NO ACCESS TO AIRTRICITY METER FOR PERSONAL READING

wannabe147

Airtricty agreed in their 'terms and conditions' to read to read my meter 4 times a year.
I had/have no access to reading my own meter and informed them of such.
I have had my meter estimated for 2 years without an official (actual) reading
and have had no problem with the bills.
Airtricity estimated the bills for this 2 year period.
Suddenly their official reading means that I have a bill for E500 when the estimated bill for a 2 month period was E160 (approx)

The due date for this bill is 14t March 2014 and I cant afford that much.

Am I obliged to pay this full amount after such long period of not having an actual reading done by Airtricity?
Dubin Corporation have an agreement with energy companies to allow them access to meters but no agreement is in place with their tenants to allow them to read their own meters.

Is there a LEGAL obligation on Airtricity to read my meter 4 times a year ?

Davy

wannabe147 wrote: »

Is there a LEGAL obligation on Airtricity to read my meter 4 times a year ?

ESB networks read the meters for all customers, it is nothing to do with electric Ireland or Airtricity. The meter reader can call up to 4 times a year, any readings that are taken are then issued to the supplier who is Airtricity in your case.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Exact same thing has happened to me. Even the figures are close enough.

Not a lot you can do, as you've been technically under paying your electricity bill all this time. Try contacting them and see if they'll agree to a payment plan.

wannabe147

Here is the bill.
Their 'estimated' figures based on previous 'actual' readings don't seem to add up...or am I missing something ?
I have NO access to read the meter myself.

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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Electricity meter readings[/font]
[th]Meter Type[/th]
[th]Meter number[/th]
[th]Date[/th]
[th]Reading type[/th]
[th]Reading[/th]


24hr
Z00235650
28 Feb 2014
Estimate
2859 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
16 Jan 2014
Actual
2341 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Dec 2013
Estimate
430 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Oct 2013
Estimate
99800 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Aug 2013
Estimate
99261 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Jun 2013
Estimate
98699 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Apr 2013
Estimate
98137 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Feb 2013
Estimate
97593 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Dec 2012
Estimate
97021 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Oct 2012
Estimate
96386 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Aug 2012
Estimate
95837 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Jun 2012
Estimate
95329 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Apr 2012
Estimate
94818 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Feb 2012
Estimate
94266 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
12 Jan 2012
Actual
93807 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Dec 2011
Estimate
93599 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Oct 2011
Estimate
92992 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
13 Sep 2011
Actual
92598 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
28 Aug 2011
Estimate
92452 kWh


24hr
Z00235650
13 Jul 2011
Actual
92098 kWh

ted1

wannabe147 wrote: »

Airtricty agreed in their 'terms and conditions' to read to read my meter 4 times a year.
I had/have no access to reading my own meter and informed them of such.
I have had my meter estimated for 2 years without an official (actual) reading
and have had no problem with the bills.
Airtricity estimated the bills for this 2 year period.
Suddenly their official reading means that I have a bill for E500 when the estimated bill for a 2 month period was E160 (approx)

The due date for this bill is 14t March 2014 and I cant afford that much.

Am I obliged to pay this full amount after such long period of not having an actual reading done by Airtricity?
Dubin Corporation have an agreement with energy companies to allow them access to meters but no agreement is in place with their tenants to allow them to read their own meters.

Is there a LEGAL obligation on Airtricity to read my meter 4 times a year ?

Airtricity don't read meters. ESB networks are responsible for meter readings

ted1

wannabe147 wrote: »

Airtricty agreed in their 'terms and conditions' to read to read my meter 4 times a year.
I had/have no access to reading my own meter and informed them of such.
I have had my meter estimated for 2 years without an official (actual) reading
and have had no problem with the bills.
Airtricity estimated the bills for this 2 year period.
Suddenly their official reading means that I have a bill for E500 when the estimated bill for a 2 month period was E160 (approx)

The due date for this bill is 14t March 2014 and I cant afford that much.

Am I obliged to pay this full amount after such long period of not having an actual reading done by Airtricity?
Dubin Corporation have an agreement with energy companies to allow them access to meters but no agreement is in place with their tenants to allow them to read their own meters.

Is there a LEGAL obligation on Airtricity to read my meter 4 times a year ?

How do you not have access to your meter?

wannabe147

Previous to the recent 'actual' reading (theirs) dated 16th Jan 2014
the last reading (also theirs) was 12th of Jan 2012.
They state on their website (and bill) that they read the meters 4 times per year ????

