Fuel Rights Handbook 21st editionChapter 9: Theft and tampering 6. Removal of meters
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6. Removal of meters
When tampering is suspected, suppliers (and gas transporters and shippers) have powers to remove, inspect and reinstall meters.1Ch 24 Sch 4 (7) UA 2000 Suppliers must install a replacement meter of the same type,2Ch 24 Sch 4(7)(3) UA 2000 and 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 because of non-payment, and recover any expenses incurred.4Ch 24 Sch 4(2) UA 2000 This includes removing the meter without replacing it. A gas supplier must give seven days’ notice,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. Note: the meter 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 get your contsent or a warrant. After the notice period expires, a supplier may break into the premises, if not given access, and remove the meter.
An electricity company can disconnect a supply and remove a meter even if legal proceedings under the Theft Act are not pursued. Several 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 »