16 year old son got phone call at home asking for the electricity meter
reading. He gave them the a reading on the high level meter meter by the
front door but actually thought it was the gas meter. He also didn't realise
there is a day and night reading.

Well later that evening NPower phoned back saying the reading was less than
last time. What did they expect from a teenager. They asked if I could read
it but pointed out I was in the middle of something and couldn't so it was
left at that.

Now considering what we have to pay for power why can't they employ meter
readers or should I point out that I need a working at height licence, risk
assessment, method statement, need the step ladder checked and need
insurance? Or they could have not have fitted the meter so damn high up.

Kevin

On Oct 18, 10:13*pm, "Kevin" wrote:
16 year old son got phone call at home asking for the electricity meter
reading. He gave them the a reading on the high level meter meter by the
front door but actually thought it was the gas meter. He also didn't realise
there is a day and night reading.

Well later that evening NPower phoned back saying the reading was less than
last time. What did they expect from a teenager. They asked if I could read
it but pointed out I was in the middle of something and couldn't so it was
left at that.

Now considering what we have to pay for power why can't they employ meter
readers or should I point out that I need a working at height licence, risk
assessment, method statement, need the step ladder checked and need
insurance? Or they could have not have fitted the meter so damn high up.

Kevin

Self reading is usually voluntary, so the call sounds a bit fishy to
me.
You should get yourself an on-line account.
You receive an email reminder, then you enter the readings on line &
them get another email asking for the dosh.
You can pay by whatever means suits you.
There is a discount for doing it this way.

On 19/10/2012 07:34, harry wrote:
On Oct 18, 10:13 pm, "Kevin" wrote:
16 year old son got phone call at home asking for the electricity meter
reading. He gave them the a reading on the high level meter meter by the
front door but actually thought it was the gas meter. He also didn't realise
there is a day and night reading.

Well later that evening NPower phoned back saying the reading was less than
last time. What did they expect from a teenager. They asked if I could read
it but pointed out I was in the middle of something and couldn't so it was
left at that.

Now considering what we have to pay for power why can't they employ meter
readers or should I point out that I need a working at height licence, risk
assessment, method statement, need the step ladder checked and need
insurance? Or they could have not have fitted the meter so damn high up.

Kevin

Self reading is usually voluntary, so the call sounds a bit fishy to
me.
You should get yourself an on-line account.
You receive an email reminder, then you enter the readings on line &
them get another email asking for the dosh.
You can pay by whatever means suits you.
There is a discount for doing it this way.

When we moved into this property 10+ years ago we had gas installed, at
the same time the electric meter moved from inside the house to outside.
Every meter reading they knocked on the door to ask to read the electric
meter. This went on for 10 years, despite calls the the electric people
and conversations with the readers. Eventually I resolved it by sticking
a large notice on the gas meter box letting them know where the electric
meter was. The annoying thing was we paid an arm and a leg to get the
meter moved in the first place!

On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:13:16 +0100, Kevin wrote:

16 year old son got phone call at home asking for the electricity meter
reading. He gave them the a reading on the high level meter meter ...

Sounds very suspicious to me. Keep a close on on your bills over the next
6 months and make sure you haven't been switched to a different tariff or
supplier.

Meantime educate 16 year old into, never, ever, giving out any
information to *any* cold caller.

Well later that evening NPower phoned back saying the reading was less
than last time.

Or some body *saying* they were NPower. Looks like you need the same
lesson as your 16 year old. B-)

Now considering what we have to pay for power why can't they employ
meter readers ...

They do, in fact I think they have a legal obligation to read the meter
every 6 months (might be 12) and if they fail because you are out or what
ever they more or less have to camp outside to make the reading.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 18/10/2012 22:13, Kevin wrote:
16 year old son got phone call at home asking for the electricity meter
reading. He gave them the a reading on the high level meter meter by the
front door but actually thought it was the gas meter. He also didn't
realise there is a day and night reading.

Well later that evening NPower phoned back saying the reading was less
than last time. What did they expect from a teenager. They asked if I
could read it but pointed out I was in the middle of something and
couldn't so it was left at that.

Now considering what we have to pay for power why can't they employ
meter readers or should I point out that I need a working at height
licence, risk assessment, method statement, need the step ladder checked
and need insurance? Or they could have not have fitted the meter so damn
high up.

Kevin

Hope you get a smart meter soon.
Had mine about a year, and (touch wood) no ill effects.
Positive effects are no more meter readers knocking on door (I work from
home so fewer interuptions), automated SMS readings submitted on the 1st
of the month, regular bills on the first of the month (quarterly) with
accurate readings.
Yes, I know about the insidious thing about someone in the datacentre
being able to see when I'm away on holiday, but at the moment, the
readings are submitted monthly, and no datacentre (yet) is going to be
able to absorb the amount of data if we all had smart meters and those
meters all submitted daily readings.

