Faulty Equipment - Can somebody please take ownership?

GagaC

Hi guys,

I am writing in behalf of my elderly parents, who have recently had a new prepaid topup card reader installed inside the home in what was supposed to be an ‘upgrade’ to the equipment.

Since it was installed a few weeks ago however, any funds topped up into the mechine have been drained from the account at nearly twice the pace. To give context, approximately €9 a day is being used in electricity whereas approximately €3.50 - €4 would be consumed before this meter was installed.

Both my parents have spent considerable hours on the phone to customer service already this week, being passed from one to another with nobody seeming to know how to resolve the issue and refusing to believe there is any sort of fault in the equipment. At one stage my mother was given a €15 topup code over the phone as a goodwill gesture, which the meter refused to recognise. She was told to ‘try again layer’, a classic ploy to get her off the phone.

Understandably this has caused a great deal of undue stress to my parents, who operate on a modest household budget which has now been ravaged by electricity expenses. They have also confirmed that they will persue legal advice if necessary.

I ask here on this post, how do we resolve this issue? We are very eager to resolve this especially with the cold snap about to consume the country. We assume that the new equipment is reading the incorrect voltage, thus overcharging, so request that the equipment be replaced or restored to the old setup of the external token topup mechine. Either way it appears a technician visit is definitely required.

Looking forward to you’re reply and any advice.

Thanks guys.

Electric Ireland: Brige B

Hi GagaC,

Thanks for your message.

Here in the Social Media department we are unable to discuss an account with a third party without first receiving express permission from the account holder. Could you please advise if you are authorised on your parents' account? If so, could you please send us a private message with the following details?

• Your full name
• Your contact number
• The account holder's name
• The account number
• The full address of the property
• The account holder's telephone number or date of birth
• Confirmation you are authorised on the account (Yes/No)

If you are not authorsied on the account, then we would be limited in the amount of assistance we can provide you here. Instead, we would recommend that the account holder contact us directly, via their own social media account (we are available here on Boards, Facebook, or Twitter). 

However, we may be able to provide you with some general information. To confirm, you advised in your message that the original meter was a Token Meter. We must advise that these meters do not function in the same way a Pay As You Go (PAYG) meter. A PAYG meter is topped up based on the usage at the property, while a Token Meter was a balance management meter.

Token Meters were unable to asses the usage at the property, and as such were calibrated ahead of time, requiring the resident to top-up based on this calibration. However, the amount being put into the meter may not have always reflected the actual consumption at the premises. A bill would be issued every two months reflecting the usage amount, and whether or not the payment was covering the usage balance.

PAYG meters on the other hand calculate your usage directly from the main electricity meter at the property.

We must also advise Token Meters are currently being phased out, as it is becoming increasingly more difficult to locate and purchase tokens. 

Regarding the top-up amount provided as a gesture of goodwill, it can take some time for this to clear on the Electric Ireland system. If the top-up vend has since not worked for your parents we recommend contacting the dedicated Electric Ireland PAYG Customer Service team on 1850 372 372. They will be able to discuss this further.

Should you have any questions regarding the above, please let us know.

Thanks,
Brige