boertjie:

Next they wouldlike to agree our useage from, when they think the meter stopped in Nov 2008, by using the new meter to establish an average useage. The seem to want to assure me that this would be calculated in our favour. This is yet to be seen.

I think the ball is in Southern Electric's court and they need to show their hand first regarding the "estimated" consumption.

Meanwhile I would take daily readings for a week to give you typical summer consumption. Winter will differ depending on your heating.

Is your flat eletrically heated and what type of heating system?

Hi update on this story.

This morning Southern Electric's engineer mysteriously arrived to the door at 08:00. The old meter reading was agreed and this afternoon I received a letter via email from the customer liaison. They have again appologised for the inconveniences caused and have agreed to pay £20 for each missed appointment plus a compensatory £20 for each missed appointment, so total £80 which is in the post to us. They have now recinded on their bill of the 2nd September, and said that it was not an actual bill even if it said it was. Doesn't make sense to me but they seem to be able to manipulate the rules as they seem to see fit.

Next they wouldlike to agree our useage from, when they think the meter stopped in Nov 2008, by using the new meter to establish an average useage. The seem to want to assure me that this would be calculated in our favour. This is yet to be seen.

Does anyone have experience of an electricity supplier applying an average useage to an account and how they calculated it?

boertjie:

Hi Jalexa,

Yes we are in a blck of flats, and I'm going to take a photo of it this weekend.

It just irretates me that they can send out an "actual" reading bill when they clearly have not even bee there to read it.

Next lesson. Google "MPAN" and look for the Wikipedia article. Identify from the map which supply area you are in and note the DNO phone number. Phone up and a check that they have the right MPAN and meter serial number for your address.

The likely issue is mis-registration of the meter. Sometimes the flat wiring is implicated.

I would ask you to give the meter reader the benefit of the doubt until the issue is resolved. He/she is only part of a system and is only as good as the system. The meter reader probably works for a meter reading company, not the supply company or even the distribution network operator. Hardly surprising when things go wrong the meter reader doesn't seem to get it right.

Hi Jalexa,

Yes we are in a blck of flats, and I'm going to take a photo of it this weekend.

It just irretates me that they can send out an "actual" reading bill when they clearly have not even bee there to read it.

boertjie:

First tip - if you haven't done so already go and take a photograph of the meter detailed enough to capture the reading and the meter serial number.

Are in a block of flats?

I have received a "we are very sorry letter" for the missed appointments and poor service. They arranged for a new date 10/9/09 to repair the meter.

But then on the 2nd September, I received a bill for the next period, and in fact it is an "actual" reading, this time a reading of 12686. So off I went to read the meter again, and suprise suprise, it is still stuck on 10586. So my question is how on earth could they have taken a reading of 12686?????

This has lead me to further suspicion, as to the authenticity and accuracy of their "actual" reading in Feb 2009.

I have sent their Head of Customer Service, and emailed letter and coppied it to the original Customer Liaison and the Energy Ombudsman, demanding the rectification of my over charged account and compensation to the missed appointments. Will have to wait and see what transpires next!

With regards to the failed appointments request that you speak with their failed appointments team or guaretee of service teams. They should investigate the failure and dependant on the outcome you should be awarded £20.00 per visist, this cna be further increased if they do not resolve thier investigation promptly details of this will be on your supplier's code of conduct.

Stuck meter's can occur, all this means is that the register fails to record usage even though gas/elec is still being passed through the meter. What this basically means is that if/when a meter reader has returned the same reading to your supplier they have ignored it (because t doesn't make sense) and used an estiamtion instead. Ideally your supplier would have picked up on this issue before now - their arguement will be that they have x millions of customers to review and manually reviewing each one is impossible they rely on customer's to bring the problem to their attention yada yada.

They will replace the meter and monitor your usage on this meter and use this infomqtion alongisde any infoamtion they have from the meter prior to the failure (so deliberaely using less energy while under the review won't work i'm afraid) to calculate a best estimation of your consumption throughout the time the meter was stuck.