Allan wrote:

Hope you get a smart meter soon.
Had mine about a year, and (touch wood) no ill effects.

My provider promised "no more estimated readings ever",
but when my tariff changed on a different day to my regular
smart-reading, sent an estimated bill for the changeover!

Self reading is usually voluntary, so the call sounds a bit fishy to
me.
You should get yourself an on-line account.
You receive an email reminder, then you enter the readings on line &
them get another email asking for the dosh.

I had a meter reader call yesterday evening. I was in the process of
telling him that we do no business at the door and he should "go forth
and multiply elsewhere" when he showed me his ID, managed to get a word
in and ask to read the meter.

I appologised, and explained that I have trouble with so many "cold
callers". I then asked why we get a visit for almost every bill, despite
being signed up for the online account. He was unable to offer any
sensible reason. "We need to check that you are reading it right was all
he could come up with.

When we were both working, and filled in a postcard the reader would
leave, we went years without a formal reading. They would eventually
make an evening appointment to do it.

Now we send in the readings monthly, and get regular evening 6:30 pm
visits to check on us.

Cost savings/convenience - my arse!

Al.

In article ,
Alan (BigAl) wrote:

Self reading is usually voluntary, so the call sounds a bit fishy to
me.
You should get yourself an on-line account.
You receive an email reminder, then you enter the readings on line &
them get another email asking for the dosh.

I had a meter reader call yesterday evening. I was in the process of
telling him that we do no business at the door and he should "go forth
and multiply elsewhere" when he showed me his ID, managed to get a word
in and ask to read the meter.

I appologised, and explained that I have trouble with so many "cold
callers". I then asked why we get a visit for almost every bill, despite
being signed up for the online account. He was unable to offer any
sensible reason. "We need to check that you are reading it right was all
he could come up with.

When we were both working, and filled in a postcard the reader would
leave, we went years without a formal reading. They would eventually
make an evening appointment to do it.

Now we send in the readings monthly, and get regular evening 6:30 pm
visits to check on us.

Cost savings/convenience - my arse!

the meter reading lot are not from your energy supplier. They simply do
meter readings which wil be sent by their head ofice to the appropriate
energy supplier. It probably easier to get their staff to read meters at
every house than to produce a list of which houses to ignore,

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 19/10/2012 14:41, Alan (BigAl) wrote:


Cost savings/convenience - my arse!

When you have dual fuel from a supplier they will only read one of the
meters!

RBS - When I still had an account with them I signed up for paperless
billing in order to save them money. They used the money saved to send
me a useless year end report of my account usage. It was dozens of
glossy pages in bound book.



--
mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

On Friday, October 19, 2012 3:43:40 PM UTC+1, alan wrote:
On 19/10/2012 14:41, Alan (BigAl) wrote:





Cost savings/convenience - my arse!



When you have dual fuel from a supplier they will only read one of the

meters!



RBS - When I still had an account with them I signed up for paperless

billing in order to save them money. They used the money saved to send

me a useless year end report of my account usage. It was dozens of

glossy pages in bound book.

npower still send me a paper bill and a on-line one, so does virgin meadia they don't seem to be able to sort it out.








--

mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:26:07 -0700 (PDT), whisky-dave wrote:

npower still send me a paper bill and a on-line one,

NPower have just sent me a letter telling me that the prices they charge
me are not going up. Well they wouldn't, I'm on a fixed rate tariff until
May 2013...

I don't get a paper bill every 1/4 (or month). Just something when the
contract ends and new one starts (if I haven't switched...).

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article ,
Broadback writes:
When we moved into this property 10+ years ago we had gas installed, at
the same time the electric meter moved from inside the house to outside.
Every meter reading they knocked on the door to ask to read the electric
meter. This went on for 10 years, despite calls the the electric people
and conversations with the readers. Eventually I resolved it by sticking
a large notice on the gas meter box letting them know where the electric
meter was. The annoying thing was we paid an arm and a leg to get the
meter moved in the first place!

I've had one knock on the front door to read the gas meter, so I
pointed to it, on the outside wall, 10 inches from the front door.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:43:41 +0100, alan
wrote:

On 19/10/2012 14:41, Alan (BigAl) wrote:


Cost savings/convenience - my arse!

When you have dual fuel from a supplier they will only read one of the
meters!

RBS - When I still had an account with them I signed up for paperless
billing in order to save them money. They used the money saved to send
me a useless year end report of my account usage. It was dozens of
glossy pages in bound book.

IIRC they have to send you an annual report. I wouldn't mind except
mine did not contain any useful information.

Never mind, we'll all have to have smart meters too (any pay extra for
them) so that some hacker in china can cut your leccy off.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) If a man stands in a forest and no woman is around
(")_(") is he still wrong?