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Man, 50, left without electricity or gas


Still Waters

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A man locked in a battle with his energy supplier has gone without gas or electricity for three years because he refuses to pay for his meter to be fixed.

Chris Guest, 50, has refused to pay Eon £70 to fix the device, which they installed in 2010, and has been left without power ever since.

Mr Guest has been forced to read by torchlight, go without heating and hot water, and survives on corned beef sandwiches because he is unable to cook.

http://www.dailymail...ring-meter.html

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A bit concerned about the "man 50" bit, he is not exactly a pensioner, my gran was still carrying wood from the outside shed to her log burner when she was in her 80`s.

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It is their damn device! It remains their property. The evil b******* should fix it! ALSO Eon broke the UK data protection act. They have given his personal information to the press. Now everyone knows he has not used energy in 3 years. So they have basically given us all 3 years worth of his billing information.... just saying..

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He obviously doesn't know his way around the Law. Is it broken or just not connected, if they installed it and are trying to collect cash to connect it,its a case for the ombudsman,you should not pay for an exchange meter as its their property, and will stay there until the Electric Co,is changed.If he broke it then he must pay any damage, non of these issues have been explained so we have the usual Half a story.

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It is their damn device! It remains their property. The evil b******* should fix it! ALSO Eon broke the UK data protection act. They have given his personal information to the press. Now everyone knows he has not used energy in 3 years. So they have basically given us all 3 years worth of his billing information.... just saying..

Hiya bulveye, 1st I would like to point out that i am no fan of these electricity companies.

In this particular case, eon has not broken the data protection act, it is him who went to the press:

After three years living in miserable conditions, he has finally decided to speak out having reached the end of his tether.

http://www.dailymail...ring-meter.html

3 years is a long time, really this should have been resolved a lot earlier.

As for no cooking conditions, that IMO is :

his choice,

a complete lie

or the man has some mental issues

Camping stoves are not hard to find, he could have easily bought one of these:

31PmwcpaeML.jpg

I had to use one of these for 2 months on my first boat while we were doing it up. They are cheap and do the job and are quite safe to use indoors.

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A bit concerned about the "man 50" bit, he is not exactly a pensioner, my gran was still carrying wood from the outside shed to her log burner when she was in her 80`s.

As you stood and watched?

(lol)

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As you stood and watched?

(lol)

Watched? are you kidding, i was not going to go out there, it was far too cold.

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Hiya bulveye, 1st I would like to point out that i am no fan of these electricity companies.

In this particular case, eon has not broken the data protection act, it is him who went to the press:

After three years living in miserable conditions, he has finally decided to speak out having reached the end of his tether.

http://www.dailymail...ring-meter.html

3 years is a long time, really this should have been resolved a lot earlier.

As for no cooking conditions, that IMO is :

his choice,

a complete lie

or the man has some mental issues

Camping stoves are not hard to find, he could have easily bought one of these:

31PmwcpaeML.jpg

I had to use one of these for 2 months on my first boat while we were doing it up. They are cheap and do the job and are quite safe to use indoors.

"Eon decline to comment on the dispute, but confirmed that Mr Guest has not used any electricity for three years.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2467376/Man-50-left-electricity-gas-THREE-YEARS-row-energy-firm-repairing-meter.html#ixzz2iCuapeVq

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

They should neither have confirmed nor denied that information. If I called your electric company and asked if they could confirm you spent more then £800 in gas last year and they said yes, then they made a mistake. Or, if I called your Doctors and asked if they could confirm you have not had Langer-Giedion Syndrome and they said either yes or no then it is also not the job of the press to report that. If he is actually mentally ill then whatever he says is between him and the energy company and a court of law. (IMO) :huh:

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Any Electric or other Company or a Doctors Surgery giving out personal info is asking to have their asses sued off,as this info is "classified",between the client and the Company.

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I get where you are coming from, but they did not disclose any confidential information, Mr Guess told the press, when asked eon confirmed what had already been disclosed, when asked.

Oh boy, this sounds as if i am on the side of eon, but i am not. I am just not comfortable with what seems to be half the story and a bit if a sympathy plea.

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I get where you are coming from, but they did not disclose any confidential information, Mr Guess told the press, when asked eon confirmed what had already been disclosed, when asked.

Oh boy, this sounds as if i am on the side of eon, but i am not. I am just not comfortable with what seems to be half the story and a bit if a sympathy plea.

