Huge energy problem

cptbloor · 18 March 2019 at 12:49PM

Hi all, Please bare with me while i explain.

I moved into a a bedroom flat in may 2017 and at the time the energy suppliers where british gas and SSE electric. This is the first ever property ive moved into and dont really know how this works but the landlord gave me a simple point and grunt to say out of the 3 possible electric meters 1 was mine and 1 of the gas meters was mine.

I took his instruction and applied for a duel fuel bill with GREENSTAR energy, i submitted my meter serial numbers as per there instructions but i didn't do a "supply check (told to me by edf energy after another switch over) to ensure the meters were correct for my property.

initially the gas meter caused problems as greenstar stated the supply was for a different property and i argued that the landlord had told me the meter he pointed to was mine (its my fault for trusting his word). greenstar then changed the gas meter over with that serial number.

for a year they had been billing me for both the meters and i was catching up with payments. until today march 2019.....

In august of 2018 my partner took over the bills and we changed from greenstar to EDF. (edf suggested the supply test to ensure we have the correct meters)

march 2019 - sse have sent a face to face debt collector to collect for a large amount relating to electric with the actual serial number for my electric supply.

my problem i have at the minute is. I trusted my landlords word that the meters were mine, i have been paid greenstar energy for 2 meters that i dont even own..... now the other suppliers want their money and ive basically accumulated about 2.5 grands worth of energy debt in 2 years. This doesn't seem correct at all. What can i do?

is the landlord to blame for not correctly labelling the meters?
is greenstar at fault for not performing a supply check?
am i going to have to pay for both meters supply because im at fault?

need serious help here please

Kind regards,

Brian

Thomas_Edison · 18 March 2019 at 3:41PM

You need to identify which meter is recording your consumption, you maybe asked to confirm this with a burns test.

Basically take photos turn your appliances in which ever meter moves is yours take photos again.

You will and should only ever pay for your supply should you shouldn't be paying for multiple electricity and gas supplies.

Photos of your correct supply from when you moved in would be ideal. Do you have any bills from the suppliers your supply was with when you moved in?

Your MPAN/MPRN should match those and you should only have 1 set of a those, check all your bills.

Unfortunatelye you've found yourself in a cross meters situation which can take a while to untangle but you should never pay twice.

You may need to raise a complaint and end up going to ombudsman to help you untangle it all

mac.d · 18 March 2019 at 4:55PM

To check which meter is yours your ideally need two people, one in the flat and one at the meter.

Turn everything off inside your flat except the kettle, boil the kettle and watch to see which meter moves and/or red led flashes. You can also further check by turning off the power at your fuse box (inside your own flat) and check to see if any of the electric meters are still moving.

For gas, turn off any gas appliances & central heating. Then light one gas ring on your cooker, watch the meter for a few minutes and it should only go up 2-3 units at most.

Usually if the meters are in a communal cupboard, they should be clearly labelled, but that's not always the case. It is really up to you to make sure you are using the right meter though, ideally it wouldn't be an issue as it'd be clearly marked by the builders/landlord/factors and you'd be getting only the one bill for the correct meter.

Once you've identified your meters, then you can try and sort out your bills. Good luck with that because there can be enough of a carry on trying to sort out bills with estimated readings over a long period, never mind the added confusion of different meters.

You also mention that the supply was with British Gas & SSE when you first moved in, and you switched to Greenstar, but did you originally register with British Gas & SSE first, and give them the opening meter reading when you first moved in?

cptbloor · 18 March 2019 at 5:04PM

Thanks for you reply,

the situation stands as follows
moved in may 2017
opened an account with greenstar energy.
gave greenstar the wrong meters (electric for ground floor apartment) hijacked the meter by accident. gave the wrong gas meter (hijacked the gas meter aswell...)
paid greenstar over a year and half, £700 ish.
had a letter from british gas and SSE saying the occupant of the property owes x and y amount of energy.
the landlord hasn't clearly labelled the meters
i dont have any previous bills from before when i moved in (i dont open post not addressed to me)
I have been recording the usage from the hijacked meters! i have no idea what my usage has been...
according to western power distrib. they have my property assigned to the hijacked meter now! greenstar has changed the database to reflect my error.
the british gas side of things has been resolved. EDF now own the gas supply and all is up to date and correct.

