Be Excellent To Each Other

Wife just emailed.

We had a knock on the door from a bloke from E-on, asking to see me and while he was there, read our gas and electric meters. Had the badge and everything. Anyway, Mrs P was a bit suspicious because we moved from E-on about six months ago. She didn't mention this, but he said "yes, you used to be one of our customers until six months ago - is Mr P in? Is he going to be in later?" She said no, didn't let him in. I'm as up to date with the gas/electric as far as I know - with all bills paid when I closed the account.

Does the guy have any right to read meters and stuff?

They can apply for a warrant of entry - but if they're not a current supplier I very much doubt it would be granted.

EDIT - You're never under any obligation to let someone in from a supplier unless they have a warrant of entry.

Wouldn't have the "right", no.
Doesn't mean he was up to no good of course, but it's hard to think what sensible reason they could have for wanting to read your meter 6 months after you've transferred, especially if it seemed to go smoothly.

Phone 'em up and see what the story is.

Perhaps they are reading the meter to find out how much you have paid with your new supplier and will later phone to say that you would have saved money if you stuck with them.

Trust me, they don't need to read the meters to find out that information.

How do they know how much you've used without reading the meters? And if they can tell without reading the meters, then why do they employ people to read meters?

I think, Meems, it is more that they can see what you've paid via financial records rather than what you've used.

OK, but then how would they know how much you have paid per 'zap*' of electricity in comparison to their own charges. They'd need to work out how much per zap you are paying to compare it to their prices, as a lot of places have different tallies for different user rates and schemes.





*technical term you wouldn't understand

Magic.

That or I believe they all know each others' £/zap tariffs anyway.

kW is the unit you're thinking of.

All companies have access to their competitors prices (they're on their websites), so it's quite easy for them to work out who to target to switch.

HAHAHAH PWNED J00 MYPSY.

My post was more qualitative, though.

But I understand "zap".

All my meters are on the outside of the house.

Should I post an armed guard?

I think some companies have more than one zap tarriff, so they'd need to know how many zaps you used recently in order to quote you the cheapest zap tarriff from their own range as they often go on what kind of zap usage you get through.

Ours are in a cupboard that we have no access to, outside in the hallway. The neighbours have a secret special key though, so we can check on it if we want to.

Your guards or your meters?

kWh actually

And I don't know about you, but I've *never* been able to find out the price per kWh from an electricity company website - and I have tried on several occasions. I'm sure the information is published somewhere, but as a potential customer they first demand your postcode and then give you some waffle about how many hundreds of pounds you'll save if you switch to them, which is all a lie anyway. Should be a law against it.

[edit - I just checked a couple of websites and both did in fact have actual unit prices on there! Wow. They didn't a couple of years ago. Maybe they made a law against it]

There are plenty of zap tariffs, but they don't send data collectors out to figure it out. They send out salesmen with fancy tablet computers that work it all out for the potential customer. Then awesome people who are made of awesome fix the aforementioned tablets if they go wrong.

At least some companies do. *puts finger to lips*

Do the salesmen read the meters?

In Soviet Russia, meters read YOU.


YAY! I finally did one right.

FTFY

FTF N-Power.

No.

Alternatively, in this area, they've happily hassled me for five fucking years and won't piss off. About once a month, I get something like this (when I'm in a good mood and don't just tell them to sod off):

Random-o-power supplier guy: Hi, Mr. [Name of person who used to own the house]! We need to talk to you about your power supply, because we think you're on the wrong plan and paying too much for your energy.

Me: I'm not Mr. [Name of person who used to own the house].

Random-o-power supplier guy: Oh. [looks panicked. shuffles papers] That's the name I have here.

Me: He moved out five years ago.

Random-o-power supplier guy: Ah. Well, we have notes that you're on the wrong tariff and are paying too much.

Me: Really?

Random-o-power supplier guy: Have you considered replacing your pre-payment meters?

Me: The ones we changed five years ago, shortly after we moved in? Yes. Yes, I have.

Random-o-power supplier guy: *EXPLODES*

Well, I wish. I think the last time one of the gits came around from the company that hassles us most regularly I told them that next time they show up, I'm invoicing them for wasting my time. Strangely, despite me having informed them via various means to stop coming round here, that was the one thing that—to date—stopped anyone else showing up (from that company, at least).

Ah, so they don't know what price plan you are on already? Interesting...

Well, as Craig surmised further up, they're meant to have information that tells them this, but oftentimes it's severely out of date.

Whenever they come to the door, I make a point of writing down their name, any badge number they have etc. When they ask why, I reply "so that should I happen to mysteriously be switched over to a new supplier when I didn't ask to be, I know who's responsible". They tend to be very willing to go away after that.

Ah, so they often have no idea then. Interesting...

Mimi>>>>>>>myp.

ZAPWNED

Excellent, excellent idea, Craster. No-one ever bothers coming here to try and get you to switch, but if they did, that'd be the action I'd employ from now on.

Even if they could prove that they could save you money with no shenanigans involved?

Being at my front door in the evening or at the weekend comes under the heading of 'shenanigans'.

Ok, so they should call during the day instead. Oh wait.

I hit them with a gnome and bury the bodies under the rec.

My energy needs are met by having a South African runner on a treadmill connected to a generator.

I'm fully Zola powered now.

There aren't any other businesses that feel the need to hawk their wares on my doorstep. Except religions.

I regularly get the god squad banging on my door - last time they did, I smiled knowingly, said "ah good, my lions need feeding"

How many Saps per £?

I can only speak for my company of course, but it works. Because it's all computerised as well, they can't mis-sell or defraud customers, either (or if they do, the agent gets found out very quickly).

I regularly tell bellends with scraps of paper and a calculator turning up on my door to knob-off, though, so appreciate your sentiments.

Oh, I'm sure it does work. If you're a tramp then playing the guilt card by sitting right next to a cashpoint works, but they can still get fucked.

Does that work? I actively tell people to fuck off if they do that. I'm more tempted to give money to people who sit there and say nothing at all. There's an almost quiet dignity about that.

Do you switch electricity companies when people knock on your door?

Only once, and that's because he was from the company I work for and I got a discount.

The ones who are smacked up to the eyeballs?

Yeah, I can relate to them better.

I've never really understood that - are they angling for note-shaped donations? That's sort of reaching a bit high, isn't it?

Yeah, I just say I've got no change, hence I'm using a cash machine.

No, normal loose change. The thinking is that because you're pulling big steaming wads of cash out of the cashpoint, you'll feel that much more guilty about not handing any over.