Card meter showing - £528 after eviction

[greencoat]

Hi all,

I recently had a squatter evicted and instead of finding a 'wire' to bypass the meter (which I believe is common) I saw that the card meter shows minus £528. I didn't think this was possible. Surely there's a limit.

Has anyone seen this before & will I now get stung for it as the property owner?

Cheers,

pete

 

[RF Lighting]

Are you sure it is not £5.28?

IIRC prepay meters allow you to have approx £5 in emergency credit so you are not left without electric if your token runs out when the shops are shut.

 

[ricicle]

Too fast RF

 

[greencoat]

yes, I'm sure it's not £5.28.

He'd been squatting in there for 3 years while we lived abroad & our original tenant left. Aside from that, the decimal point is between the 8 and some pence, ( I'd rounded it down.)


Pete

 

[jwilliams]

What does your supplier say?

 

[securespark]

It's not possible to repeat that here, what with the mods claiming a family-friendly forum...

 

[greencoat]

Yes I agree,

haven't contacted them yet, still having a house clearance!

I just wondered if anyone had experience of this type of meter / situation as It seems odd to me that the meter should just continue on. I'd have thought there'd be a limit which when reached, it turns off until sufficient credit is put back in.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[Paul Barker]

Standing charge keeps wracjking up and previous debt prior to the prepayment meter makes up the amount you see. It is not your debt so not your worry. Supplier will try to recovere it from the squater if they can, that their business not yours. You want a new supply agreement.

 

[Chris.J]

Perhaps have a look at www.rla.co.uk ??

 

[RF Lighting]

How does that help?

 

[securespark]

 

[Taylortwocities]

Thought there must be some limit.
Went to a property a cpuple of weeks ago (just changed hands) to fit temp cu for builder. The card meter showed £45 debit. Previous owner must have racked up that by serial emergency credit sessions. I was surprised and so was the builder who had bought two £5 keys only to find he still had no juice!

I called the DNO (southern elec) and bloke came same day and wiped the meter back to zero.

I have no idea who'll pay the outstanding £45 and 'Am I bothered?'

TTC

 

[greencoat]

Well, I will be bothered mate if it's me who has to pay the £528.

After a closer inspection, there is a wire on it . It is very small and underneath the meter, tucked-in tight. It seems to bridge the 2 red meter tails. I couldn't see it at 1st, only when practically laying on the floor.

I guess I'll be phoning the suppliers today then.


Many thanks,

Pete

 

[Chris.J]

How does that help?

Well, I would have thought that their Forum probably had a similar posting?

 

[markthebuilder]

as i understand it meter can be set to recover any amount ie previous outstanding debt arising prior to meter instal
when i worked in and around halifax 15 years ago meter jumping was fairly common when leaving the property the tenant would then smash the meter so supplier couldn't tell how much lecki they had used. I thought manufactures had made the meters jump proof now though