Meter Tampering

[cootchypooch]

A friend of mine had his gas meter read recently and the guy stated it looked as if it has been tampered with. They took the meter away for checking and said it had been confirmed that it had. My friend knows nothing about this and always just paid his bill as normal when they came through. He wouldnt even know what to do with a gas meter never mind tamper with it. The supplier has now issued him with a bill for £5000 and stated unless he paid for the gas used the case will be forwarded to CPS for prosecution. He lives alone and his usage has never been high. Any advice please?????

[davehsug]

How long has your friend lived here? Have his bills always seemed unreasonably low? It's possible a former occupier may have done the tampeing & in my experience, meter tamperers don't usually let the meter man in, so it may not have been discovered until now.

The meter operators are very experienced in this sort of thing & usually the signs of tampering are quite obvious, so I would think it unlikely that they had made a mistake. It's possible the tamper may have been removed before your friend moved in, but the telltale signs are left behind. If your friends consumption is around average for the type of equipment in use, that would indicate that may have been the case.

Hope that helps

[cootchypooch]

Thank you - my friend moved in, in March 2005 and he lives alone so his bills have been average for a single occupancy. He had no problem allowing the gas man in to check the meter as he was none the wiser about this sort of thing and would of reported it in the first place had he of known. I guess the gas supplier should be looking into the previous owners and checking them too.

[meursault22]

Does meter tampering actually go on? I thought is was an urban legend.

In some of the various houses I've lived in, I've had allsorts of bother with the gas. My current house which is currently undergoing long term renovation doesn't have anything that runs on gas. Because no gas was being used they suspected meter tampering, but eventually decided that the meter was faulty and replaced it with one set forward by an estimated amount! I wish I'd disputed this amount, but I just paid it and changed company. After much hassle involving endless estimated bills and changing companies a couple of time, I now don't get bills, and the meter has been removed but it's been a long struggle.

If the bills were all ok and not suspiciously low I don't see how they can make accusations and your friend should formally dispute the bill before it gets any worse.

Does anyone else find it strange that they're claiming that the law has been broken and threatening action by the CPS if a huge amount is not paid. If the law has been broken, surely it should be investigated properly, otherwise it's like saying to a landowner where a body has been found that if he doesn't pay a large but arbitrary sum of money, there will be an investigation.... or like saying to cheating MP's that they have broken the law but if they pay back some of the cash, they won't be prosecuted....

Edited February 5, 2010 by meursault22

[davehsug]

I can assure you meursault that meter tampering is most defnitely NOT an urban legend. It is widespread. The reason you don't hear more about it is that suppliers are very reluctant to prosecute. The reasons are not clear to me, as I believe it would deter others, but for some reason, they seem to believe it is "bad publicity" & also detailed court cases might give ideas to others.