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Showing results for tags 'meter'.
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I switched to OVO Energy around 3 months ago and gave them the reading at the time. I kept forgetting to give a meter reading so they used their own estimates based on a 1 bedroom flat. I recently got a letter to say they want to put my direct debit from £32 a month to £57 a month because I was £1.19 behind. Remember that everything is based entirely on their own estimates, so how have they came to this conclusion? Just to add, I gave them a reading recently which was much lower than their estimates. How can they justify putting my DD from £32 to £57? Anyone else had this happen before? P.S, just to add, NPower did the same thing and put my DD from £36 to £72 because they took the highest month usage and applied it to the whole of the next year. -
Back in 2014 I agreed a payment plan with British Gas for monthly payments of £40 and £30 for our gas and electric. This continued successfully until April when I asked (as I had missed the previous months payment) if I could increase payments to £50 each per month. I was told that I couldn't as my plans were cancelled as they had not received payments. I had also been told (I hadn't) that I needed to increase payments to £140 and £80 per month. I have an email stating that on 9.4.14 I owed £852.71 for gas and £466.49 electric. At this point it was too late and to try and resolve as BG made us have payment meters added. We agreed £5 per week for both utilities would be taken. Fast forward to January this year I thought I would ask if we could go back to direct debit payment credit meters. I emailed to request this. I have an email from 18/1/2016 which states "I confirm from our records there is no outstanding balance on your Gas or electricity accounts." I was told I would need a credit reference search done with experian and because I know my credit history is poor, I did not pursue this further. We are now selling our house today I emailed BG just to clarify there are still no amounts outstanding. I was therefore shocked to receive a reply saying that I owe £833.07 for gas! Our boiler was not working for a part of this year but even so I cannot believe in 2 years 5 months I have only paid off £19! Apart from the fact I was told in January there was no outstanding debt!! Am I within my rights to ask BG for a statement of account showing all payments made?
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Consumers who are forced to have prepayment energy meters put in should face a maximum installation fee of £150, the regulator has proposed. Currently such energy users - already the most vulnerable to debt - face a charge of up to £900, said Ofgem. As many as 4.5 million people use prepayment meters for electricity, while 3.5 million use them for gas. Ofgem is suggesting that the maximum fee should be between £100 and £150. For particularly vulnerable consumers, such as those in financial hardship or those with health issues, it says there should be no charge at all. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37349013 Ofgem is now inviting comments and responses to its plans before it finalises them in Novembe and. has published a series of proposals -
I apologise in advance for the length of this post. I moved into my property, a two bedroomed cottage, in october 03. The electric meter was the old dial type with spinning wheel. There is a three phase supply to the house but only one is connected to anything. After a year of normal electricity bills powergen came and fitted a digital meter. The next 4 quarterly bills were normal and paid on time. A couple of weeks after the last of these i received another bill for £2582 36. I contacted powergen straight away but the dispute ran for over a year during which time i spoke to dozens of powergen people. eventually they agreed that they had made a mistake, cancelled the bill and fitted another digital meter. exactly the same thing then occurred. I had 4 fairly normal quarterly bills, all paid on time then got another bill this time for£3100. This was in august 07. Since then I have spoke almost on a daily basis to various people at eon (as it is now called) They all agree something is wrong but i keep getting letters telling me i have made no attempt to resolve things. In january 08 I had to leave my mothers funeral following a call from a neighbour that i had burglers. I arrived home to find that people from eon had trampled through the floral tributes in the garden, broken down my front door, let my house cat out which was then run over, trampled mud all over my carpets but not done anything to the meter. I should add that i had no notice of their intended visit. The dispute is still unresolved, they fitted a check meter in parallel with the normal one but of course it read the same. In march this year they took the case to northampton court although i didnt receive the paperwork untill after the court date so couldnt attend. Naturally the court found in their favour. Have tried energy watch and onbudsman but they cant