---

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Is it compulsory to send in meter readings?[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]It’s not compulsory to send in meter readings, but your bill will be more accurate if you do.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Your electricity and/or gas meter is read 4 times a year, so we rely on estimates outside of these times to calculate your bill. By submitting regular meter readings you can minimise these estimates and make sure you only pay for what you use.[/font]
What happens if you don’t submit a reading
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you can’t send in a meter reading don’t worry. We’ll use the estimates when needed, and will update these when we receive the quarterly readings from ESB Networks and/or Bord Gáis Networks.[/font]
Print

[/font]

UCDVet

I'm curious as to how often these meters are validated/checked for accuracy?

ted1

UCDVet wrote: »

I'm curious as to how often these meters are validated/checked for accuracy?

Revenue class meters are .2 and as such are accurate to, no need to validate or check.

http://www2.schneider-electric.com/documents/support/white-papers/998-4531_electric-utilities_High-accuracy_EN.pdf

wannabe147

ted1 wrote: »

wannabe147 wrote: »

Airtricty agreed in their 'terms and conditions' to read to read my meter 4 times a year.
I had/have no access to reading my own meter and informed them of such.
I have had my meter estimated for 2 years without an official (actual) reading
and have had no problem with the bills.
Airtricity estimated the bills for this 2 year period.
Suddenly their official reading means that I have a bill for E500 when the estimated bill for a 2 month period was E160 (approx)

The due date for this bill is 14t March 2014 and I cant afford that much.

Am I obliged to pay this full amount after such long period of not having an actual reading done by Airtricity?
Dubin Corporation have an agreement with energy companies to allow them access to meters but no agreement is in place with their tenants to allow them to read their own meters.

Is there a LEGAL obligation on Airtricity to read my meter 4 times a year ?

How do you not have access to your meter?

Dublin Corpo are the landlords.
Meters are locked away.
Nobody has a key.

EI: Aoife O

Hi wannabe147,

Thanks for getting in touch with this query, and to everyone who contributed with their advice.

Davy and ted1 are correct, ESB Networks are the company in charge of reading meter on behalf of all suppliers. You will receive at least two estimated bills each year, but if there is access issues with the meter, then there may be more.

I'd advise you to contact Airtricity to explain the situation, they should be able to come to an arrangement with you to organise repayments. It may be worth contacting your building management also to come to an arrangement for access in the future, to avoid this happening again.

Kind regards,
Aoife

wannabe147

Thanks Aoife.
Thanks everyone.
Aoife,is there a legal obligation on Airtricity to read these meters 4 times a year
and what legal agreement has Airtricity got with the ESB to access their meters?

Are all energy companies self regulated and if I am unsatisfied with either ESB or Airtricity (in relation to these matters) is there an independent body where I can lodge complaints and have them properly investigated?
I have requested a key from Airtricity and since my contract is with them to provide a service that I am paying for shouldn't they provide me with a key and not the ESB since I have entered into no contract with them to supply my electricity ?Thank you.
Ireland has become a country of PAY UP REGARDLESS in matters like these while these companies make fortunes and do nothing when requested to do so.

EI: Aoife O

Hi wannabe147,

I can't comment about Airtricity's practices, but we would print warnings in red on the front of each bill after one or more consecutive estimations advising customers to get in touch with an actual reading.

If you have a complaint regarding your provider, you can contact the CER, the Commission for Energy Regulation, who can investigate your complaint if it cannot be resolved between yourself and your supplier: http://www.cer.ie/customer-care/complaints I would advise contacting Airtricity first however, as they expect you to exhaust the internal complaints procedure before logging a complaint.

Kind regards,
Aoife

wannabe147

Thank you.
I have had a telephone call yesterday from Airtricity (out of the blue and unexpected) after I had made an application for an access key through their website.
The bill is being put 'on hold' for now while they investigate.
This was indeed a surprising development as I hadn't yet gotten around to contacting them about the bill as I was just making inquiries like I am doing on here,asking for advice.
Thank you Aoifa for taking the time to post your advice.
I really appreciate that and it would seem that someone at Airtricity has become aware of my postings on boards.ie (or have been made aware of them) as I can be identified by my electricity meter number (which I posted on here) and that would seem to have been  the catalyst for their sudden phone call.
Either way,I am delighted that they have taken the time and bother to contact me FIRST and let's hope that we can sort out this problem.
Again Aoifa,thank you.
I will keep you informed about the outcome as I feel it's important that all electricity service customers should have all their complaints
looked at properly,especially in the current financial climate where every cent and euro counts.

EI: Aoife O

Hi wannabe147,

You're very welcome, glad to read that your query has reached a resolution.

If you've any queries in the future, do let us know.

Kind regards,
Aoife