EDF insist that there is a meter at the property because they have "taken readings"

[Rushy]

For several years EDF have been sending huge gas bills and threats of forced entry to various tenants in a flat which I own. The meter they are billing does not exist at the property although they claim to have read it 6 times in the past 2 years. The flat does have its own gas supply and the meter, which is registered with another supplier, is outside the front door. The EDF gas bill currently stands at £4,500.

There are seven flats in the building which was converted from a pair of houses in 2008. Each of the seven flats has its own gas supply and the meters for all are visible in the front porches. None of the meters corresponds with the meter on the bill. It appears that the meter which the bills refer to may have been the meter of one of the houses prior to conversion and its removal was not properly registered.

The bill is addressed to the First Floor Flat, No.10. None of the flats have that address. The flat being targeted is on the ground floor at number 10. The front door at number 10 gives direct access to the ground floor flat only. EDF know this as they have hand delivered letters to them. Even so, they are threatening to break in to the ground floor flat. The other six flats are accessible from the door at number 8. Even before conversion there was no first floor flat at Number 10 - it was a six bedroom house.

EDF has inspected the seven existing supplies and agrees that none of them corresponds with the one they are billing for. However, EDF insist that they have read the meter six times in the past 2 years so they "know" it is there somewhere. I have asked them where the meter they are reading is located but they don't know. They now want to search all seven of the homes in the building for a hidden supply.

I consider this highly unreasonable but I agreed to arrange it on the basis that: 1) they make a fixed time appointment so that I don't have to wait outside the property all day and 2) that the inspection is visual and causes no damage and 3) that if they do not find any sign of a meter at the property they will stop sending bills.

They have said they cannot make fixed time appointments or even call before arriving and they don't agree that the inspection will be considered conclusive if no meter is found. The ombudsman has said that the "readings" are evidence of the existence of a meter, even if EDF do not know where it is and that it is therefore reasonable for EDF to search all the other homes in the building and for that search not to be conclusive. Knowing as I do that there are no stray meters in any of the flats, I am hugely reluctant to disturb all the current occupants in their homes if this intrusion is not going to resolve matters.

Importantly EDF says that they have no way of knowing where a meter for which they are being provided readings is located and cannot ask the "reader" to feed back to them where this meter is. It is hugely frustrating that - on the one hand - they are suggesting that I am deliberately hiding a meter in the building whilst - on the other hand - their evidence for the existence of that meter is that they are regularly taking readings from it.

I'm not sure where to go from here. I am considering taking out an injunction but not really sure if that is feasible / practical / all that useful?

[enquirer]

Re: EDF insist that there is a meter at the property because they have "taken reading

This is almost certainly another example of an out-of-control computer. Just because the computer says it is so, it must be so, and the company won't back down.

At the moment, it is difficult to see what the grounds for an injunction would be. Simply asking that they be told to stop asking for money is unlikely to be enough. Given that the demand stands at £4,500, it is unusual that they have not yet forced entry, sued, or engaged DCA's, although no doubt this will come eventually. That might be the time to consider an injunction.

Collate your paperwork, and make sure that it highlights their unreasonable behaviour, the inconsistencies, and the outright lies in their story. Continue to correspond, always inviting them to produce evidence (that they previously supplied the house and the flat, that they actually saw and read the meter, etcetera). You might point out that they have declined to sue and invite them to do so. Write in the expectation that a judge who knows nothing will be reading the correspondence later on.

If you wanted to, you might trap them into stating that they know where the meter is, and then wait for them to force entry, suing when nothing was found. If they were to rip out the existing meter and install a prepay meter, that would be better still, as the existing meter would be the property of another utility company.

The Ombudsmans conclusions are nonsense.

[bluebottle]

Re: EDF insist that there is a meter at the property because they have "taken reading

Would the OP not have grounds to sue EDF for Negligent Misrepresentation? It might make EDF think again when faced with the prospect of having to prove their allegations before a judge.