I found this on Eurometers ltd

"Created by Gill Electronic Research and Development in conjunction with British Gas plc, Eurometers manufactures the E6 domestic gas meter which is the worlds first solid state gas meter to enter volume production. The meter is approved by DTI/GOMB"

EUROMETERS LTD
Unit 11
The Quadrangle
Abbey Park
ROMSEY
United Kingdom
S051 9AQLocation MapTel:+44 (0) 1794 518411Fax:+44 (0) 1794 518422

They may be able to tell you who purchaced the meter if you contact them and explain the situation? never tried that before and its a hell of a long shot but maybe worth a go? the worst they can say is "we don't know" or "can't tell you"

based on the blurb i found it could be b/gas but who knows, if the meter was installed in 1999, thats right about the time of deregulation, (early 1998 for all domestic gas) and you've not had a bill in that time.. could be them...?

You could also pm me the full E6007... number and your mprn if you can find it. I can have a look on monday when i'm at work to see if i can find anything if you want, i understand you may not however, i won't be offended lol!

Thanks again for all your help. I rang the MPRN number (which I'm pretty sure I did years ago when I took on the property) only to be told that there's apparently no meter registered at my address. I also as you suggested had a closer look at the meter and it has a sticker on it saying Meter Exchange/Fix details and then a line saying Old Meter Number and some blank boxes which have nothing in them, underneath that there's a line saying Old Meter Index and then some blank boxes which also have nothing in them. Under that there's a line saying New Meter Index and five boxes in which someone has written 00000 and under that the date which has been filled in as 24/06/99. There appears to be nothing anywhere to indicate whose meter it is and neither on the meter itself nor on any of the ingoing or outgoing pipes is there anything to indicate whose it is. There is however a barcode on the front of the meter under which there's the usual 13 numbers (actually starts with the sequence E6007 etc). This isn't a sticker on the meter but actually something printed on the meter and looks to me more like a purchasing bar-code for pricing when whoever bought the meter made the purchase. I could of course be completely wrong but it's the only identifiable code/number on the meter. The only other thing I can tell you is that the maker of the meter is Eurometers Ltd. Does that make anything even slightly clearer or does it merely muddy the waters further. Once again I really appreciate all your help on this

Once you have established the mprn the IGT or Nat Grid will tell you to pick one. Be warned that once the IGT or Nat Grid will not let go until you have decided on a shipper/supplier.

Many thanks that's extremely helpful. Appreciate all your help.

Many thanks for that - much appreciated. Just one question. How do I know/establish if it's been shipperless?

veloxuk:

gasconcern:Apologies if I'm playing catch-up here but my question is about a gas bill. Over 7 years ago I moved into a property which had been developed/converted roughly 18 months previously. Prior to taking possession I contacted BG and Scottish Power to ask if they could transfer the gas account to my name. Neither of them had any record of a meter at the address and basically they were not interested. I then spoke to the previous owner who said that he had received no bills but he left me a note to say what the meter reading was when he moved in and what it was when he moved out and that he was happy to pay should a bill appear. Since then I have not received any bills at all for gas. Electricity yes but not gas. Obviously I'm concerned now as to whether the one year back billing rule would apply to me should I be contacted by a supplier - though it's anyone's guess who that supplier might be. I would be extremely grateful for any advice on this as it is really starting to worry me?

all suppliers have access to ecoes the central db and so can quite easy check.

Ecoes only does electricity, for gas you would need xoserve - assuming its NOT an IGT.. if it is.. pick a system, any system.. although exoserve may still show you some limited details for an IGT, probably not the current provider tho..

Artemus has given the best advice so far.. maybe wouldn't be in a rush to find out who is the supplier is tho, it may not even have one.. it could quite possibly have been shipperless since new connection.

It should say on your meter "property of.... " or something similar.. maybe find out that way..?

gasconcern:Apologies if I'm playing catch-up here but my question is about a gas bill. Over 7 years ago I moved into a property which had been developed/converted roughly 18 months previously. Prior to taking possession I contacted BG and Scottish Power to ask if they could transfer the gas account to my name. Neither of them had any record of a meter at the address and basically they were not interested. I then spoke to the previous owner who said that he had received no bills but he left me a note to say what the meter reading was when he moved in and what it was when he moved out and that he was happy to pay should a bill appear. Since then I have not received any bills at all for gas. Electricity yes but not gas. Obviously I'm concerned now as to whether the one year back billing rule would apply to me should I be contacted by a supplier - though it's anyone's guess who that supplier might be. I would be extremely grateful for any advice on this as it is really starting to worry me?

all suppliers have access to ecoes the central db and so can quite easy check.

Ferenji:Hi, I've just been billed by British Gas for electricity going back to July 2006. I have not attempted to find out who my electricity was being supplied with this during this period, or why I was not being billed. Can someone advise me of where I stand on the rule that they are only allowed to back bill for the previous 12 months? Also, there have been tenants staying in the house during this period who have now moved on. Am I solely responsible as account holder for the full amount? I think I know the answer to that one already, but I thought I'd ask anyway! Cheers.

