meter readers can see there is a problem every time they read the meter, imperials need four numbers, metrics need five.Most meter readers can t be bothered to do their job properly and just bung in what ever number they see on the meter and carry on, expecting billing dept to notice the mess up, which they dont, and it carrys on and on until a meter reader like me comes along and spots it and sorts it. I even got a good item on BBC watchdog involved in this very distressing mix up when it happens the other way, i.e. 2.8 times more billing.Anyway, happily your brother has had the good fortune to drop on the mix up in his favour, now its just a question to how much can he reduce the arrears. This exact problem occurred a couple of months ago over on MoneySavingExpert forum, also an EON mix up when the entire back money ended up being scrubbed completely, so you know whats possible if you keep trying From my experiance, yes , it comes to light only when a dilligent meter reader spots it, and I have found them being billed like this for years. One very intelligent man a retired doctor no less had been in dispute with his supplier who blamed the huge bills on his central heating boiler, he even got a new one ! to no avail.you have got to remember all these suppliers are very shambolic and innefficiant, EON are no worse than the others.

Heres some more advice then,as this cock up is nt common but as Eon have such duff meter readers it will always happen with them.Carry on complaining even more that you are not happy at all with this disgraceful billing mess up and they will reduce it even more,possibly even scrub the whole lot. I am very experianced with this metric/imperial mix up,(12 years meter reading) ,and when I see it happening on my hand held computer I make sure to stop it and sort it there and then, liasing with the customers personally.Usually its the other way round when the customer is billed 2.8 times more for each gas unit with horrendously high bills. They are on to the supplier pretty quick, but a lot pay the bills.When you end up getting 2.8 time less for each unit its a different ball game.I still cant believe that your brother could nt fathom out something was amiss with these really cheap bills despite moving to a smaller house, they all take some heating after all. Anyway he s back in the real world now, welcome to rip-off energy prices bro

Warrants and locksmiths are the last resort, it is preceded by many notices and attempts to access the meter. Can you say why they have gone to the last resort, have you been failing to allow access to the meters or taking no notice of any letters posted.Legally, they have to give ( i think ) at least 24 hours notice of a warrant and locksmith coming. if someones not paying their bills what option have they got and you only have to allow a meter reader in once every two years to fulfill the safety inspection rules.

look on the bright side,he s had extrmely cheap gas for years and got away with it, the back billing code protects him from only 12 months now, it used to be two years. Did nt he realise he was getting his gas super cheap. I am sure many customers do realise theres something wrong but they are quite happy to go along with it for as long as possible and milk it for as long as possible.Hes now in the real world of sky high gas prices, plus another 15% coming up for next winter

the last two numbers are never counted ,they are 20 ths of a unit. To think any supplier would try and con you like that. 4030 to 4040 is 10 units, agreed. 4040 to 4050 is also 10 units, are you being charged twice for a single unit.No

a meter reader trying the front door is totally out of order.I have been a meter reader for 12 years now and would nt dream of doing such a thing.The only excuse I can think is that it was a front porch door and he was just trying to knock on the inner door to get your attention. Accuread has nt been in existance for about 3 years now and has been taken over by G4S, the countrys largest employer.Claire, if you work for EON as I suspect, G4S actually shipped over their worst performing meter readers to EON, it was a chance to offload our rubbish for the krauts who are a pretty poor bunch in their bright orange fleeces.I work for British Gas who have never employed their own meter readers for donkeys years. The original post, do I have to let him in.,No, not on a quarterly visit, if you havent had your meter visually safety checked in a year,B.G.will try and get access.over two years and if you still wont allow access they may get a warrant to get entry.This is a last resort and should nt get this far.If a warrant and a locksmith is required the occupier will have to pay the costs. A visual safety inspection is part of our job, not just logging the reading.We are looking for faults and tampers on the meter.Bypassing meters is now much more common and getting worse, I find a lot more now than I did a few years ago, although most meter readers have absolutely no idea how to spot meter tampers

I am a meter reader of 12 years experience and its quite common for the utilities to cock up the day and night readings, the meter is fine, it will be set for cheap rate 7 hours between approx 12.30 qnd 7 .30 gmt.you just got to make sure that you are being billed the correct cheap rate for night time useage etc. what the utilities do is to sting people with a huge catch up bill when they twig on, if they have been billing the other way roundThey can only go back one year though if its their fault,( back billing rule )

Hi, sounds like you, and the people before have been getting the day and night readings transposed and now they have stuck you with a catch up bill.Eco 7 meters are fitted a lot to all electric propertys.First you will have to understand how your meter works so you can get rebilled properly from day one.Work out which of the readings is the night and which is the day rates. Usually Rate 1 will be day and rate 2 night,( but not always ) ignore T for total

The Landlord would most likely not be happy at all with someone changing the prepay, tennants do runners owing thousands of utility bills occasionally. I would get the landlords permission first

