ESB Networks wrong meter assigned to apartment

tigershould

hi, looking for some advice for a friend.

he's living in an apartment since 2005 and it appears that his electicity meter was incorrectly marked with his neighbours.

he realised when one day his power was cut off and when the ESB came round to investigate they told him the meters outside were marked incorrectly.

anyway, long story short - he's now received a bill for over €2k from electric ireland!

obviously, he's been paying his bills on time since day 1 and wasnt to know.

his neighbours apartment has been empty for about 6 months now, so it appears that they werent paying their (his) bill which is why they cut them off.

his neighbours must have been paying their bill previously so surely electric ireland cant recoup the money twice can they?

any advice?

No Pants

Get details of payments made to the other account and ask that they be transferred over.

djimi

Get an electrician out to verify that the meters have been incorrectly labelled, then go back to EI, get them to sort out the addresses and bill accordingly. Once you can show that the meter is not for your property then there is no reason to expect for you to pay for it.

The_Conductor

Can you clarify- has your friend paid too little for the electricity that he has in fact used- arrears that over time have built up to 2k+?
Is this the issue?
If this is the case- by inference has his neighbour overpaid by a commensurate amount.

Or...... after 6 months of no bills being paid for the neighbour (as their unit has been vacant- has your friend not paid any electricity bills at all (well, excluding connection and standing charges) and now- out of the blue had his electricity cut-off, and when the bill was reconcilled- he owes the 2k+

Sounds like he actually owes the money- through a combination of underpayment, and non-payment.

He needs to talk to the neighbour too- as they will obviously have been overpaying.

tigershould

@djimi - electrician has been round and confirmed and ESB have amended his bill with the correct details.

@the_conductor - I think it's a) he has been paying his neighbours bill and his neighbour has been paying his bill (and therefore the neighbour has overpaid for his usage over however many years by €2k) but since his neighbour has vacated (he has no contact with him and thinks he's emigrated and left the bills adn mortgage behind but that's another story) in the last 6 months his bills have just been the standing charge.

I told him to seek legal advice, I don't see how ESB can recoup the same money twice? Unless they're goin to give his neighbour a rebate on his overpayments over the years?

djimi

If both bills have been paid to ESB in full then their only involvement in this is to rectify the matter of the incorrectly labelled meters.

The matter of the €2k is between the two account holders. Your friend owes the money to his neighbour, not to ESB. Unless ESB are looking to facilitate the correcting of the matter (by taking the money from one account holder to refund the other)?

The_Conductor

djimi wrote: »

If both bills have been paid to ESB in full then their only involvement in this is to rectify the matter of the incorrectly labelled meters.

The matter of the €2k is between the two account holders. Your friend owes the money to his neighbour, not to ESB. Unless ESB are looking to facilitate the correcting of the matter (by taking the money from one account holder to refund the other)?

It doesn't work this way, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view.

The ESB (or rather Electric Ireland- or whoever) have contracts with the individual customers. One customer has been overcharged and will have a commensurate credit added to their account. The other customer has been undercharged- and will have a commensurate debit added to their account. The two customers have relationships with their supplier(s) and not with one another. You cannot offset one account against the other.

The OPs friend should have realised something was askew when their bills were for all intents and purposes just the standing charge/public service levy, and no usage amounts. By considering this some sort of jackpot- and not querying it- they ran up a bill- ontop of whatever they may have already owed (but possibly as much as half of the o/s balance).

There is no offsetting of one account against another- this never happens.

Marcusm

djimi wrote: »

If both bills have been paid to ESB in full then their only involvement in this is to rectify the matter of the incorrectly labelled meters.

The matter of the €2k is between the two account holders. Your friend owes the money to his neighbour, not to ESB. Unless ESB are looking to facilitate the correcting of the matter (by taking the money from one account holder to refund the other)?

There is no contractual relationship between the account holders; subject to consumer protection issues, the OP's friend is liable to Electric Ireland for the power used. It's called privity of contract. In the circumstances, I'd reef EI out of it ad negotiate a long period over which to pay the arrears. EI won't have installed or mislabelled the meters (developer will have done that) but is effectively responsible.

ted1

djimi wrote: »

If both bills have been paid to ESB in full then their only involvement in this is to rectify the matter of the incorrectly labelled meters.

The matter of the €2k is between the two account holders. Your friend owes the money to his neighbour, not to ESB. Unless ESB are looking to facilitate the correcting of the matter (by taking the money from one account holder to refund the other)?

Your completely wrong there. Neither owes another anything. Each has an independent contract with the supplier.

UDP

My understanding is that the esb always install their own meters but it could have been the developer that labelled them. A negotiation with electric Ireland would probably result in a lower amount to pay back over a year or two.

ted1

UDP wrote: »

My understanding is that the esb always install their own meters but it could have been the developer that labelled them. A negotiation with electric Ireland would probably result in a lower amount to pay back over a year or two.

They install the meter but the developer connects the rest

tigershould

Yeah, what conductor says sounds logical. EI credit one and debit the other. Although it raises the question what if the neighbour is with another supplier (eg airtricity), how does EI credit a different suppliers customer?

The neighbour seems to have disappeared so he can't speak to him. I don't think he did it deliberately, he said the first he knew about it was when esb cut his power off (when they were supposed to cut his neighbours).

I'd still fight it, it was their balls up.