Enquire into weather Billing Code (what and how a supply can bill you for) or Operational Loss (events not specificaly mentioned within the Billing Code criteria but fall within the spirit of the Code) can be applied - suppliers generally won't volunteer these but will inviestigate and apply them if these points are raised. Finally with whatver balance is remaining you can negoitaite a suitable time-frame for the repayment - most suppliers will be happy to set up a repayment plan to last as long as the oiginal problem exsisted for.

Hi boertjie,

Please let us know what the outcome is once you've sorted this, I'd be interested to hear what's gone on.

Good luck with it!

Felicity

Hi Jalexa,

Thanks for your advice. I will be driving the complaint. It is the fact that only in April 09 they allegedly read my meter with this +2500 unit discrepency, which is the credit/rebate I would insist on.

Thanks for your help, I will be sending them a letter.

boertjie

boertjie:

I don't think this such a big deal other than the surprisingly inept Southern Electric performance so far in managing the issue. Southern/Scottish Hydro have the lowest complaints ratio in the industry and will aggressively try to resolve this if only you raise a proper complaint. Obtain the Code of Practice online and follow it scrupulously. Inform them that having submitted a reading, not without difficulty, your were informed this was a "stuck meter" and Southern have failed to keep two appointments to fix the meter. You should drive the complaint scrupulously in accordance with the procedure timeframe.

From the information given I'm not sure anyway the meter is stuck. What happens is the billing system rejects readings outside an expected reading band, mainly as a simple check against misreading. Possibly you case is more complicated than a single misread. That's for Southern Electric to establish.

Regarding your question about whether you have to pay for "stuck" electricity I feel the previous advice is a little simplistic. There would need to be an agreement that you are a full party to as to how much you had used. Previous actual readings can be a guide but previous estimated readings have little weight. For example, perhaps you had spent 6 months away in your Spanish villa during the coldest part of the year. Who knows. Well possibly your neighbours.

I hope you have learned the lesson it's worth making the effort to read the meter under the stairs etc.

If the meter is not stuck and its just a reading error the cumulative reading will be right. If +2000 either you can ask for a rebate or a payment holiday or similar. Shouldn't be a problem if you drive home the complaint process scrupulously.

Hi,

In answer to your questions, yes, they can charge you for the supply, as you used the electricity. The only circumstance they cannot do this is where they have not attempted, or have been unable to, read your meter for OVER 2 years.

HOWEVER, there are several things you can do to get charges reduced etc. Firstly, approach Consumer Focus (Formerly Energywatch) and detail your complaint to them. They work as middlemen between the energy suppliers and OfGem, and might be able to get money off your bill.

State that the engineers failed to call etc, as this is mitigating circumstances and Southern Electric have failed in their duty of care.

How they will asses your usage is most likely to install a "check" meter for your supply, which will take average reads over time to establish how much you are using.

They obviously cannot have taken an accurate read from your meter as if your meter had stopped that would have been the read they had taken. Therefore, it's probably best to establish when the last time they read your meter was. If your read is 2000 units below their estimate then it;s likely that it stopped working months ago.

As i said, approach Consumer Focus and they should be able to help you.

Hi,

We have been receiving electricity bills and paying them each quarter since April 2008. We received a bill in June which for some reason made me suspicious. As we live in a flat complex I have never bothered checking or matching meter readings as it requiresgoing down stairs under the stairwell etc, etc. But on this bill it seemed that we had used a lot and therefore set off to obtain the latest reading. The current reading had been 2500 units less than what they (Southern Electric) have estimated our reading as. Naturally I contacted them with the new reading, after attempting to submit an online meter reading but their system failed to aknowledge. I was then told by the operator that the reading I am supplying them can not be correct as they had aken a meter reading in February 2009 which was 2000 units higher than my reading. Whilst on the phone to them, I confirmed to the operator the meter serial number and reading. She informed me that our meter is what they call a "stopped" meter which has stopped clocking up a reading. She arranged for an engineer toattend to the faulty meter at the end of June. Southern Electric failed to attend or even call to inform that they can not make the appointment. Early July I called them again to submit a meter reading as to obtain the credit of the 2000 over charged units. They again arranged for an engineer to attend to the meter at the end of July, and suprise surprise, again failed to show or even call.

My question is this: Can they charge me for the usage during which this meter is not accumalating a reading? and, Am I entitled to the 2000unit credit if and when they change the meter?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!