Yep agreed I had a problem with Electric supply, when S.W.E.B. sold out to E.D.F. (a frog company),I decided I was not going to pay the frogs for my electric,so I changed to Scottish Power,then I was bombarded with E.D.F. literature,and people at the door asking why.The final straw was when they said my meter was out of date,and threatened to cut me off,a man turned up from E.D.F. a new meter but Scottish Power had already installed theirs so I politely told him I didnt need it,he got quite annoyed and said he Must change it for Safety Standards as the new one was out of date (wow), so I not so politely told him that the second word was Off.I still get loads of literature about why I should change back,and at least 2/3 phone calls a week.So I just pick up the phone and put it on the table until they ring off, I'm happy its costing them for the phone calls and they will get sick before I do,this has been going on for 3 years,so maybe they are putting up the price of electricity to pay for the phone calls hahaha.I love annoying these big companies just for the fun of it.
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You know I recently had a similar problem with the modem supplied by my internet provider. It must have short circuited in the thunderstorm that occurred that day while I was at work. Came home - no power, luckily I have a safety switch. I rang to complain about the fact they nearly burned down my house and asked for a replacement modem. I was told it would cost $185.00 to replace. So I said no problem, I'll just call another provider and they will happily provide one. Suddenly, the replacement was free and I was on a new deal that was $25.00 p/mth better than the one I started with. :P

Seems like this man should have been talking to some competitors about the issue instead of stubbornly sitting around with no power for so long.

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yanno, here in America the utility companies are no better, but i will say this.. i do not honestly feel overly sorry for the guy.

Yes, if it is the electric/gas company who is responsible, then they should pay.. if our company refused to fix something that is thier responsibility, it would not take three yrs for me to push push push and fight it to be fixed.

Plus, hrmm... I dunno how it is in england and other countries, but we have a huge three burner cast iron propane stove. We have three propane tanks. it only costs about 22 bux to fill each one. We can and have (we have blizzards and icestorms which take out utlities for two to three weeks at a time) cooked and heated by propane for three weeks and it did NOT go through two propane tanks to do it, and that is using it for hot water too (we have a camping hot water heater now.. neighbors loved it.. NOW that one we had to refill, but since neighbors were using our hot shower, they paid to refill it.

So, umm, i do not feel he suffered much. We have on the wall oil lamps too.. AND during the last blizzard, we learned a neat trick.. you know those outdoor solar walk way lights? we neighbors figured out we can take those suckers INDOORS at night.. heh

We now have more then one set of those!

Hrmm.. now that we are 100% prepared for another icestorm/blizzard to take out utlities.. watch us have a mild winter the next few winters.

and before anyone asks.. I live in MIssouri.

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yanno, here in America the utility companies are no better, but i will say this.. i do not honestly feel overly sorry for the guy.

Yes, if it is the electric/gas company who is responsible, then they should pay.. if our company refused to fix something that is thier responsibility, it would not take three yrs for me to push push push and fight it to be fixed.

Plus, hrmm... I dunno how it is in england and other countries, but we have a huge three burner cast iron propane stove. We have three propane tanks. it only costs about 22 bux to fill each one. We can and have (we have blizzards and icestorms which take out utlities for two to three weeks at a time) cooked and heated by propane for three weeks and it did NOT go through two propane tanks to do it, and that is using it for hot water too (we have a camping hot water heater now.. neighbors loved it.. NOW that one we had to refill, but since neighbors were using our hot shower, they paid to refill it.

So, umm, i do not feel he suffered much. We have on the wall oil lamps too.. AND during the last blizzard, we learned a neat trick.. you know those outdoor solar walk way lights? we neighbors figured out we can take those suckers INDOORS at night.. heh

We now have more then one set of those!

Hrmm.. now that we are 100% prepared for another icestorm/blizzard to take out utlities.. watch us have a mild winter the next few winters.

and before anyone asks.. I live in MIssouri.

Ace :tu:

There is NOOOO excuse today for someone to be completely without any kind of cooking facility, a lot of the camping stuff can be used in doors safely.

I dread to think what some people will do here if there is a power cut....it will be like Armageddon for some of them.

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Yep agreed I had a problem with Electric supply, when S.W.E.B. sold out to E.D.F. (a frog company),I decided I was not going to pay the frogs for my electric,so I changed to Scottish Power,then I was bombarded with E.D.F. literature,and people at the door asking why.The final straw was when they said my meter was out of date,and threatened to cut me off,a man turned up from E.D.F. a new meter but Scottish Power had already installed theirs so I politely told him I didnt need it,he got quite annoyed and said he Must change it for Safety Standards as the new one was out of date (wow), so I not so politely told him that the second word was Off.I still get loads of literature about why I should change back,and at least 2/3 phone calls a week.So I just pick up the phone and put it on the table until they ring off, I'm happy its costing them for the phone calls and they will get sick before I do,this has been going on for 3 years,so maybe they are putting up the price of electricity to pay for the phone calls hahaha.I love annoying these big companies just for the fun of it.

