Doing my own meter reads

[JSW]

Can I confirm that AGL is no longer going to read a the gas meter and if a CUSTOMER wants an actual reading for their account they have to do this job (your job) and submit it otherwise AGL will simply do am estimate reading when sending an account

[David_AGL]

Hi @JSW , no, that's incorrect. There are no changes happening to meter reads or estimated bills.

If you have a basic meter, your local energy distributor reads your meter and sends the reading to AGL. If they don't send us a meter reading, you receive an estimated bill, which is then automatically amended with a refund or extra charge when we receive the actual reading later on, depending on if the estimate was too high or too low.

If you don't wish to receive estimated bills, you have the option to submit a meter read yourself. But even if you don't send your own meter read, you'll still be billed the correct amount when we receive the next actual read from your meter reader.

Please note that this is how meter reads and estimated bills have always worked, and is not a new change.

[JSW]

Thanks for the response. So just to confirm as our local gas distributor is AGL, do I assume that you will do the reading as usual (as the local distributor) and send it to yourself and therefore ensure that we will always have an actual reading with our bill?

[David_AGL]

@JSW AGL is your gas retailer, but not your gas distributor. The distributor is the company who reads meters and maintains the pipes etc in your local area. You can find your distributor listed on your AGL bill, or you can check on this page.

Each time we receive the actual read from your distributor, your bill will be amended to match your usage. How often this happens can depend on where you live.

[JSW]

So again just for clarification, when we signed on for gas supply we contracted with AGL, NOT multinet. We have never had any communication with multinet ONLY AGL. We have never had an estimate read of the meter. Being a little suspicioius can we expect that multinet may now cease to do reads and simply rely on AGL to do estimated reads in order to save it money. Have you a contract with multinet that obligates  multinet do the required meter read on your behalf.

It is intersting that my electricity retailer is the one that I am contracted to and who sends the Bill and does the reading etc. We would only contact the distriburor if there is a fault etc.

My contract is with AGL and I hope that your contract with Multinet has a requirement that it does the meter read and supplies the information to you in a timely manner to enable the BIlls that you submit be be based on an Actual Reading. 

[David_AGL]

Hi @JSW , yes that's correct! You never need to deal directly with your distributor unless there is some fault in your local area and you want to find when the electricity or gas will be back on.

Your distributor is obligated to provide your reads to AGL.

If you've never received an estimated bill, it is likely that they are doing so at least once every billing cycle, which means there's no problem!

The most common cause of estimated reads is when the distributor has been unable to access a meter - for example if it's installed inside a building, behind or locked gate, or guarded by a dog.

[JSW]

Thanks David.

So to conclude, if we started to see Bills arriving with Esimated Reading rather than actual readings, we would contact AGL to raise the matter and it in turn would follow this up with Mutinet to find out why they are not fullfilling its contractual obligation to you to supply the actual reading. To confirm for your records, there is NO impediment for clear and safe access to the meter as has always been the case for the last 17 years that we have been at this address.

[David_AGL]

@JSW That's exactly right.

An estimated read by itself is not a big cause for concern - estimated reads are fairly common and they get amended automatically. But if I saw repeated estimated bills on my account across multiple cycles without an actual read, I would be getting in touch with customer service to find out what the problem was.

[JSW]

Thanks David. I think that all of this has clarified the situation for me. Will keep an ey on how it all goes ovet the next 6 to 9 months. As you say it should not ne a problem. time will tell

Cheers

[David_AGL · Accepted solution]

@JSW 

Glad I could help. I think estimated bills and meter reads are a confusing topic for a lot of customers so hopefully your questions here will help clear things up for other people too.