help as it has been to court The amount they are now claiming is in excess of £8000. In may this year i got a visit from a bailiff from an outfit calling themselves 'high court enforcement' I explained the situation and told them the dispute was very much ongoing. however, i am still using electricity so agreed to pay this bloke £500 and a standing order for £120 per month as a gesture of goodwill and to offset ongoing usage. He assured me that the full amount would go to eon but I have since found out this was a lie as they deduct a third of the money for themselves. These baliffs come back each month telling me that if i dont increase my payments they will forclose on my possessions. I should point out that i have solid fuel heating, all energy saving bulbs, no electric machinery. we creep about at night using solar lights from the garden as we darent switch anything on. I have had inspections done by independant electrical engineers who cant explain the high meter readings. One suggested that the meter and three phase supply were unbalanced as 2 phases arent connected to anything. They have measured my daily standing load to be an average of 3.6 amps. Eon estimate that my daily usage is 76.2 kwh. My wife is on tranqulisers over this, I am unwell, we are in our sixties and at our wits end. I have tried to get solicitors but nobody seems to want to take on eon and i probably couldnt afford it anyway. The only solution seems to let these bullies force me to sell my house to pay a bill that cant possibly be correct -
Received a letter today from a dca. According to them I owe Scottish Power £170 for a prepayment meter debt. The address to which this 'debt' applies is a flat I rented and left four and a half years ago. They say that the debt is due either because i had a debt to clear on a prepayment meter or because I used another suppliers card in the meter. Neither of these apply! There are no dates as to when this supposed debt occurred, no info on Scottish power account or reference numbers, no idea on whether this was gas or electricity, no info I can use to find out what this debt is all about. As far as I'm concerned I paid my energy bill in advance by meter card. I don't understand how this could equate to a debt when I left. I lived there for two years and in that time there was no indication of any debt left by previous occupiers. The letter has 'this could affect your credit rating' in big red letters and this is repeated in the main body of the letter. This is the first I've heard of any debt. I lived at another address less than a mile away for four years. Then moved here to my current address, same town again. And until today, I never received any letter about a debt. I just don't know what to do. Afaic there is NO debt and I can only think that this is something to do with someone who moved in after I left. Could anyone advise me on what to do? Thank you -
I got a letter telling me Scottish power wanted to do a meter inspection which they did, they said my meter had been tampered with and they replaced it. I have now got a bill in from them for £496 for the cost of replacing meter but no other charges. Have phoned citizens advice etc and they contacted SP Got a phone call from SP today saying that as the meter is in my name it was me that gets the charge. I am renting from the council and it must have been tampered with by previous occupants as i have never touched it ,i wouldn't know where to start. I don't know what i can do now SP said they will put the charge onto my meter. -
British Gas Smart Meters have issued a safety warning regarding the Power Adaptor for their Smart Energy Meter. The letter states the following; It goes on to say, that the actual Energy Smart Meter is NOT affected & you are to keep that aside. A replacement adaptor will be sent out within the next 8/9 weeks, along with a envelope for you to send back the old adaptor. Once the new adaptor arrives, plug the Energy Smart Meter back in. The letter does not state any kind of serial/part number or area, I live in Essex, so I've no idea who may be affected or not by this. Contact 08009806121 Mon - Fri 8am - 8pm. Sat 8am - 6pm. -
hi everyone just wondering if anyone can advise how i can be owing scottish power 500 pounds "standing charges" seeing as when i last used said meter i only owed a tenner. roughly three years ago. the meter was eventually "capped" as i stopped using it and now they are billing me for that amount! how can that be right? should i complain to ofgem? this just is not right at all! i didnt want the pay as you go meter in the first place. some silly youngster from the debt collection company told me that pay as you go is actually cheaper. i tried to make a deal with them to pay a certain amount per week but i cant afford what they are asking. if i switch suppliers will the gas be back to normal? i.e. will i be able to start using it again? im sick of cold winters with no hot water! seems very unfair! a rip off no less. im not bothered a jot about debt i just need the gas back on which i am willing to pay fair and square for. seems very unjust. thx for reading.
