Fuel Rights Handbook 20th editionChapter 9: Theft and tampering 6. Removal of meters
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6. Removal of meters
Suppliers (and gas transporters and shippers) have powers to remove, inspect and re-install meters.1Ch 24 Sch 4 (7) UA 2000 These powers may be exercised when tampering is suspected, as with the other powers discussed in this chapter. Suppliers must install a replacement meter of the same type,2Ch 24 Sch 4(7)(3) UA 2000 and so leave the supply connected on the same terms as before, unless they are exercising powers to disconnect the supply itself. Replacement rather than repair will also occur whenever the internal parts of a meter come to the end of their working life.3Ch 24 Sch 4(9) UA 2000
The supplier can disconnect the supply by whatever means it thinks fit if it is doing so as a result of non-payment, and recover any expenses incurred in so doing.4Ch 24 Sch 4(2) UA 2000 This includes removing the meter without replacing it. But seven days’ notice must be given by a gas supplier,5Sch 2B GA 1986 and two days’ notice by an electricity supplier.6Ch 24 Sch 4 UA 2000; Sch 6 and 7 EA 1989 This notice is usually given in the final demand. The meter also cannot be removed if any amount is ‘genuinely in dispute.7Ch 24 Sch 4(2)(2) UA 2000 To gain entry into the property, the supplier must obtain a warrant to exercise a right of entry or your consent. After the expiration of the requisite notice period, a supplier may break into the premises, if not given access, and remove the meter.
An electricity company is also entitled to disconnect a supply and remove a meter even if legal proceedings under the Theft Act are not being pursued. A number of court decisions have held that disconnection could be justified where the supplier could produce, on the balance of probabilities, the civil standard of proof that unlawful abstraction had occurred, even though there may have been no criminal conviction.8R v Director General of Gas Supply ex parte Smith [1989] QB 31 July (unreported); Director of Gas Supply ex parte Sherlock & Morris N Ireland [1996] QB 29 November (unreported); R v Seeboard PLC & another ex parte Robert Guildford [1998] 18 February 1998, per Ognall, J
 
1     Ch 24 Sch 4 (7) UA 2000 »
2     Ch 24 Sch 4(7)(3) UA 2000 »
3     Ch 24 Sch 4(9) UA 2000 »
4     Ch 24 Sch 4(2) UA 2000 »
5     Sch 2B GA 1986 »
6     Ch 24 Sch 4 UA 2000; Sch 6 and 7 EA 1989 »
7     Ch 24 Sch 4(2)(2) UA 2000 »
8     R v Director General of Gas Supply ex parte Smith [1989] QB 31 July (unreported); Director of Gas Supply ex parte Sherlock & Morris N Ireland [1996] QB 29 November (unreported); R v Seeboard PLC & another ex parte Robert Guildford [1998] 18 February 1998, per Ognall, J »