Hi, if you have a good credit record, and have been a good customer with your old supplier Southern Electric I would have thought they are the first ones to try and get these very inconvenient,and expensive, meters changed.All prepays are now on "standard tariff ". Not as expensive as they were a few years ago but you could get an approx 5% reduction by switching to credit meters and going on a dual fuel online tariff.The suppliers dont seem to have any hard and fast rules, I have seen plenty of posts on forums where they have got them switched for free.Of course Npower are reluctant to spend the money switching the meters only to see you switch supplier shortly after.

if you insist on someone coming out to check if the meter is working ok, and it is, there will be a call out charge, I think around the £80-£90 mark. apart from the metric meter/imperial meter mess up, which results in 2.8 times overbilling or more rarely underbilling, its just a matter of getting correct meter readings for your propery.Metric meters require the first 5 numbers including leading zeros if you are submitting your own readings.Imperial meters need the first 4 numbers, this is for gas meters.Watch out for electric dial meters ( 6 rotating dials) which constantly get misread by occupiers and meter readers

is the meter upstairs also a 3 rate meter, i am a meter reader and i only see these sort of meters in pubs and small businesses, as its not usual to bill domestic houses using 3 rates.plenty of 2 rate eco 7 meters around tho. If it is another 3 rate meter upstairs also you will need to work out which readings on the bill relate to that meter

hi, are these readings all estimates,as you say, there is 6 different reading covering weekend/eve +weekday and night.These multi rate meters are typical of meters in the majority of pubs and hotels. can you work out from your meters readings which 3 of the 6 are yours.I think on these meters rate 1 is weekday,rate 2 is weekend and 3 is night.They do vary a lot, but you can work out which rate equals which period of the week on the meter by seeing which rate advances.Start with checking which rate advances this weekend. You need to get the correct meter readings on that bill which relate to your meter. Ignore the "T " for total, which also displays on these meters

Hi,thats a good point you ve made there about eco 7 tariffs.They can be cheaper but you would have to use about 20% of your energy approx to make it pay.the day rate on these meters is loaded so people on prepays which are set for eco 7 are paying the dearest electric possible, being on standard tariff ( the most expensive) plus the double whammy of a l.oaded day rate.I am a meter reader and I do point this out to people when i spot this as they never seem to be aware of it as you have to do a lot of scrolling thro the meters menu to spot it. On my handheld computer I can see its asking me to collect 2 readings which tells me its an eco 7 set up.Screen "H" will show the day reading in KWHs, and screen "J" will show the night reading in KWHs.so if your prepay has those on it get onto your supplier for a possible refund

you are right, theres no standing charge on the meter,its put on the units you use instead.My gas use is extremely low as i have only a gas cooker, but most of my gas units are billed at the high Tier 1 price. the correct name for this sort of billing is known as "Block Tariff " in the trade. theres no getting away from the standing charge, everyone pays one, just like your phone line.You phone Brit Gas up and see how they squirm out of it.It was just a marketing ploy that Brit Gas came up with designed to confuse.I have worked for them as a meter reader for 15 years. they are a pretty crafty and slimey company, always trying new ways of conning the public.

if you went away for a month and did nt have a no standing charge meter you would come back to a months standing charge racked up on your meter. with your current meter now, after that month off, the meter would be using the high Tier 1 rate for quite a while to catch up your standing charge. only if you used an unfeasible ammount are you not goint to pay the full years standing charge. I blame Brit Gas for giving the name "no standing charge " because it gives the impression you are getting the standing charge for free. Every body would select no standing charge if that was the case.To check all this you could get your gas kwh useage for the year and use a comparison website such as UKpower etc and compare prices with both "no standing charge" and" standing charge".There will be little difference in the two

same principle applys to gas prepays, and credit meters as well with the no standing charge option.every meter pays a standing charge.rent is paid by the supplier to national grid for upkeep and support of the meter.if the meter leaks or go s wrong thats the people you phone 0800 111 999. its all got to be paid for somehow. you are not being robbed, I guess the word " collaborate" means its Tier 1 collabarating with Tier2 so it gets your daily standing charge paid.

yeah, everybody pays a standing charge,the only advantage to the no standing charge option is that if you leave the property vacant for a while its not racking up the approx £1. 85 a week.all the suppliers use the same set up,not just B.Gas although I think they were one of the first to dupe people into thinking they did not pay a standing charge.The standing charge is payment to the owners of the meters, which in my area is Y.E.D.L. (now northern power grid )

Reading your meter every 6 months is far too little, read it every 3 months at least.there was a huge price rise last year of around 16-18% gas and 12 % electric to take into account.If your gas meter is in an outside box check it for leaks, theres potential for leaks around the unions and pipes

hi, your prepay meter will be the type which supports the " no standing charge option ". in this case your meter will collect the standing charge, approx £85 a year, by having a certain number of your units, known as Tier 1 priced high. the rest of the units, Tier 2 will be at the cheap rate. currently where I work as a meter reader in Yorkshire Tier 1 is 24.7 pence a kwh and Tier 2 is 11.7. Its no [problem] because the meter will only take the maximun of £85 a year at the high Tier 1. each day you use the meter it will start on the Tier 1 and then switch to the cheap Tier 2 once it has paid the daily standing charge.If you dont use enough electric on any day to pay the daily standing charge it converts some of the previous cheap rate Tier2 to offset the cost