I'm on a variable tarriff and have an old dumb gas meter.
Given that gas prices look likely to rise when the cap is finally removed or revised upwards, would it be sensible to accidentally submit a meter reading that's higher than it really is but still belevable in order to buy more gas at the current price?
The energy co's hoping to get people onto 2 year fixed prices will be laughing, assuming they''re buying up futures at currently available prices
if I read that right, next winter just over half of present, and winter 2023 under half?
Caecilius snipped-for-privacy@spamless.invalid wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
That would be dishonest, potentially fraudulent, is that something you are prepared to do to save a few bob?
It's been discussed before and IIRC the conclusion was that it was actually fraud. Maybe don't overdo it. If you are challenged on your next, really low reading be prepared to say you have been economising.
Some time ago, before I knew what the internet was, and in the days of quaterly bills, I opened my gas bill and was surprised at the amount. So I went outside to the garage and found that the meter has been misread. As it was a period of high inflation I thought it would be prudent to pay the amount they were requesting, but I could not easity afford it. So I rang the gas board and they I could just pay half.
It's not dishonest, it's buying "futures" (done for thousands of years in an agricultural context).
What about "estimated" meter readings (invariably *over*estimates)?
Or perhaps were so shaken by the reports of the 400 jets and the number of superyachts bringing the elites to COP26, that you felt you had to stop using gas straight away to make up for the waste and damage to the planet ;-)
However vague the estimated bills may appear it's reasonable to assume the power companies have masses of data based on years of patterns of usage etc.
Because I spent an unexpected and unscheduled eight months away from my house thanks to Covid lock-down measures elsewhere, my actual consumption for the period was way lower than the estimates that kept on dropping through my letterbox in my absence. After my phoning in the correct numbers they sent a meter reader round to check. The reader was happy to accept my explanation for the numbers and I'd have been willing to show my passport stamps as proof if they had wanted me to.
In short: if your readings diverge from what they already know about you, they will notice.
Nick
Even back when I worked for an Electricity Board, the meter readers were given an upper and lower limit for the readings. If the actual reading fell outside those limits, they had to make an entry on the card that signified they had checked and verified the reading. If they didn't, the reading was estimated. |As much as anything else, it is to protect the customer from the meter being misread.
I have been caught out a few times working in an empty property and I have bypassed the PAYG meter that has no credit.
Is it any different to buying a few books of first class stamps when price is about to rise?
Royal Mail offer to sell you the stamps now at their current price for use later. Gas suppliers offer to sell you gas at their current price for use now. It's not a "futures contract".
The analogy would be better with DIY natural gas storage.
Some years ago, electricity used to be free of VAT.
There was a surge of customers that would go into the electricity company shops and pay several grand into their accounts, the idea being that the amount that was in credit on teh day taht VAT was introduced meant that any electricity used after that date was VAT free until that credit ran out, then VAT was added on.
someone I know had a pre-payment meter, went out and bought £1000 of prepayment cards and put them all into the meter, and the meter showed a huge positive balance of over a grand.
Much confusion ensured as the meter started charging for electricity with VAT despite teh credit haviong been put in before that date.
This "overcharging" was discovered later and I got involved in sorting it out. I actually worked out the amount of overcharging and complained the electricity company.
They had to come out and inspect the meter. They ended up chaning the pence per kW as a one off to the pre-vat rate and credited the overpaid VAT back to the meter.
She was told that when the balance fell to less than £10, she was to call them and tehy would come out and put teh pence per lW back to the new with VAT rate.
They also searched all their other pre-payment customers and apparently this person was the *only* one to have preloaded the meter with so much credit before the date of teh introduction of VAT.
She did it again as the VAT rate was initially at 5% and it was some time later it finally went up to 15%....
Then we had all teh above repeat itself :-)
If you bought stamps that were marked 1sdt Class or 2nd Class rather than the actual cost of 1st calss of 2nd class postage, the former were still valid when postal rates went up.
I used to buy multiple books when a announcement of a price rise was made... saved a bit there :-)
I was thinking of transposing two digits or misreading a single digit, so I think fraud is probably stretching it. But I get your point.
Costco will sell you a pack at a discount.
Bob Martin snipped-for-privacy@excite.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:
It would be a fraudulent misrepresentation of fact, a theft, and completely different from the example that you offer. The o/p has acknowledged this.
uklm will set you straight if there is any doubt.
I'm on a 2yr fixed contract which is at below the current cap levels (and will be significantly below the adjusted cap levels come next Apr). If the price does drop I'll just exit the fixed price contract at a penalty of £30 per service. Likely to be small beer if the drops indicated in the link you shared are in any way accurate.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.