Electric company claiming fraud?

[BronBrons2022]

Re: Electric company claiming fraud?

The supplier is SSE. But as I said I had spoken to them before and they were happy enough to let everything go as it was a mistake.

[charitynjw]

Re: Electric company claiming fraud?

The supplier is SSE. But as I said I had spoken to them before and they were happy enough to let everything go as it was a mistake.

In which case how can NI Electricity accuse anyone of theft of, or try and charge for, something which they had no legal right or claim to?
Very curious!

[BronBrons2022]

Re: Electric company claiming fraud?

I've jus then off the phone to them and I'm more confused than ever. They claim we owe the money to SSE as the report they have says tampering and the new meter went off when it was installed. The thing is we'd already been over this and SSE said they were happy enough to let it go and that my son had hit the meter when he was having a melt down/playing. They said this needs to be explained to SSE but we already explained this. I don't know where to go from here.

[des8]

Re: Electric company claiming fraud?

So NI elect. say you owe SSE money, but SSE are waiving the alleged debt because of the circumstances.
In that case there is no worry.
SSE aren't pursuing the matter, and as nothing is owed to NI Elect, they can do nothing

[charitynjw]

Re: Electric company claiming fraud?

I've jus then off the phone to them and I'm more confused than ever. They claim we owe the money to SSE as the report they have says tampering and the new meter went off when it was installed. The thing is we'd already been over this and SSE said they were happy enough to let it go and that my son had hit the meter when he was having a melt down/playing. They said this needs to be explained to SSE but we already explained this. I don't know where to go from here.

That would not be evidence of unmetered usage.
Some meters have anti-tamper devices which can trip the meter off if knocked. The meter then shuts off until it is reset. To use unmetered electricity you would have to bypass the meter (or somehow stall or reverse the metering mechanism).
Unless NI are claiming for damage to the equipment, I still can't see why they are pursuing this. They would possibly pass any concerns about abstracted electricity to the supplier, but I can't see how they can chase you directly for it.
If the supplier, SSE, are happy with your side of the story, NI Elect should have no further involvement.......:noidea:

[BronBrons2022]

Re: Electric company claiming fraud?

Okay, on further confirmation from NI elect they claim that SSE asked them to contact us as there was tampering listed in their report and the new meter went off when it was installed. I have major issues with this as this is the involvement I've had with SSE from the start:

1# When they first requested to change our meter they rang the very next day at 9am demanding that we let them into the property or they would get a warrant. This is one day after receiving their notice only one day before hand.

2# The meter we had was old and faulty. When they first made this allegation when we were changing provider and weren't allowed to do so I rang to sort it and an SSE employee confirmed that tampering was done by previous occupants and that they weren't "accusing us", that it was a mistake. When I still couldn't switch I called them and they said we were being investigated for meter tampering. I explained this wasn't the case and explained what happened before. The employee said that was fine and that they would get back to their security team and Northern Ireland electricity to say that they were happy to wave this off. I thought that would be the last off it until I tried to change again only to be told there was a cooling off period in which I had to wait 5 months to change but after that I would be free to do so.

Since I now know this is all SSE I'm suspicious that this is all suddenly coming up when they said everything was fine. There's something wrong somewhere.

[Beagles91]

I know this thread hasn't been used in a while.

But I myself have recieved something similar to this situation.

I've lived in this house for little over 7months , but the house was signed over to me in Jan 2018.
Due to renovations ( which i have trades willing to say on my behalf that work didn't end until November 2018) and have 2 small children unable to live here as utilities weren't installed as early as August and the wood burner being the final thing in November)
I was also staying with my sister for most of the month of December until school started in middle of Jan.
hoilday in February also took me away for 2 weeks.

I've wrote to me saying my meter had been tampered with and they have given me unused usage estimates from Jan until march when new meter installed.
I really have no idea why they have said I've used " magnetic interference "
yes my meter usage went from very very little until i started using appliances etc.

They are now telling me i owe the money back. But I have never done anything to my meter for me to need to pay this.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

[ostell]

The best advice is to start your own thread rather than hijacking another. It risks incorrect advice being given.