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??

[fiction-factory]

Did the house have any electricity before the new meter was fitted?

[Smowball]

It had electricity until , shall we say an illegal activity in house was discovered, (I knew NOTHING about it) and police ordered the supply to be cut off. Have no idea who removed the meter but it was there in April.

[tonyav]

All those lights and hydroponics use a lot of electricity, Smow ;-)

[Smowball]

Lol think it's pretty clear what the house has been used for! My question is that should we have paid for a meter to be put in when it wasn't us who asked for it to be removed?

[tonyav]

No I don't think that you should have, Smow.

[fiction-factory]

I think probably, yes- you bought a house that wasn't supplied with electricity.

[Toorak]

I suspect that because the meter had already been removed when you bought the property you are considered liable for the cost of re-installation :-(

[Smowball]

I spent hours and hours on the phone with a young lad who just kept repeating the same answer and wouldn't not let me speak to a manager. He refused to send an engineer to fit a meter until I'd paid £270 by card over the phone. But every engineer that turned up (there were 5 in total over the day) said they'd never heard of that!

[KARL]

Why not check with Citizens Advice Bureau and/or the relevant Ombudsman for comments ?

[Smowball]

Yes I could try that. Was just hoping that someone on here had a bit of knowledge about this.

[DSJ]

Try the problem column in the Money section of either the Sunday Times or Sunday Telegraph.

Both are brilliant in solving just such problems.

[Smowball]

Can I do that online??

[DSJ]

Not sure.

[Old_Geezer]

No idea the legal position, but I'd have thought it was in their interest to be the company supplying the utility and would have been prepared to cover the cost.

Does this mean that if you switch supplier there is an up front cost for a meter replacement ?

[goodgoalie]

Smow, try the 'Troubleshooter' column in the Saturday Times (and there are similar pages in other papers)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/submit-your-problems-here-62pxxnbb7ss:

[goodgoalie]

Sorry, here's the proper link
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/submit-your-problems-here-62pxxnbb7ss

[DaisyNonna]

My electricity meter is in my hallway(first floor flat)where my gas meter used to be
The gas meter (without my knowledge) has now been relocated into the garden of the downstairs flat
B-gg-red if I can be bothered to go out with pencil and paper in the (usual) rain to read it having trespassed
Gas and electricity both supplied by British Gas and I have regularly read both meters and sent readings to BG for years
No more
Fancy their claiming to offer a service

[Ryzen]

The previous person responsible for disconnection would have to pay,however as a new customer you should not. Speak to someone at OFGEM

[fiction-factory]

>Does this mean that if you switch supplier there is an up front cost for a meter replacement ?

No, if you have a meter and switch suppliers, the old meter normally continues to be used

As to who should pay in this case, you could argue the costs of installing/replacing metters is part of the standing charge though. But I think if you buy a house with no electricity supply meter you would be expected to pay. If I bought some land and built a house on it I'd expect to have to pay to gei it connected to mains supply and have a meter fitted

[Smowball]

No it is th same supplier as the previous tenant.