The electric meter is the problem. I hijacked my neighbors meter because im stupid and i didn't know the process of ensuring my energy supply is correct ( wont make this mistake again, guaranteed!)

Can you provide some information that i should send to the ombudsman? do they have access to the change made to the database over a period of time? they should be able to see the serial numbers changed when i moved in. so they can back trace things right?

Sorry if im not explaining things right or making it more difficult to be helped but i greatly appreciate the assistance.

Kindest regards,

Brian

cptbloor · 18 March 2019 at 5:10PM

I have fully confirmed which meters are mine via burn tests as you said. i turned off the switch at the meter and my flat lost all power. the gas burn test i ran the hot tap till it went hot, switched of the gas at the meter and the water went cold, then hot again after turning the gas meter back on.

Meters are confirmed now! but at the time of moving in - i used the landlords instructions.

I didnt register with SSE or BG when i moved in as i simply just switched supplier the day i moved it. seemed like a good idea.... lol

thing is i took the opening meter reads from the wrong meters! both gas and electric. BG contacted me after 3 months saying i still owed them money which i resolved and a BG employee came out to check my meter, all was sorted for the gas at that point.

no representative from greenstar came out to check which is rather stupid but ok.

Ive made an appointment at citizens advice to see what direction they can provide legally as i may have to attend court at this rate.

KInd regards,

Brian

mac.d · 19 March 2019 at 12:09PM

It sounds like a complete mess that won't be easy to sort, BG & SSE contacting you as the occupier should have made you realise there was something not right, but you live and learn! And at least you've managed to sort the gas, so that's a start.

It could be that you will owe money to SSE as they were and possibly still are the original suppliers for your electric. In that case, all that money you've paid Greenstar should go to SSE, but I honestly don't know.

First thing I'd do is contact western power distribution again to see who they have as the supplier for your electric meter (and if it is registered to your address or incorrectly registered to another flat). In the unlikely event you still have the letters sent by SSE to the occupier, I'd check the meter MPAN and/or serial numbers from them match up with the correct meter.

Along with those details, I'd then write down a timeline of the dates you moved in, and details of the electric meter and the readings you have for it from as near as possible to the date when you moved in (even though it was the wrong meter).

The date when you erroneously changed supplier to Greenstar (again with opening readings if possible), and the dates (and meter reading) of when you realised you were using the wrong electric meter.

Then the date and details (including reading again if possible) from the correct electric meter, and also include another reading from it on the day before you go to citizens advice. Along with that note the amount of money you have paid Greenstar for your electricity.

Take all that information when you go and speak to the citizens advice people and see what they recommend. You can't contact the energy ombudsman without going through a complaints procedure first, so you'd possibly have to get in touch with SSE with all the above details and take it from there.

I'd also be speaking to your neighbour in the ground floor flat to see if they've been having problems with their electric bills since you have hijacked their meter.

Good luck.

dogshome · 19 March 2019 at 5:09PM

I'm afraid that beyond the mis-information from the Landlord, you in ignorance of the 'system' caused further problems by immediately signing up with Greenstar - Don't beat yourself', nearly every responder on this site once wore L plates

When moving into a property you must sign up with current supplier/s and only when you have established an account with them are you free to move to another supplier

The good news is that Greenstar have to return every penny you paid them for Gas & Elec, which will go some way to paying BG's & SSE's bills.
If finances are tight, suggest you write to both BG & SE explaining that you are awaiting the return of you money from Greenstar for the funds to pay their bills, and enclose what you can afford now as a part payment

Huge energy problem

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