wait for Eon to sort it out and, if it looks too high to you, query it before paying it. It is strange how being owed money tends to focus their minds. If they owe you money, they just do not seem to feel the same urgency to resolve matters, IYSWIM.

Well done for keeping on top of the situation, MaggieS; illustrates yet again the importance of monthly reads and the grief ignoring the need for these can bring.

matelodave · 14 April 2018 at 1:18PM

Hopefully they'll identify which meter is actually connected to your flat and that will be the one thats been recording your consumption. In which case there's no need for any estimates.

In fact if you've identified which meter is yours (you should have managed that by now) then you can do your own sums and work out how much you should have paid and how much they owe you.

As Smodlet says, keep on top of your meter readings by sending in readings once a month and you shouldn't have any more problems once this has been sorted out..

D_M_E · 14 April 2018 at 1:31PM

Card start at zero and the builders likely using a bit of energy before you moved in.

Your current average consumption of 3KwH per day gives you something to work on - don't accept anything less than 3KwH multiplied by the number of days since you moved in, especially since we are now moving out of the cold period - maybe 3.5KwH for past consumption but 3 going forward.

Wish my bill was only 3KwH per day at this time.

LeesArt · 14 April 2018 at 1:44PM

I would not pay one penny until you have:

An accurate set of dated readings including before you moved in
Numbers that match your usage of 3kWh a day
A credit to your account of all that you have paid to date.
A bill that shows the credit and the accurate usage

I once was overcharged for 22 months due to faulty Eco7 kit by an energy provider, they spent a further 20 months arguing about it.

My estimate was I had been overcharged by £1870 (CAB said it could be closer to £2300)

The energy provider has some fancy algorithm designed to skrew me, Their figures were based on how other people had used energy, mine were based on how I used it. They wanted to credit me just £400. I did not pay another bill from them, I waited it out and they kept escalating it to specialist after specialist trying to wear me down. I then said I would go to arbitration and they said that needed to go to "another team". I gather it costs them around £300 if it gets escalated, but they found a way to keep avoiding it by saying they were reconsidering. Eventually the amount I owed exceeded my estimate by more than the £300 and it got written off.

You have done nothing wrong and should not underwrite their error.

BTW I suspect that your neighbour may not be getting bills at all, which may explain why she did not want to engage much about it.

Considering that they messed up the meter one has to wonder whether the smart meter device in your flat is showing data from meter 4 or for any from 1 to 3!

BooJewels · 14 April 2018 at 1:44PM

You've beaten me to it D_M_E - I was just working out some numbers myself to post for Maggie. I too would be happy to swap bills.

If I'm remembering correctly from what I've read earlier in the thread, Maggie has been in the flat a bit over a month - so if you were generous and said she used 4kWh per day and had been in for 40 days, that would be a bill in the region of £29 to date for her (tariff of 12.3p, standing charge 19.6p, 5% VAT).

If the total usage has been 325 kWh for the 6 months since the meter was installed, that would be a total bill for the property since the juice was connected, of around £80 - clearly a chunk of that won't be her responsibility. I don't know how those numbers compare to what she's paid to date?

Good luck Maggie, I just wanted to let you know I've been following with interest, but didn't have anything to add earlier.

matelodave · 14 April 2018 at 2:18PM

I'm guessing that Maggie may well have used her washing machine or some other stuff so advising her that 3-4kwh a day as a limit is unrealistic.

As said, we are now moving into the slightly warmer period, clocks have gone forward and there are a miriad of other things that would suggest that a daily average of 4kw is a bit low for Feb through March. She'll be using less electricity now the lights aren't on so much, possibly a bit less telly and maybe various other stuff is getting used less.

There is a meter that's been recording her consumption - it wont have been recording anyone elses except for perhaps a few kwh for the builder. Now it's been identified then it's going to be pretty close to what her actual consumption has been.
As it's a smart meter they should be able to track back to the very day she moved in and thus know what the reading was then. That's the big advantage of a smart meter, you dont need to guess anymore

She doesn't need to get stroppy as some on here have suggested. There's no point in getting aggressive as it wont get you very far and in most cases annoys people so they become less inclined to help. They should have proper records so it should be easy to sort out

It's not the Energy suppliers fault that they've been given the wrong info and neither is it Maggie's. She was told which meter was hers and given an IHD to be able to mointor it. The fault lies with the builder and housing association for not checking it properly in the first place.

Electric turned off inside flat but meter still running

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