No Gas MPRN, confusing me.

[swinginapig]

Hi all, Sorry if this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move to the correct place if so. So my daughter has recently moved into a new build house and has tried on several occasions to register her Gas Meter with British Gas for them to supply her.

 

They do not have her address on the data base and are asking for a Meter Point Reference Number. This said number is no where to be seen on the actual Meter. Telephoned Transco up to see if they could provide the MPRN, no luck with that either, they say that the supply is probablly has been Transported by an Independant Supplier.

 

My question is how do we find out who the Independant Transporter is.??? as they are the only ones who can supply us with the MPRN. Any ideas folks ??.

Edited September 13, 2013 by citizenB
formatting

[citizenB]

Are there other new builds in the area ? If so, perhaps you could ask if they have the same problem. Or perhaps are you able to contact the builder ?

 

I am sure other caggers will be looking in later on and might be able to advise you.

[swinginapig]

Are there other new builds in the area ? If so, perhaps you could ask if they have the same problem. Or perhaps are you able to contact the builder ?

 

I am sure other caggers will be looking in later on and might be able to advise you.

Yeah there is 5 houses on a small Avenue, they have all managed to register their Gas, there is only 4 of those houses registered on the Data Base, 24, 26, 28 and 32, my daughters is number 30 and does not exist on the Data Base..... So confusing.

[citizenB]

That does indeed seem very strange ?

 

I am assuming the property is registered for Council Tax and the Electoral Roll ?

[swinginapig]

That does indeed seem very strange ?

 

I am assuming the property is registered for Council Tax and the Electoral Roll ?

Yes it is definately registered for Council Tax, she has already received a bill for that, so presuming it will also be registered for the Electoral Roll, another strange thing is, she has managed to register her Electricity with British Gas....but yet they have no knowledge of the property exsisting for Gas purposes lol.

[citizenB]

Have you pointed this out to them. So you are there for the leccy, but not for the Gas.. I wonder if it is a new comedy script !!

[Littlemisswildchild]

I work for an energy supplier, albeit in a different country. Often new builds will be in the meter database system under a lot number as opposed to a street number.... have BG checked fir that? If that fails, I would speak to the builder and get the MPRN from them, hopefully they would have that as I presume they would have been the ones to get the meter in in the first place. I know it sounds odd but if it is the same in the UK as it is in Oz, Gas and Elec are different entities and it comes down to how the meter was registered. BG (or anyone else) won't be able to find the meter in the system if the address the OP's daughter is giving is different to how the meter is registered.

[swinginapig]

I have just spoken to the builders,

no luck they cant help,

all they can supplier me with is the serial number of the meter,

they cant even supplier me with the plot number,

different from the House Number I am guessing,

 

phoned National Grid, they cant help,

they are suggesting the Gas Pipes has been Independently Transported,

so they have no reference,

 

If I could find out who the Independant Transporter is presumably they will be able to supplier the MPRN,

but no one seems to know..

[swinginapig]

Have you pointed this out to them. So you are there for the leccy, but not for the Gas.. I wonder if it is a new comedy script !!

Yes they know this, the Electric Account is coming up on their screen as British Gas being the supplier.

[Littlemisswildchild]

Hmmmm I am not sure what an independent transporter is, we don't use that terms in Oz. That being said, we can search for a meter serial number as well as a MIRN (MPRN in the UK) in our database, I am sure the UK must have the same capability. Could you call BG and ask to speak to a team leader? It seems inconceivable that the UK meter database doesn't allow to search for a serial number, as well as an address and a MPRN. Is the gas actually on?

[Littlemisswildchild]

Yes they know this, the Electric Account is coming up on their screen as British Gas being the supplier.

 

If it is anything like it is in OZ, it is not uncommon that we can find say an elec meter on the elc database but not the gas on the gas database, I've seen elecs registered as one address and gas as a completely different address in a different postcode (say on a suburb border on a corner plot) because of how the meter was registered.

[Littlemisswildchild]

Can you find out who the distributor is? Perhaps that is who the Independent Transporter is. In Oz, the distributor maintains the lines, does the meter reads, sorts out any power failures etc. They are not normally the supplier. Normally they do entire areas (over here, often whole states). They will be able to tell you the MPRN. BG should be able to tell you who it is in the area, just by giving the postcode.