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hiya im in Scotland if that helps...... i stopped using / topping up my pay as u go gas meter 2 yrs ago as i walked miles to *local* shop , got a tenner top up, inserted in meter and it took it for debt. was very infuriating. since then the meter was capped but i am now getting harassed for 418 pounds. just for "standing charges" scottish power have made a supposed deal with me to pay 37 quid per month but i cant afford that as i am on ESA and only get 100 pounds per week. i find this VERY unfair. can anyone offer any advice on what to do? to me this a real con. i switched to EDF to see if i could "wangle" my way out of the debt and get gas back on the engineer came out thursday and told me i need to have credit in said meter to get it uncapped. he also told me he has been dealing with a lot of similar cases recently. i personally think this is totally wrong the this supposed Great Britain. just wondering what to do as its rather cold up here just now and its make my already depressed life even more miserable. thankas for reading guys. -
Hello everybody I recently got into debt bother with EON . I spoke to them about my options with regards to my debt (installments, pre-payment etc). I indicated that I would prefer prepayment to manage my debts but then took my time getting back to them . Next I received a letter telling me that they were applying to the courts and had added £60.00. The court date was supposed to be 12th of November and I awaited this date so I could contest the fee (I had already told them that I wanted prepayment), they wrote to me shortly before telling me that the court hearing had been cancelled and they would write to me at a later date. Yesterday (12th) I got home to find some documents and a electricity key INSIDE MY HOUSE !!. The accompanying paperwork said that they had acted on a warrant (no issue date, number etc) and had changed my electricity meter. In my actual mail on that day I got a letter from them telling me that they had reapplied for a court date - which was supposed to be the 16th November !!!. So clearly they illegally entered my house without a warrant and changed the meter. Luckily, nothing valuable was stolen from me by these rapscallions . I have not yet contacted them, instead I would prefer the advice of somebody who has experience in these matters to see exactly where I stand before I act. What are my options, so to speak ? -
Hi All, I'd appreciate any advice on the below as I already fear it is going to turn into a messy debacle. I recently took up tenancy in a property on 17th September. I was informed by the letting agency that the energy account with Spark was transferred into my name (and I was welcome to change it) for dual supply. Yesterday, I received my first bill for 17th September - 1st October period from Spark energy. The gas meter serial number is correct and the readings are in agreement with the actuals. That's no issue. The Electric meter serial number in the bill is completely incorrect, compared to the electric meter serial actually in my flat. Equally, the readings on the bill are completely off from my actual readings. I have contacted Spark and gave them my actual serial number, which they claim is actually registered to to the address next door (separate building). They then say it has been an erroneous transfer from February 2015 and to contact the previous supplier Eon to sort it out. Also, due to Data protection obviously they couldn't divulge any details about what serial number and end reading the previous tenant had supplied for his term. I am now caught in limbo being passed between Spark and Eon, each claiming it is the other who have to sort it. Incidentally I had also arranged a switch to GnEnergy but have since contacted them and they have been very helpful in putting my switch on hold until I contact them again. Any advice where to go from here? I feel there is a massive mess brewing regarding the previous tenant/his meter serial/readings/billing. Thankfully the inventory issued by the agency at the start of my tenancy has detailed both meters with the correct serials, readings and even photographs so hopefully none of this falls back on me, but I'd like to have my facts and rights straight incase I end up having to argue my case. Thanks for reading, POTR -
first I will describe the problem, I am paying for gas by prepayment meter , the prepayment screen on the meter is blank and it will not except payment by the card, the meter gas reading still works and there is gas supplied even without payment via the card, it's been like this for at least two years. I recently transferred to another supplier for both gas and electricity. I was sent a final estimated bill for nearly two and a half thousand pounds from my former supplier, assuming that I will have to pay them something my questions are: 1 can they calculate an arbituary estimate which I must pay or should it be based on actual readings from meter, I have noticed on some of my previous statements that they indicate that I have submitted readings to them which I haven't done. 2 can I make them send me documentation of the period that they are charging for and the calculation of the fee for that period. 3 with the rules of them not being able to back charge beyond the last twelve months, how could they accuratly calculate how much was used during that period. 4 The point of being on a prepayment meter is not to get into debt, is part or all of the fault down to the former supplier and should they have to accept all or some of the the losses incurred 5 if I have to pay would they except payment by installments niyaman -
