Abuse of process with warrant of entry by power company?

[Flying_Demon]

Hi All,

I’m after some advice please on the process a power company takes to obtain a warrant to enter a domestic property to install a prepayment meter.

I have a home that is rarely occupied with power bills being met by a monthly direct debit with all bills being paid in full and on time. It’s a flat so the meters are in a communal riser within the block so no access to my specific flat is required to read the meter. The meter has not been read by the power company since May 2020.

In 2021 the power company increased the monthly direct debit for electricity from £25 to £105 per month without any reason or justification as they had not taken a meter reading and as the property was unoccupied there was no one available to provide a meter reading. I objected to the increase as it was unjustified given the property was essentially unoccupied and I invited them to reduce the direct debit or send a meter reader to obtain an actual meter reading to base future bills on. They did neither and after getting nowhere with correspondence on this I then cancelled the increased direct debit in protest. Unknown to me in August last year they applied to Magistrates Court for a warrant to enter the property and install a prepayment meter citing a “outstanding debt” of £520, I never saw the correspondence at the time and the warrant was granted with a prepayment meter being installed. The power company have conceded that they did not have an actual meter reading when they applied for the warrant and in my opinion the account was probably in credit based on payments already made so in my view they obtained the warrant on the false premise that a proven debt existed?


Does anyone have any similar experience and in particular have the power company abused the warrant process by claiming a debt existed when in fact it did not? I have tried to find out details of the degree of proof required to obtain a warrant but it does not seem straight forward. Can a power company legitimately obtain a warrant when they do not have accurate meter readings?

[islandgirl]

I grant these in court. We are given a bundle of them. The power company take the oath and state that everyone in the bundle has been properly informed and that there are no vulnerable people at the addresses. We rely on the power company to tell the truth. Whether the company can apply for a warrant in these circumstances is the question not whether it should have been granted. The simple answer would have been to provide a meter reading yourself and then request for the DD to be lowered again. In a similar situation as yours it has just taken me 2 years to get over £3k of overpayments back....

[Flying_Demon]

I grant these in court. We are given a bundle of them. The power company take the oath and state that everyone in the bundle has been properly informed and that there are no vulnerable people at the addresses. We rely on the power company to tell the truth. Whether the company can apply for a warrant in these circumstances is the question not whether it should have been granted. The simple answer would have been to provide a meter reading yourself and then request for the DD to be lowered again. In a similar situation as yours it has just taken me 2 years to get over £3k of overpayments back....

Thank you for your prompt reply. To add, I couldn’t travel to the property during 2021 due to a mobility problem and awaiting a major back operation and as I live on my own there was no one else available to travel to the property to take a meter reading on my behalf. The power company were informed of this and requested to take their own reading but they ignored these requests. I was placed on their “Special Priority Register” which I believe is for vulnerable individuals.

[islandgirl]

In that case it seems odd that they went to court for a warrant given the vulnerable status. With hindsight it was not a good idea to cancel the DD as they would certainly consider this a debt - in my case they would not accept that the property was empty most of the time and would not vary DD. It was only when I threatened the ombudsman that they used my accurate readings and refunded the money.

[Flying_Demon]

In that case it seems odd that they went to court for a warrant given the vulnerable status. With hindsight it was not a good idea to cancel the DD as they would certainly consider this a debt - in my case they would not accept that the property was empty most of the time and would not vary DD. It was only when I threatened the ombudsman that they used my accurate readings and refunded the money.

Glad you got your own situation sorted. I am in negotiation with the power company who are arranging for a standard credit meter to be reinstated and discussions regarding compensation are on-going. Not sure if they are all the same but I have never dealt with such a bunch of arrogant, obfuscating and morally bankrupt w@@kers in all my life.