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What a day. It should have been Friday 13th.

(13 Posts)
Coolgran65 Fri 05-Feb-16 00:52:01

Our energy provider visited today to finish off a new meter box fitted by a sub contractor in October 2015. Engineers discovered that the cabling for the electric shower did not go through the meter box!! I imagine this occurred when the electrician wired our first electric shower some 20+ years ago.
Anyhow, we have been receiving unpaid for energy.
Engineers today fitted a temporary meter for prepayment... quote.. until any underpayment was sorted. Engineers took photos as evidence.
We knew nothing of this. £161 to be billed to us which is 8 units for a daily shower x 107 days since the sub contractor looked at it and didn't pick up on it. In reality the usage goes back a very long, dh feared £thousands.
They say we must remain on prepayment meter because of the offence. . I asked for Manager to get us back to ordinary meter once paid. Can't do this, we have offended, so prepayment meter stands. Dh is very upset in a quiet way and has a headache.

Power came back on.and Internet was not connected. Hours spent on this, spent hours o the phone with broadband and now told it will be 7 days for line check and repair.

Just to round it up...... the porch roof is leaking. confused

Coolgran65 Fri 05-Feb-16 01:01:14

Line check/repair will cost £129 if it is any of our equipment. Ds has checked our equipment and confirm it is ok.

Regarding energy provider we are upset that we were put into this position by an electrician who has not done the job properly and that it is possible that suspicion could Fall on us !!

cornergran Fri 05-Feb-16 03:26:57

If I've understood your situation correctly I don't see how you could possibly have known. Hopefully another Gran will be able to offer informed advice. My only thoughts are the CAB or the Regulator and to check if you have access to an advice line perhaps through your house insurance. It must be both worrying and hurtful. Hope there can be a fair conclusion soon.

Nelliemoser Fri 05-Feb-16 07:16:03

Coolgran65 That is a dreadful mess. Could you try to find who put in the shower wiring in the first place? Although it's a long time ago now. Try the CAB for advice.

ninathenana Fri 05-Feb-16 07:26:08

Oh dear, nothing to add to what's been said.
I do hope you can sort out this worrying situation. Frustrating when you know you are innocent.

Anya Fri 05-Feb-16 07:31:55

Coolgran sorry to hear all this. Try not to stress too much, it won't help. Can you do something today to cheer yourselves up and try to put this behind you? (((Hugs)))

Lapwing Fri 05-Feb-16 08:45:49

Coolgran I know from previous posts that like me you live in Co Down. I would suggest that you contact the Consumer Council as they are the first port of call for problems with utility companies. If they cannot help they may suggest contacting the Utility Regulator.

Sorry but I cannot manage to do links on my Kindle but hope that this helps.

Anya Fri 05-Feb-16 18:05:19

Having 'one of those days' myself.

Ordered three new roller blinds from Dunelm,,they were delivered and when we opened them 3 were damaged. So that means an hour drive to replace them.

DH has been waiting, by himself, in an unfurnished, unheated house waiting for a delivery from Benson's for Beds, supposed to be delivered between 12.00-6.00 pm - nothing arrived yet.

Electrician came to fix new TV to wall and we'd been supplied with wrong wall fittings.

Grrrrr.......

Coolgran65 Fri 05-Feb-16 18:15:08

Lapwing yes I'm in N.I.
We are fortunate that the energy provider is only backdating the shortfall in payment back to October 2015. And indeed we do owe it as we were the beneficiary of the energy.

We await to hear from the provider if they will consider reinstalling a normal meter as opposed to the prepayment system.... for goodness sake, we pay by DD and are in credit by about £80. The unit rate charged is the same.

I think what is upsetting is the connotation that we have a prepayment meter because we are not trustworthy.

Dh will not be bothered going to the like of CAB because we used the energy, so we owe the money. (More than they've asked for).

As for the electrician who did the work dh reckons it was about 30 years ago.

On a happier note regarding our internet problem it was reported to BT last night at 10pm. BT engineer arrived today at 11am, has been here all day trying to track the fault in the line, can't pinpoint it so tomorrow he's back with a colleague at 8 am to bring in a new line on an overhead wire......the alternative being to dig up the road.
Can't complain about BT service.

merlotgran Fri 05-Feb-16 18:22:07

Why oh why is everything so complicated these days? I suppose the only positive point for you, Coolgran is that at least they have fitted a pre-payment meter. In the bad old days you would have been cut off!!

We had a similar experience twenty years ago when we had some storage heaters installed. It was discovered a year later that the electrician had not connected them up to economy 7 so we were paying full price for the dratted things - only we weren't because our direct debit had not been set high enough to cover the amount.

It cost us over £1,000 to put things straight and when we tried to contact the electrician we were told he'd died of a heart attack!!

Anya I had to send back a Dunelm blind as well because the bar at the bottom was snapped in half.

Hope you are making progress with your refurbishment. I'm so glad it's behind us now because maybe it's an age thing but I found the whole moving in thing absolute hell on earth.

Anya Fri 05-Feb-16 22:55:33

Ain't it a nightmare Merlot - this is on top of my new chest of drawers winging its way back to Denmark and the pulley I ordered disappearing into some black hole.

Can't wait to see what excuse our builder trots out for not finishing the kitchen floor or plumbing in the water tomorrow.

merlotgran Fri 05-Feb-16 22:58:24

I feel your pain grin

Jalima Fri 05-Feb-16 23:10:43

Oh dear, hope they will sort this out quickly for you.

How will they know exactly what you have used Coolgran? We had a faulty meter years ago, we had no idea it was faulty, just that our bills were high, then the Electricity Board contacted us to say that the bill for the latest quarter was in thousands! When they changed the meter the old one was still whizzing round after being disconnected.
So we came to a compromise on what they estimated we had used but we still think we were diddled and didn't get refunded what we were owed. So they could be overcharging you for what was a genuine mistake.