Hi All, We are moving home at the end of next week and have begun the process of transferring utilities etc.. We have been customers of NPower for some 8 years and have always had a credit meter for both gas & electric which have been paid via monthly DD. Today we phoned NPower to notify them that we were moving and that we wished to remain customers of theirs. The property we have purchased is already supplied by NPower and presently has credit meters fitted so we expected no issues. NPower ran a credit check and have informed us that our only options are: a) Have prepayment meters fitted. b) Place a security deposit of £200 per fuel to be held for 12mths and continue to pay by direct debit. Admittedly our credit files are not squeaky clean (though clean enough to obtain a mortgage) but we do not see why after 8 years of customer loyalty we should have to either have prepayment meters fitted or pay a substantial security deposit. Although we could switch providers, we are concerned that the whole industry credit checks and we would essentially find ourselves in the same position. We are concerned that time is ticking fast as we are due to move into our new home next Friday, so we may not have time to sort prior to our move date, which raises another question.... This may sound stupid but we are first time buyers so please bear with us... the property we are moving into has working electricity and gas obviously not looking to defraud but is it the case that electricity/gas cannot be used until a provider is sorted? Any help/advice is greatly received. -
I have a Gas debt with NPOWER we I have been paying off weekly via pre-payment meter for approx. 36 months. This has been working fine. They have in the last month suddenly reported my account to be in default with Experian which has destroyed my credit score. They say this will remain until I clear the debt completely. Their customer services said that this was a change in policy of how they report debt on pre-payment meters (had I been paying this off via DD then it would be an issue apparently - I am now trying to move to DD). I have a complaint in with them now, and I have contacted Experian and will be contacting the Ombudsmen if I don't get it resolved soon. Can they simply change their minds like this without notifying me? -
]Hi, I live in a top floor flat with 2 other people, and there is a lower flat with 4. There is only one electric and gas meter between our two properties, and have been told that we have to set up an account with the other house to pay the bills. The landlord has refused to split the meters into one for each house as it is not "economically viable". I am worried that if the other people do not pay their share then our house will be liable to pay this. We were not told about this before signing our tenancy agreement and neither were the other house. The lettings agents are unwilling to have the accounts in their name and for all of us to pay them directly. What can we do? Is this legal or is there something that can be done, or do we have to deal with this? There is nothing in our contract about situations like this! Can someone help? -
Hi all Caggers, There may be someone who has had experience in this field reading this thread. My enforced water supplier Welsh Water, make the claim that they have " never had one of their Waters Meters found to be over metering". Not having knowledge of the construction or functioning of such meters, this may be a true statement. I find this hard to believe, but would be grateful to hear of others experiences!. Carningli
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Im currently with SSE, been with them a long time now. Im on standard meter, NOT prepayment. Ive just gone to enter my meter readings for my next bill, and ive noticed the elelectric meter has stopped. The figures have not moved since I entered them in last time, my last bill issued 18th June for period of 20th Feb - 20th May 2015 ( don't know why it was issued so long after ) So I got in touch with SSE via twitter. They responded really quickly. The guy who dealt with my query, explained to me that meters that stop, happen all the time and booked me in for a new meter 22nd September.. .He then went on to explain that what happens is, I get a new meter, they close the old account and start a fresh with the new one.. ....and because I immediately contacted them when I realised there was an issue with the meter, there wont be any charges backdated. To me, this doesn't sound right. I still have a supply coming through, and im happy to pay for what ive used. ...so it means that from 20th May - 22nd September I will be getting free electric.... id at least thought id need to pay for 20th May until reporting the fault today (11th august) but hes adamant theres not gonna be any charges. I don't understand it all. I need help
