I work as a meter reader for Southern and cover the majority of Norfolk (exluding the Kings Lynn/Fens area and the south west of the county) and some of North Suffolk.

I would urge all people that live in the Eastern area and are supplied by Southern (or Atlantic, Marks & Spencer, or Ebico) and have a day and night meter to check whether their readings are billed the wrong way round or not. Please note the Eastern area covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, a small part of Buckinghamshire (I believe) and much of North (and North West) London.

The problem stems as follows:

Traditionally in the Eastern area rate 2 is the day rate and rate 1 is the night rate. (some day and night meters display only rate 1 and 2 on the digital display, rather than quoting normal and low). Now, Southern (being originally based in the South of England and parts of Scotland) traditionally do things the other way round: they term rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate.

If your day and night meter was fitted by Siemens (or some other contractor they have used) then rate 2 will be the day rate and rate 1 the night rate. There should be a card placed behind the meter if this is the case.

However, Southern started changing their own meters in the Eastern area at some point during 2010 (I don't know when exactly unfortunately). If your day and night meter was changed (or you moved from a single rate meter to a day and night meter) during 2010 or 2011 I would urge you all to check your bills. This is because Southern use rate 1 as being the day rate and rate 2 as being the night rate in the Eastern area.

If Southern have changed the meter, there should be a sticker placed on the meter board (ie: the wooden board on which the meter is attached), rather than a card placed behind the meter. THIS MEANS THAT RATE 1 IS THE DAY AND RATE 2 IS THE NIGHT.

Unfortunately, meter readers are not informed of the past readings on our handheld machines so unless we see the meter in front of our eyes (and even then this is not failproof) we cannot be sure which is the day and which is the night rate. If you leave a card out for the meter reader, you need to know which is the day and which is the night rate - otherwise you run the risk of being grossly over (or under) charged. Please bear the above in mind.

I anticipate that a lot of Southern customers that are on the day and night tariff, and live in the Eastern metering area, will encounter problems with their bills in future. They are quite likely to have their readings transposed.

This may also apply to other areas of the country too. However, I believe most other areas class rate 1 as the day rate ands rate 2 as tge night rate. Unfortunately, the Eastern area traditiionally does it the other way round. Norfolk has a saying of "we do things different". Well, it doesn't really help here!

In conclusion, what rate 1 and 2 stand for on your meter will be detrmined by who has fitted the meter. Please be aware of this and prevent future problems!

Site moderators - would it be possible to put this post on as a sticky on the site? I think this would be very useful!

Thanks for this. Are you using your real name? I don't think that the companies would be too pleased about this - even if it is true

Also, amzingly, I am sure that we had someone complaining exactly about this problam a few days ago.

Also, amzingly, I am sure that we had someone complaining exactly about this problam a few days ago.

BF, is this the one you are thinking of.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?304165-Transposed-E7-meter-readings

Have popped a link to this revalation on the above thread

Yes, it is my real name. There are only four other meter readers employed by Southern covering the same geographical area as me.

I was thinking that the thread would be useful to Southern as well as myself (I have brought it up to my manager at work) as it will mean hopefully that some customers are able to understand why they may be getting excessively high bills at an at an early stage - thus making it easier for Southern to resolve the issue when the customer contacts them.

I've sent you a pm and also an email

Reading this posting about Atlantic faulty billing reminded me of a slightly different experience regarding the actual (faulty) computation of the figurework on their bills when there was no confusion about the actual meter reading or number of units used.

Please see my separate post below headed "Atlantic gas & electric possible faulty billings software (not re night & day)"

I had this problem with EON. Some years ago, they decided that the meters were the wrong way round and switched them over without doing a physical check. Then two years ago (2009) they swapped the meters back AND back billed me for the whole period (not allowed by their code of practice). While checking the meters I noticed that meters were very old (certified March 1986) and hence probably being used well past their legal life (typically 10 years)

I complained to the Energy Ombudsman pointing out that I felt that when meters are transposed this should not be done without a physical check and that I was concerned that the meters were being used past their certified life.

Re the transposition with out a physical check, the Energy Ombudsman felt that EON "could do this".

Re the age of the meters, initially I was told that EON's records showed that the meters were replaced May 1998. When I challenged this the replacement date changed to August 1997. But again I had irrefutable evidence that the meters were not replaced then.

I have given up on getting the Energy Ombudsman to do anything.

Jeremy, this is interesting. Whos is the energy ombudsman? I haven't heard of this before

They are supposed to resolve complaints from consumers about the energy companies. But is funded by the energy utilities. They relaunched in April this year but based on my experience they have a lot of work to do.

Ta

Have you got a link to their website please

Ta

Have you got a link to their website please

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html

That's the closest I've found.

They are using the 'new' 03 numbers, but are in the UK:

Ombudsman Services: Energy

PO Box 966

Warrington

WA4 9DF