If you have tennancy agreements you wont be liable, however it will be your account if you cant prove otherwise.

Apologies are not necessary. You haven't paid for any gas for 7 years, yes? There is a meter serial number on the front of the meter, get this and any other info attached to the meter like a supply number, commonly known as a Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN)(sometimes the number is on a wraparound on the gas pipe). The supply might still might be under the name of the developer, if it is then bad news is that you will still be liable for the usage. Try to find out as much as possible about the development, plot number, previous post code, who the builders were, check with neighbours on same development, etc. If National Grid (formerley Transco) did the instalation then you will be on their records somewhere (they can trace it through the serial number) but as I suspect you may come under an Independent Gas Transporter (IGT) so your MPRN will start with 75. Believe me those guys are nightmares. If you manage to get your your full mprn number then the IGT can be reduced to one compnay and they will tell you who the supplier of the property is.

If the supplier knows they supply the property but unfortunately have an incorrect address and have been sending bills every year the billing code does not apply. The arguement being that you did not make enough effort to find out who the supplier is. Asking BG or Scot Power to take over the supply is not enough. You should have been nagging them to find out who the supplier is and take the supply. The current supplier may be sympathetic and write the usage off to operational loss but don't bank on it.

Good luck.

Apologies if I'm playing catch-up here but my question is about a gas bill. Over 7 years ago I moved into a property which had been developed/converted roughly 18 months previously. Prior to taking possession I contacted BG and Scottish Power to ask if they could transfer the gas account to my name. Neither of them had any record of a meter at the address and basically they were not interested. I then spoke to the previous owner who said that he had received no bills but he left me a note to say what the meter reading was when he moved in and what it was when he moved out and that he was happy to pay should a bill appear. Since then I have not received any bills at all for gas. Electricity yes but not gas. Obviously I'm concerned now as to whether the one year back billing rule would apply to me should I be contacted by a supplier - though it's anyone's guess who that supplier might be. I would be extremely grateful for any advice on this as it is really starting to worry me?

Actually NPower are wrong and if the first letter of your msn does not match on their system then the data collector reads are not validated and therefore not used and estimates used which can be far different from the actual reads. I would think NPower use a similar system to Eon and we can see the reads not used. If Eon sends out three consectutive estimate bills then a letter follows the third bill stressing that the bills have been estimates and could the customer provide a reading, also on the front of the bills are large black lettering that this bill is an estimate, therefore no excuse for the customer to plead ignorance or the significance of estimates.

Have you been getting onto NPower about always getting estimated bills? Have you been giving them customer own reads? If so then it is completely their fault for not rectifying the situation. If you have not bothered then ask them to back back bill to 2004 which should significantly reduce your debt. This is because your bill may have been billed from the last estimate to the actual read and all those extra units used are at the current prices, if they back bill to 2004 then the units used will be more fairly spread over various rises.

As per previous answers on this thread then the least NPower should do is spread the debt over 4 years.

If you officially write in and complain about the situation ( all complaints are sent to OFGEM as well) and make a fuss that you were not made aware of the significance of estimates then you may get a significant reduction of the debt.

Good luck.

Artemis said "on those bills is a meter serial number"

I'm talking to Npower about my latest bill which is £4k as opposed to usual £130.00

None of the many meter readings since 2004 have been used to amend their estimated consumption.

Looking for an explanation I found the first letter of my meter serial number is different from the first letter of the serial number shown on my bills - all other digits match

Npower say this first letter meter serial difference is irrelevant/can't be the cause of meter readings not influencing bills - can anyone confirm?

Artemis is also correct, if they have been quite reasonable and cleared a lot of charges, plus given you 12 months to pay off a 12 month bill, you can't really ask for much more from them.

I don't think that should be a reason to switch really. Whatever the problem is it must have been fixed now so its unlikely to happen again.

To be honest, I also see this type of situation from time to time with the supplier I work for. I would have done exactly the same as them and given you the same amount of time to pay it off.

Your judgement of their service shouldn't be based on the mistake that was made, because mistakes happen. Rather how they reacted to it and resolved it, is the mark of the service you can expect to receive in future.

Gabriel is correct and the o/s amount then becomes 'On Demand'. Why would you wish to change to another suppier? Eon have great tariffs and a customer service second to none and that is not just because I work for them. If you have dual fuel switch to the Energy Online tariff Extra Saver V9 and depending on where you live in the country you can get upto 16% discount.

I'm glad you have got it finally sorted out.

Yes they could, and they can also prevent you from transferring until the balance is cleared (under schedule 14.4a of the electricity supply licence, extract below), which they will almost certainly do.

Domestic Customer transfer blocking

14.4 The licensee may make a request in accordance with the Master Registration

Agreement to prevent a Proposed Supplier Transfer in relation to a Domestic

Customer at a Domestic Premises at which the licensee is the Relevant Electricity

Supplier in any of the following circumstances:

(a) the customer has not paid Charges for the Supply of Electricity to the

premises or any other premises previously owned or occupied by him

which are due to the licensee, have been demanded in writing, have not

been paid within 28 days after the demand was made and continue to be

unpaid;