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When I first moved to this flat three or so years ago there was a card meter and I asked my electric company of twenty years, British Gas, to alter it to a 'normal' direct debit one. When their engineer came, he said that he couldn't because this meter and the other three flats' meters were all interconnected (back in the 60s) in such a way that to replace it correctly (& legally) meant ripping the whole wiring system up, which, he insisted, would entail a massive job because the whole apartment block and most of the road would have to be ripped up too. he instead tampered with my card meter a bit (not sure how legal that was) and said it was now direct debit. Since then I've received electricity no problem, but every bill has registered zero usage. Into the bargain, British Gas never sent someone to read the meter, despite my asking them to. After, say, 12 months, I was contacted by "Face2Face" (British Gas enforcers) who said they'd been trying to get access to the meter cupboard but insisted that I kept missing their appointments - totally not true. I actually sent them the key to the meter cupboard (situated outside the flats) and told them to access it whenever they wanted without needing me. Did that happen? No . During the last two years I received nothing but regular "We will get a warrant if you don't let us have access" letters, to which I always replied "YOU HAVE THE KEY", and then they'd apologise, but then a couple of months later I'd get another "We will get a warrant if you don't let us in" letter, and everything would be repeated. Moving forward to about two months ago, some Face2Face bully boys came around out of the blue saying they had a warrant. I pointed out that "YOU HAVE THE KEY", which resulted in their company giving me £150 as an apology after I complained, and also because management then admitted they had lost the key. The management then asked if I would grant their engineer access to the meter cupboard to change the meter today, which I of course agreed to. When their engineer and site foreman arrived, I discovered that they wanted to change the meter to another pre-payment meter, which I told them I preferred not to have thank you very much (and for reasons not worth going into, we luckily couldn't get into the meter cupboard anyway). The result of this was that they said that they'd come back in month, and that I should try to ask their management to ask British Gas if I can have a normal meter. The problem is, they said that they doubted British Gas will agree to that because there will be a large backlog of money owed on this meter. But I haven't caused that, they did. I'm also worried that they'll want any money owed at a rate of return that exceeds my meagre incomings. Any thoughts? Additionally, remembering that the last engineer who tried to change the meter said that doing so would mean a massive "knock down the building and tear up the road to do it properly" job, I'm assuming that the only way they can change the meter this time (without knocking the building down) is to, again, do a makeshift 'dodgy' job. But I suspect that this time they will set it up heavily in their favour! -
Hi all, I've been told this is the very best place to come for sound advice, so here goes - it's a long convoluted story but I'll keep it as short as I can. I live in a one bed flat that occupies the front half of a three story town house. Last year, unbeknown to me, Scottish Power messed up billing on my account for electric (something to do with them changing their computer system to a new one). Then out of the blue I received a bill for £1100 - on top of what i had already paid / been paying. I questioned it (obviously!) They said the figure was correct and based on actual readings. I continued to question it and raised an official complaint. I have no TV and use my washing machine once every 2 weeks. I have a desktop pc that is on all day and a fridge freezer. That's pretty much it apart from small items like LED desktop lamp, phone chargers etc. So there's NO WAY I could be using the amount of electric they claimed I was using. So while this complaint was being processed by Scottish Power (A whole other nightmare!) I continued to pay £100 a month off the debt they said I owed. As obviously I would be using SOME electricity, just not the amount they claim. Few weeks back, out of the blue, a debt recovery agent turns up at my front door, threatens me with all kinds legal fees, court costs etc if i don't sign his paperwork and agree to having a prepayment meters fitted. Feeling intimidated, I signed his paperwork. This morning an electrician from Scottish Power turns up to fit my prepaid electric meter. He takes one look at my meter and says, "Can't change your meter, there's a problem". Well the problem, according to the electrician is that my meter has other stuff wired into it, which he guesses to be, the communal power for the entire building, hall way landing lights on every floor, fire alarm, AND another flat - again guessing it to be the little bedsit behind my flat, but on the same floor. So my questions are: Has a crime been committed? Where do i stand legally? What action should i take? (Can't afford lawyer - I'm on benefits) What should i do about this money Scottish power still insists i owe them? This whole situation has been massively stressful. I've actually developed Alopecia which I directly attribute to the stress of the alleged debt and the excruciating frustration of trying get coherent answers from Scottish Power. I don't need to tear my hair out, it's falling out all by itself! All suggestions welcome and greatly appreciated. -
