Missing Electricity Meter.

[Smowball]

Ok so after a very stressful two days I can sort of laugh about it now. We bought another house at auction last month too far away to view beforehand but read all legal pack etc. To cut long story short we drove up to collect the keys on Friday. Get to the house to find - there is no electricity meter. It has been ripped out. We rang the utility company who we'd arranged to supply the house and they said they had no knowledge of it and no records, even though there was a huge disconnection sign on the fuse....
After endless calls and emails they finally agreed to send an engineer to fit a new meter - if we paid £270. We had no choice but to pay . Yet engineer who turned up to fit it said that all he does is emergency call outs/ fit meters, and he'd never ever heard of anybody being charged for it. The National Grid who turned up to check it was safe also said exactly the same thing. So should they be charging us for fitting a meter??

[Ryzen]

FF..a new supply would attract a substantial cost to cover trenching/cabling/jointing etc..however in this case they may be trying to recoup some of the lost costs from the previous tenant/owner.I have not come across this before.This is no different to a meter change..which is generally foc.

[-Talbot-]

Gotta love utility companies.
Bought house, no gas, had gas run to house for a small fortune.
About 3 weeks later a letter through the door stating the whole street was to be dug up to supply new plastic gas pipe ... well worth asking for a reimbursement

Not :0/

[Smowball]

I've just spoken to OFGEM who were brilliant. They put me through to Citizens Advice Consumer Service, who opened a case and said I should not have been charged. Also the energy supplier had already written to us with the 'replacement electricity key' for the meter! They will contact them and ask why they've charged us £270 and will have an answer for us within 5 days.

[Ryzen]

I reckon you are due a refund...the network operators dont like disputes with customers through OFGEM.

[Ryzen]

...and demand £100 compensation...

[Smowball]

That would be nice wouldn't it, fingers crossed.

[Ryzen]

Now that you have a complaint registered things may change in your favour.All calls will be recorded.The threat of OFGEM always concentrates their minds.As far as compensation is concerned they can offer up to £100...but they wont tell you that. If you take the complaint to OFGEM you may get more ..or you could get nothing.

[Dodger666]

Smart gas and electricity meters are being fitted in every property in the UK free of charge if you want them. So, no you shouldn't have been charged in my opinion. Meters are generally the property of the utility companies.

[Smowball]

We were told it was a pre payment meter and said we wanted a smart meter but they said the waiting list was 6 weeks so would have to use the electric key till then. But actually there was NO meter at all. I've been Googling the company and their reviews are absolutely dire.

[Smowball]

Oh you've gotta laugh! After reporting to OFGEM, I casually sent said Electricity Supplier a tweet, asking what they charge for emergency work etc etc. They've quite innocently replied saying oh no we don't charge for emergencies or call outs - only if we get to house and nobody is home..... haha thankyou for that tweet!

[Peter Pedant]

well if you are the one that wants the meter
you may well have to pay

the landlord usually pays for damage / repairs to a house after tenants have flown - which seem to be the case for you ....

[zebo]

I don't know if it's relevant in your case, as you now have a new meter, but when we were wanting to change from a pre-paid to ordinary meter we found that different companies had different policies. Scottish Power wanted a lot of money to change it but EDF didn't.

[DaisyNonna]

My gas meter has recently been transferred from my hallway (1st floor flat) 2 storey building to downstairs flat's garden
No discussion, electricity meter remains in hallway
Same supplier for both
Have no intention of reading gas meter not on my rented property in adverse weather