[swinginapig]

Hmmmm I am not sure what an independent transporter is, we don't use that terms in Oz. That being said, we can search for a meter serial number as well as a MIRN (MPRN in the UK) in our database, I am sure the UK must have the same capability. Could you call BG and ask to speak to a team leader? It seems inconceivable that the UK meter database doesn't allow to search for a serial number, as well as an address and a MPRN. Is the gas actually on?

Yes the Gas is on, just had an updated from the builders, apparently builders use Independant Transporters to lay the pipelines on their developments as a cheaper option, rather than using for example Transco which is the National Pipeline layers. As a result of this a company called CPS Energy has laid the pipelines and registered the Plots incorrectly, British Gas have been informed and are working with CPS Energy to sort the matter out between them. No doubt a Bill will be dropping through the letterbox shortly lol..

[swinginapig]

Can you find out who the distributor is? Perhaps that is who the Independent Transporter is. In Oz, the distributor maintains the lines, does the meter reads, sorts out any power failures etc. They are not normally the supplier. Normally they do entire areas (over here, often whole states). They will be able to tell you the MPRN. BG should be able to tell you who it is in the area, just by giving the postcode.

Thats problem we been having since beginning of July, according to BG the postcode exists for Electric but not for Gas, apparently the address dont exist any where on the data base.

[Littlemisswildchild]

I know this is not a solution, but if the gas is on, just use it. Whomever has the supply rights to the property will eventually cotton on, and send a vacant consumption letter, asking them to open an account. If your daughter puts a reasonable amount aside each month for her gas, when she gets a bill, and eventually she will (for us we do it in a matter of 6-8 weeks to the best of my knowledge- I've only worked in the industry 3 months ). she will be able to pay it off. Can you speak to the energy ombudsman? Or your local MP? Someone has screwed up, sorry, I'm not sure where else to direct you, but perhaps one of those two can?

[Surfer01]

The supplier is allowed to estimate the consumption and the bill could be over or under the true amount however no one will ever know the true amount consumption unless the meter was zero when installed.

 

However the good news is that if it is disputed, invariably it is dropped by the actual supplier as they can prove nothing!

 

It could take forever before a supplier realises they are supplying a property for which they have no details.

 

We have had several cases where it has only come to light because of a change of tenancy or the metering has gone faulty and the meter has been in place for many years.

 

There is a central database that can be accessed by suppliers and some agents, but if the metering has never been registered with them you will get nowhere.

 

One way around it is to do a switch to another supplier and let them do all the donkey work for you.

That is what we did and I worked in the industry.

[swinginapig]

She hasnt got a supplier, that it what she is trying to do register with British Gas, all she has got is a pipeline to the property with gas coming out of it, this is the problem we have got, we cant get hold of a MPRN so unable to register with anyone, the meter was on Zero when it was installed as it is a brand new build.

[Surfer01]

BGAS wasn't perhaps the best choice to resolve the issue. BGAS should be arranging to send a meter operator around to do a check, but the form that is generated requires a MPRN otherwise the system will not process the request. We used to contact the meter operator and do the request off line. It is a simple thing for BGAS to do but as you are not registered with them they have a reluctance as they have to pay for MOP visit and you may change your mind about staying with BGAS.

It took us about 3 months to get the MPRN onto a system as it did not exist as it had been fitted by an independent distribution company. Remember that at the time I worked in the industry for a supplier. Even after we were registered with Ebico Npower billed us for metering that belong to a neighbour down the road. At no time was the meter ever registered to Npower.

I suggest that instead of using BGAS try Ebico who is a smaller supplier and probably will make the effort to get the MPRN registered.

[swinginapig]

Yeah it sounds as if the same problem has happened with my daughter, an Independant Distribution Company called CPS Energy, a Texan Company, they have a UK address in Scarborough North Yorkshire, I have found that out at least from the Builders.

Edited February 10, 2019 by dx100uk

[Protester33]

I would speak to the builders to get

contact details for CPS Energy and call them. They should provide you with the details otherwise you can seek advice from OFGEM.