Hi, Any advice really appreciated. I moved into a flat in June 2013 with a prepayment meter. I told EON and they sent me a new keycard. I used the card to top up at local newsagents every time I needed electricity. I moved out the flat in June 2014 after a 12 month tenancy. All good with the landlord, agent, council tax, etc. Now July 2015 I've had a snotty phone call from EON saying I owe them £250 in unpaid electricity. I've checked my online account with them from my time in that flat, and sure enough if shows unpaid £250. I'm minded to tell them to go forth and prosper but am worried there might be comeback on me? Thanks. Ed -
Don't know if we are allowed to mention names here, but here goes anyway. Interested to know if a letting agent can legally switch energy suppliers on a house up for rent without notifying or seeking authorisation from the Landlord/owner? Discovered that Countrywide 'sold' the contract to E.on, (who incidentally have a whole department dedicated to that company). Countrywide get a fee (although E.on would not say how much this was) and E.on get a new customer (we know how apathetic most people are on changing their suppliers) on any tariff they choose to set. E.on said they took the contract on in good faith (ie. that is on the understanding that the Landlord had agreed). Clearly no checks and balances on E.on's part, but then scruples are always thin on the ground when money is one the table. -
Hello all, I had a debt with EDF which I have been struggling to pay, they did inform me that they were applying for a warrant to change the meter but heard nothing since until I came home today to discover they have been in my house whilst I was out and changed it. Surely they are supposed to tell me when they are coming so that I can choose to be there or not? I feel sick thinking they could have been looking through my things etc. Also my 15 year old daughter is often home alone and doesnt answer the door if shes on her own unless she knows who it is, so if they just let themselves in and she had happened to be home she would have been absolutely petrified. Are they really allowed to do this? I get disability benefits and they were told when I moved in that I am registered disabled -
Please can anyone give me any advice on what I can do please I have a prepayment meter with British Gas and I haven't been able to afford to put any money in it. I am unemployed and was just about managing then I got a benefit sanction of over 6 months and in that time I've not had any gas because I can't afford it, but I have still been getting charged and I now owe over £87 in the meter. So I would have to pay that of first and then put more money in to actually get gas Can they do this, charge for gas when its not been used? Is there anyway of me getting my gas put back on as I hate having no hot water or heating and all this has been going on for so long now, I just want it sorted out Thank you for reading this -
I have recently discovered that the clock on my economy 7 electricity meter is seven hours slow. I use my high power useage appliances like washing machine and tumble dryer at night to take advantage of cheap rate power charges. I now discover that all that use is being charged at peak rates. I have no idea how long this has been happening for but the meter was installed in 2008. I have recently changed supplier and I have asked them to come and check the meter. They cannot come and look till the end of May. I also have an outstanding balance with my old supplier that i have been paying off. If the check confirms what i have found what can I do about the overcharging that may have been happening for years? My current supplier says they I can query it with them when the meter check has been done. I have raised a dispute with my old supplier but surprise surprise they arent being very helpful. They say my current supplier must supply them with amended readings if it is found the meter is faulty. It all seems very complicated! -
Hi Everyone, I am having a dispute with BG over a gas meter. I moved into my property in November 2013, there was no gas in the property but there was an outside meter which wasn't connected to any gas pipes in my property so I just left it like that. The dials on the meter were all at zero. About 6 months later I recieved a bill for £26 for having the meter there and was told this was a standing charge for it. In November 2014 they sent someone out to remove the meter. I told BG that I was going to look into the charge a few weeks later I got a bill for £55, maybe i shouldn't have but I ignored this bill then got sent another bill a few months later for £75. When I phoned up to ask why I had got this latest bill they told me that the meter at my property was my responsibility and that it cost 0.26p a day for having it there. I have now had debt collectors threatening to take me to court if I don't pay up. I don't think I should be paying for something that I haven't used, I'm not even a BG customer! I wish I had taken the advice of this website and kept track of phone calls and kept all the bills but i just ignored it, I just thought that it was so stupid that I was being charged for something that I've never had that BG would see sense and dismiss the dispute. Can anyone give me advice on what to do next as I don't think that I should be paying British Gas for anything.
