Hello,
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner,
The british gas engineer showed me how the meter dials turned stating that it had to be reading accurately, because the second dial turned in a certain direction which meant it was heading towards the 9 rather than away to the 0.
He did give me a card with his reading, this is the reading of 99699 for less than a months use of electricity which came to £35.00, I have to query this with British Gas also, as they seem to have put charges on it for previous days before I gave them my reading on .
18/03/10. Will have to just wait till 15/05/10 when they will contact me about the dispute.
Regards Sheelagh

sheel 2012:

I still think the most likely reason is a misread of a very difficult clock face meter. I take it you were given a copy of the reading when the meter was removed on 19/04/2010? That is the most difficult reading to explain away.

There is one other process issue which is very strange. When you switch, the gaining company will either take or request a meter reading on or around the transfer date. The gaining company sends the transfer reading to the losing company. The losing company should not ask the customer for a reading and there is no need for the customer to contact the losing company. Full stop.

I wonder if the reason for the confusion is that alternate dials rotate opposite ways. Still, the meter removal reading is the reading which needs to be challenged. And that needs to be challenged with British Gas, not EDF. I ask again, the meter removal man did leave you a signed copy of the reading?

Hello,

Thanks for your post, I swapped to dual fuel with british gas, they asked me for a meter reading over the phone carefully explaining how to read the old dial face meter. She kept sayin are you sure the second dial is reading halfway between the 0 and the 9 and I said yes exactly half way. She thought it unusually high and suggested that I wait for the Gas appointment that I had on the 19 march to see what he read it as, she told me not to prompt him just let him read it.

This is the reading that British gas has used to give me my first electric bill of £35.00 for just under one month.

EDF have used the reading I gave over the phone to give me the £900 bill, they themselves last read the meter in January when it read 90782.

Just have to wait and see as I have disputed the bill

Regards Sheelagh

sheel 2012:

March 19th 2010 Final electric bill 91361 actual

March 19th 2010 Final electric bill 99419 estimated by me over phone

I fully respect your caring side but there is no need to be caring towards EDF, yet you have mentioned their two appointment failures as a post-script. You should have, and still should, give them both barrels about a fundamental service failure. (Though the actual service delivery failure might be the area Distribution Network Operator (not necessarily EDF), EDF are responsible to you regardless)

There is one thing however I don't understand. The two readings for 19 March 2010, one actual, one estimated over the phone. A possibility is you have misread the meter. Was it an old clock face type meter?

Hello,

Here are an example of my metre readings

January 09 85878 actual

May 09 86938 estimated

July 09 87311 actual

October 09 88261 estimated

January 10 90782 actual

March 19th 2010 Final electric bill 91361 actual

March 19th 2010 Final electric bill 99419 estimated by me over phone

British gas removal of metre reading 99699 actual on the 14th April 2010

Looks like from Jan 09 to Jan 2010 I used 4904 kw for this year

From Jan 2010 till final reading when metre was removed I am supposed to have used 8917 kw???

I only have gas central heating, I switch off all but my fridge and my freezer, the light on my boiler pilot, I have two fish pumps outside in the garden that I have had running for over 10 years without usage of this amount.

When I am at home I only have the hall light on {eco bulb} The front room low voltage lights, the telly, sky box or either the computer. Does this class as high usage? Since October last year I am out for long periods during which times I only have the fridges and fish pumps on. How can I have used this amount of electricity if the metre is not to blame. The only other logical explanation is that someone is tapping into my electric from the garden, But even I don't think this is possible, How could they use this much?

Any help would be appreciated. P.S EDF failed to turn up to remove my meter on two occasions, I am a carer and cannot get anyone to cover for me, I don't feel I am totally to blame for them not changing my meter

sheel 2012:

What has gone wrong?

What has gone wrong is that you have failed to keep in touch with your electricity consumption following a high bill in January that "shocked" you.

While it is true that "average" annual electrical consumption in a gas heated house is 3300kWhrs, other than alluding to "dual" fuel you haven't mentioned how your house is heated. Other important missing information is the previous reading to January (actual or estimated), the previous actual reading (whenever that was), your monthly DD payment for electricity and the electricity account running balance in January.

Meter error is rare, gross meter error is even rarer. It is a statutory requirement to replace meters periodically and you prevented that for 2 years. You face "mission almost impossible" since under your supply terms and conditions the meter reading is absolute proof of consumption except when proven faulty following a test which you would have been entitled to demand at any time, subject to the payment of a fee if the meter was proved to be accurate.

I do not know whether a removed meter is held for a period to allow a final reading challenge. Perhaps an industry insider will answer that. It might be worth asking the question. Whether any answer is "honest and accurate" I would not know but you would have an answer to exploit if subsequently proved to be misinformed.

Hello,

Received a bill in Jan this year for electric with Edf of £152, the meter reading was actual and read 90782. I was shocked that it was so high as I have hardly been in to use this much. This made me swap over to british gas on dual fuel after a market comparison showed that it would be cheaper. As my bills are direct debit I rang Edf who promised not to take the whole amount of £152 all at once. After a problem free swap over with BG I gave a meter reading over the phone of 99419 to BG, all fine up till now, this was on the 18/03/10. A final electric bill from Edf arrived stating I owed £969.25 for the period 22/01/10-19/03/10. I noted that they held the reading that I gave to BG on 18/03/10. I have since had the old meter changed on 19/04/10 the reading then wass 99699 creating a bill of £35.52 for 1 months electric. What has gone wrong? My meter reading in January was 90782 Actual and then in March it had jumped to 99419, how is this possible? I have raised a dispute with Edf who cannot explain why I have used a years electric in 3 months, at a time when my usage should have dropped as I am doing more shift work. Can anyone offer an explanation, is there a fault with the meter? Edf have been on at me for about 2 years to get it changed but I couldn't get time to do it because of work. I know its down to me but who could predict this happening I have had this meter for 15 years with no problems. Can anyone suggest what to do next?