We all know the difference between night and day but it seems some people who deal with the readings of a certain type of electricity meter are getting confused. The meter is an Economy 7 meter. Over 6 million homes in the UK have one. They all display two different rates, one for the electricity that you use during the day and a cheaper one for the night. However, if these meters are read the wrong way round you could end up being overcharged by hundreds of pounds.
Most energy companies offer Economy 7 and they're supposed to save you money, provided that you use most of your electricity during the night. Pene Macadam is on an Economy 7 tariff, and to make the most of the cheap night-time rates, she gets up at 5am to do her chores.
In 2006 Pene switched her supplier to British Gas and her bills suddenly shot up. The tariff that used to save her money was suddenly costing more. Pene quickly realised what had gone wrong, British Gas had mixed up the day and night readings, so it looked as if she was using all her power during the day. This meant that it was charging her the more expensive rate at night. Pene thought that as she had spotted the mistake it would be easy to put right. However, Pene told us: "It all started in 2006, and went on for two and a half years. It was so simple, because you could see exactly what was going on."
The readings were muddled up
Eventually, after going to British Gas's parent company Centrica she got both companies to agree that the readings had been muddled up and her bills were corrected. Pene was offered a goodwill gesture of £2.
Customers aren't the only ones who have spoken to us about this. A meter reader contacted us because he's concerned that his colleagues are mixing their figures up and their mistakes are affecting quite a few of you, whoever you get your electricity from.
Last year Watchdog helped get this exact problem sorted out for Bernard Jones. Bernard appeared on Watchdog last May after Npower had confused the night and day readings on his Economy 7 meter. He too was being charged too much. In fact his bills went up so high that he refused to pay them and he was threatened with a debt collection agency. After Watchdog contacted Npower on his behalf, the bills were corrected. Bernard did not expect the problem to happen again.
But in October an extraordinary bill turned up for over for £12,000. Bernard said: "At first you say £1,200, that's pretty heavy, but when I read it again I say wait a minute, am I mad or something, it's £12,000."
Still nervous
The family again suspected that the day and night readings had again been muddled up and were the reason behind the huge bill. Npower soon realised it had repeated its mistake, and sent out an amended bill for just under £200. Bernard is still nervous about getting his bills from Npower in case they make another mistake. So, the family will be phoning in their own meter readings in future.
British Gas told Watchdog: "The problem with Ms Macadam's account was resolved in June 2008. Ms Macadam's meter was working properly and our meter readers took accurate readings, but due to a computer error the two figures were mixed up while being processed through into our own billing system. When Ms Macadam contacted us to provide her own readings we were able to correct the data on our billing system and to send Ms Macadam an amended bill. Clearly, we are very sorry for the inconvenience and frustration this has caused. It was our mistake not to have corrected the error at an earlier stage. We read Ms Macadam's meter in August and November 2008 and all readings were fed into our system correctly and there have been no further problems."
Npower comments: "We do not believe there is a significant problem with dual rate meters as a whole but for anyone affected, it can be very frustrating. We would like to apologise to the Jones family for the mix up in their meter readings."
Clerical error
Watchdog also spoke to Consumer Focus who says: "Unfortunately this type of scenario is not uncommon - it's basically a clerical error on the part of the supplier. The real problem arises when this type of mix-up goes unnoticed for a long period of time and the consumer gets landed with a large 'catch-up' bill.
"If consumers with dual-rate electricity meters suspect that there is something wrong with their account they should get in touch with their supplier as soon as possible and supply a meter reading. The supplier will then be able to carry out an investigation and ensure that the consumer's usage is being billed on the correct rates."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/01/economy_7_meters_in_a_muddle.html
Most energy companies offer Economy 7 and they're supposed to save you money, provided that you use most of your electricity during the night. Pene Macadam is on an Economy 7 tariff, and to make the most of the cheap night-time rates, she gets up at 5am to do her chores.
In 2006 Pene switched her supplier to British Gas and her bills suddenly shot up. The tariff that used to save her money was suddenly costing more. Pene quickly realised what had gone wrong, British Gas had mixed up the day and night readings, so it looked as if she was using all her power during the day. This meant that it was charging her the more expensive rate at night. Pene thought that as she had spotted the mistake it would be easy to put right. However, Pene told us: "It all started in 2006, and went on for two and a half years. It was so simple, because you could see exactly what was going on."
The readings were muddled up
Eventually, after going to British Gas's parent company Centrica she got both companies to agree that the readings had been muddled up and her bills were corrected. Pene was offered a goodwill gesture of £2.
Customers aren't the only ones who have spoken to us about this. A meter reader contacted us because he's concerned that his colleagues are mixing their figures up and their mistakes are affecting quite a few of you, whoever you get your electricity from.
Last year Watchdog helped get this exact problem sorted out for Bernard Jones. Bernard appeared on Watchdog last May after Npower had confused the night and day readings on his Economy 7 meter. He too was being charged too much. In fact his bills went up so high that he refused to pay them and he was threatened with a debt collection agency. After Watchdog contacted Npower on his behalf, the bills were corrected. Bernard did not expect the problem to happen again.
But in October an extraordinary bill turned up for over for £12,000. Bernard said: "At first you say £1,200, that's pretty heavy, but when I read it again I say wait a minute, am I mad or something, it's £12,000."
Still nervous
The family again suspected that the day and night readings had again been muddled up and were the reason behind the huge bill. Npower soon realised it had repeated its mistake, and sent out an amended bill for just under £200. Bernard is still nervous about getting his bills from Npower in case they make another mistake. So, the family will be phoning in their own meter readings in future.
British Gas told Watchdog: "The problem with Ms Macadam's account was resolved in June 2008. Ms Macadam's meter was working properly and our meter readers took accurate readings, but due to a computer error the two figures were mixed up while being processed through into our own billing system. When Ms Macadam contacted us to provide her own readings we were able to correct the data on our billing system and to send Ms Macadam an amended bill. Clearly, we are very sorry for the inconvenience and frustration this has caused. It was our mistake not to have corrected the error at an earlier stage. We read Ms Macadam's meter in August and November 2008 and all readings were fed into our system correctly and there have been no further problems."
Npower comments: "We do not believe there is a significant problem with dual rate meters as a whole but for anyone affected, it can be very frustrating. We would like to apologise to the Jones family for the mix up in their meter readings."
Clerical error
Watchdog also spoke to Consumer Focus who says: "Unfortunately this type of scenario is not uncommon - it's basically a clerical error on the part of the supplier. The real problem arises when this type of mix-up goes unnoticed for a long period of time and the consumer gets landed with a large 'catch-up' bill.
"If consumers with dual-rate electricity meters suspect that there is something wrong with their account they should get in touch with their supplier as soon as possible and supply a meter reading. The supplier will then be able to carry out an investigation and ensure that the consumer's usage is being billed on the correct rates."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/01/economy_7_meters_in_a_muddle.html