£10,000 domestic electricity bill!

[RaRa]

We're in the middle of sorting out a similar problem - two weeks ago we got a combined gas and electricity bill for over £1.5k. After picking myself up off the floor I contacted British Gas & asked they could possibly think this was valid for people who have a normal average bill of under 100 quid and was told they don't do any pre checking of amounts. I now have to prove something has gone wrong and that we don't really have a pot farm in the attic!

 

[oldfatfool]

What I want to know is this ... How is it in 2012, that somebody specifies a system so poor that it doesn't flag up a problem like that, and what self-respecting programmer would blindly implement it without insisting that some sensible range-checking be included?

The same system that sends out electric bills addressed to lamp posts, and road signs, or maybe the system that sends a water bill to a horse trough perhaps?

 

[Globalti]

I used to live in a flat in Wolverhampton where the meter used to reach the end of the credit, the lights would flicker and the needle would start out on a fresh circuit of the little clock. I, er, only allowed it to do that a couple of times naturally.

 

[ColinJ]

I used to live in a flat in Wolverhampton where the meter used to reach the end of the credit, the lights would flicker and the needle would start out on a fresh circuit of the little clock. I, er, only allowed it to do that a couple of times naturally.

Many years ago, I used to know someone who smoked rather too many spliffs. His habit cost him a lot of money, so he used to fiddle his meters to cut down his bills. He had drilled a hole through the front of one meter panel and used to insert a matchstick to jam the mechanism. The idea was to take the match out a few days before the man was due to call round to read the meter. One time, he forgot and was rather the worse for wear when there was a knock at the door ...

Stoned guy: Huh, well, er, who is it?

Meter man: Meter man - I've come to read your meter.

Stoned guy: Huh, well, er, okay. (Opens door.)

Meter man: Is it over there in the corner?

Stoned guy: Huh, well, er, yeah. (Waves limp hand in direction of the corner.)

Meter man (staring at matchstick jamming the meter): Hello, hello, hello, and what do we have here!

Stoned guy (in best Neil-from-Young-Ones voice): Huh, well, er, oh - heavy man!

 

[Arch]

We once ended up looking after two pianos for different friends, in a student house, after they couldn't get them into their own student houses. My friend had them both in his downstairs bedroom, and more or less used them to store his socks on top of.

The meter man came round one time, and to reach the meter it was necessary to clamber between the pianos. As he took down the numbers, he asked "So, how many of you play the piano then?"

"Oh, none of us!"

He left rapidly!

 

[TVC]

I had a screwed up bill a couple of years ago. Normally my electricity was about £80 a quarter, but following a reading I got a bill for around £2500. A quick check of the meter showed that the reader had just transposed two digits when recording (eg 19355 instead of 13955) I called E.on and had it corrected, but I did question why they had no monitoring system to flag a bill that did not fit a normal pattern - after all they tend to get my estimated bills pretty close. The response - no need, customers contact us if there is a problem. Tail wagging dog I think.

 

[Brains]

For many years we lived in a house with a garage on the side. The house had a leki meter and there was a separate coin meter for the garage.

The coin meter ran on six pence pieces we had to buy a stock of them from a coin dealer and ever time we had used them all up my dad would open up the meter to recycle the coins.

We ran the freezer and washing machine all year around, and during one cold winter my dad ran extension cables into the garage so we could have one of those oil filled electric heaters in every room running day and night free of charge.

The house and garage are still there, I'm sure the current owners are still recycling the six pence pieces

 

[Night Train]

When I moved into my house there were four electricity meters for the four flats here and one landlords meter.
I requested them all disconnected and a single meter, in my name, put in. The old meters were taken off the wall but not taken away.

I kept on getting estimated meter readings for the five old meters and I kept on telling the company that the meters were 'dead' and explaining the situation.
In the end they said they would send the team around to disconnect the meters. So I told them that they were welcome to and I would make it easy for them by leaving them on the door step.
The disconnection chap came around along with an official to arrange payment. I handed them a cardboard box full of meters and asked them to compare the readings with the last paid bill to prove it tallied. Then showed them the new meter and installation.
Never heard from them after that and I then changed my supplier.

Converting the four water bills to one for the house was even more complex and tortuous, as was the council tax. Don't even mention the many years it took to get a gas connection!

 

[Arch]

Don't even mention the many years it took to get a gas connection!

So, how many years did it take to get a gas connection?

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

As a former programmer I spend more time asking the writers of my company's production software to fix bugs than anything else.
Programming may attract the big money these days, but it doesn't attract people that think about what they are doing, or understand what the software does in the real world. But what the hell, they've got the required degree, so they must be the best people for the job!

 

[slowmotion]

Couple of summers ago there was a bust in the unit next to where I work- four cop cars and a couple of vans etc... apparently a guy (the caretaker, I suppose) jumped through the front window to escape. Once the cops had finished thier investigation they let us have a look around- quite impressive, I suppose. loads of ducting, plastic sheeting, and timber. The caretaker had a little room to one side with a bed, a telly, a fridge and a cooker. Desperate way to live.

Anyroad up, I got loads and loads of decent high quality compost for the allotment.

FTFY.

 

[subaqua]

When I moved into my house there were four electricity meters for the four flats here and one landlords meter.
I requested them all disconnected and a single meter, in my name, put in. The old meters were taken off the wall but not taken away.

I kept on getting estimated meter readings for the five old meters and I kept on telling the company that the meters were 'dead' and explaining the situation.
In the end they said they would send the team around to disconnect the meters. So I told them that they were welcome to and I would make it easy for them by leaving them on the door step.
The disconnection chap came around along with an official to arrange payment. I handed them a cardboard box full of meters and asked them to compare the readings with the last paid bill to prove it tallied. Then showed them the new meter and installation.
Never heard from them after that and I then changed my supplier.

Converting the four water bills to one for the house was even more complex and tortuous, as was the council tax. Don't even mention the many years it took to get a gas connection!

thats the problem with separate DNOs and supply companies ( meter operators). nobody wants to take responsibility for anything. we have had problems in the past with the DNO wanting one intake set up and the meter operator wanting another that each contraindicated the others connection stipulations( the same company but different section but thats french electricity companies for you) we finally got both metering and distribution together on site and asked them to show us how to meet both requirements.

SWALEC gas were the worst .they screwed up the change of suppliers by getting the meter reading wrong and i ended up with a gas bill for £1k and unable to prove as the meter had been "destroyed" . EDF tried that trick when they did a gas meter change and got 2 digits the wrong way round. I had been sensible that time and had taken digital pics and printed and got the reader to sign the picture. we got the apology and a large credit.

 

[fossyant]

We had a faulty gas meter a few years back. Would count upwards with the gas turned off All sorted out though !