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'Smart' Meters (again)

Grumpy Old Lemons Like You
wheypat
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'Smart' Meters (again)

#165444

Postby wheypat » September 10th, 2018, 9:46 am

So over the summer I switched the student house from nPower to bulb as (1) it's cheaper and (2) it's better for the environment. Over the winter a smart meter had been fitted. On the day of the switch I read the meters and supplied the readings to bulb, who passed them to nPower. The gas reading was 403 m3.

nPower, you know, the ones that get the smart readings rejected this and upped it to 477!! Which means that now the students have moved in I've completed the form to hand over the power to them and . . they have rejected the current reading on 407 m3. After a quick call and an email with a screen shot they've accepted my reading,

So, nPower, you rejected your own smart meter reading and instead have ripped off the small supplier which means bulb are out of pocket to the tune of 74 cubic meters of gas. Sods. At least I'm not out of pocket

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#165719

Postby melonfool » September 11th, 2018, 6:34 pm

My meter reading I gave to Bulb for my gas was rejected by some intermediary. Bulb said all readings go to whoever this intermediary is and sometimes they override it, make it something else, and no-one can say anything different.

Never heard this before - at least it was only me changing provider, no change of owner.

I was leaving Scottish Power, having made an Ombudsman complaint, where I have been awarded £60 compensation (plus an apology :roll: ) and I am STILL waiting for SP to send me the closing statements nearly over weeks after the ruling. SP refused to accept my opening readings when I moved, then used estimated readings when I left, even when I eventually got Bulb to confirm they had sent the readings SP still used estimates - I now have no idea what they have used because, while they have sent me an email telling me I can log into my 'account' to access the bills, I can't because I have left and they have closed my account.

At the moment they say they owe me £74 (plus the £60) but I have no idea if this is right as I've never yet seen a bill with a correct reading on it. Even when they replaced my meter they rejected 000 reading, despite it OBVIOUSLY being that as it was a brand new meter. They never amended their software to allow me to input the readings for the new meter so all readings were estimates, they didn't even accept the readings from the people who installed the new meter or the meter reader who came soon after.

The whole system is totally useless.

Mel

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#165763

Postby UncleEbenezer » September 11th, 2018, 11:10 pm

melonfool wrote:The whole system is totally useless.

Mel

I should say your story points to uselessness in Scottish Power, but rather the opposite in the system as a whole. How was the Ombudsman useless?

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#165772

Postby scotia » September 12th, 2018, 12:21 am

melonfool wrote:The whole system is totally useless.
Mel

Agreed.

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#165903

Postby wheypat » September 12th, 2018, 2:50 pm

SG are useless. I've had a final demand (£61), a random request(£38) and a chqeue (£138) from them in the last 3 weeks all covering periods before I moved in. And I've been in for over a year.

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#165919

Postby melonfool » September 12th, 2018, 3:41 pm

I did a great long reply to UE last night on the phone, which then disappeared when I pressed submit and no amount of back/history etc would restore it.

It was, however, therapeutic.

You'll just have to believe me that none of SP, Bulb or the Ombudsman come out of this well. SP are the worst, but the ombudsman is a close second and Bulb have been only slightly hopeless.

Mel

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#166342

Postby ayshfm1 » September 14th, 2018, 2:48 pm

The meter reading system when changing suppliers is a bit entertaining.

I switched from First Utility to I think nPower (several supplier switches ago :D ) I did all the reading sent them off and didn't think much more of it. First Utility queried the closing balances and rang them up and they told me to ring nPower. Which I did. Their response was interesting.


Me: First Utility say the close balances are wrong
Them: What is it?
Me: what the number was
Them: keyboard crashing in the background
Them: we agreed this number with First Utility
Me: They say it's wrong
Them: doesn't matter it's agreed
Them: ring them back and tell them the number is agreed and they are not allowed to query it now.

So I ring FU (love that!)

Eventually

Them: Closing balance is wrong
Me: I rang nPower they told me it's agreed and you are not allowed to query it.
Them: OK

Just like that. Never seen anything like it.

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#166361

Postby fisher » September 14th, 2018, 3:35 pm

melonfool wrote:I did a great long reply to UE last night on the phone, which then disappeared when I pressed submit and no amount of back/history etc would restore it.
Mel


Easy to say this now, but having had similar happen to me once long ago I have for a long time copied and pasted each reply (or other website submission) into my email and send it to myself before pressing submit. It gives me a backup in circumstances such as you described and it also gives me a record of what I sent.

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#166390

Postby melonfool » September 14th, 2018, 4:49 pm

fisher wrote:
melonfool wrote:I did a great long reply to UE last night on the phone, which then disappeared when I pressed submit and no amount of back/history etc would restore it.
Mel


Easy to say this now, but having had similar happen to me once long ago I have for a long time copied and pasted each reply (or other website submission) into my email and send it to myself before pressing submit. It gives me a backup in circumstances such as you described and it also gives me a record of what I sent.



I was in bed, on the phone, it wasn't important, there was no way I would go to all that faff.

Mel

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Re: 'Smart' Meters (again)

#166457

Postby UncleEbenezer » September 14th, 2018, 8:48 pm

fisher wrote:Easy to say this now, but having had similar happen to me once long ago I have for a long time copied and pasted each reply (or other website submission) into my email and send it to myself before pressing submit. It gives me a backup in circumstances such as you described and it also gives me a record of what I sent.

No need to go that far. Just copy it into your edit buffer, and then paste it back in if it vanishes.

I don't even do that on Lemonfool, 'cos here the back button gets me back to what I wrote if submit blows up. And because what I post here is rarely if ever so important as to worry about.

But then, I don't try to do this on a phone. I want a real keyboard! And those who gave us phones with decent keyboards are now dead: I sadly couldn't replace my much-lamented Nokia E71 when it drowned.


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