We are supplementing other countries, this was foreseen when "we" decided to sell our souls to the neighbours. Add that to the tax our government is charging, someone is sitting pretty warm and cosy and its not us in England.

We collect our own wood but also use coal, which is now imported from Russia....thanks Maggie!!!!!! do not even get me started on this one.

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Ace :tu:

There is NOOOO excuse today for someone to be completely without any kind of cooking facility, a lot of the camping stuff can be used in doors safely.

I dread to think what some people will do here if there is a power cut....it will be like Armageddon for some of them.

the other day the water company let pple here know that from like 8 am till 5pm the water would be cut off on wednesday. (gave everyone a week notice) as there is some work that needs done.

People were like 'what will we do?', my daugher was like, 9 hours? pshhhhhhhhhhh a breeze.

I mean its JUST one single day, make sure you do all your cleaning up the day before, your toilet flushed before its turned off, the tank filled up. We have several 5 gallon buckets with lids (12 of em), we keep them filled with water, because we have tornado season, so we figure to keep stocked on some items..

Others here should not freak either, they have lived here longer then us and should have tornado supplies at the very least.

We have a carbon monoxide detector in two rooms of our house, since when storms happen, we use our propane hot water tank and propane cook stove.

To be honest, my son, the last time we had a blizzard so bad it closed MY job down for two days.. he smoked a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters outside.. as well as two roasts (hey, you smoke your chicken leg/thighs, put one each in a freezer baggie, and freeze them, when you make a pot of beans, just toss one leg/thigh in the pot, and the chicken adds some meat, and the smoke flavor intensifies the beans! we also use a leg in our root stews too!, we slice our beef roasts and freeze them with juice.. and take out a baggie for sandwiches.)

but anyways.. yet should at the least.. have three days worth of food and water stocked up. cheap to do, and can be a life saver.

you never know what will happen.

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the other day the water company let pple here know that from like 8 am till 5pm the water would be cut off on wednesday. (gave everyone a week notice) as there is some work that needs done.

People were like 'what will we do?', my daugher was like, 9 hours? pshhhhhhhhhhh a breeze.

I mean its JUST one single day, make sure you do all your cleaning up the day before, your toilet flushed before its turned off, the tank filled up. We have several 5 gallon buckets with lids (12 of em), we keep them filled with water, because we have tornado season, so we figure to keep stocked on some items..

Others here should not freak either, they have lived here longer then us and should have tornado supplies at the very least.

We have a carbon monoxide detector in two rooms of our house, since when storms happen, we use our propane hot water tank and propane cook stove.

To be honest, my son, the last time we had a blizzard so bad it closed MY job down for two days.. he smoked a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters outside.. as well as two roasts (hey, you smoke your chicken leg/thighs, put one each in a freezer baggie, and freeze them, when you make a pot of beans, just toss one leg/thigh in the pot, and the chicken adds some meat, and the smoke flavor intensifies the beans! we also use a leg in our root stews too!, we slice our beef roasts and freeze them with juice.. and take out a baggie for sandwiches.)

but anyways.. yet should at the least.. have three days worth of food and water stocked up. cheap to do, and can be a life saver.

you never know what will happen.

I have fire extinguishers in each room, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, water containers, just incase and always stocked up on wood.

Baked beans....now them i can live on for years, cold? not a problem.

I live on a narrowboat so do not rely on the big companies to supply my lecky, we have 5 270amp batteries, an inverter and solar panels.

If there was ever a world wide power failure, you are welcome to come round for dinner, we could take it in turns. :yes:

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I have fire extinguishers in each room, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, water containers, just incase and always stocked up on wood.

Baked beans....now them i can live on for years, cold? not a problem.

I live on a narrowboat so do not rely on the big companies to supply my lecky, we have 5 270amp batteries, an inverter and solar panels.

If there was ever a world wide power failure, you are welcome to come round for dinner, we could take it in turns. :yes:

heh both my kids, have often said they would like us all to live on a homestead near woods.. someplace where we could have our own gardens, enough for drying and canning food for the winter and longer, plus my daughter is really into making homemade soaps and such.

I also would love this, sadly, it takes money to get started and we never seem to have to nickles to rub together.. but,, we do things to help ourselves along.

The store bakeries give away those five gallon tubs with lids, they get 'icing' in them, we just clean them out and store stuff. when we buy beans or any leguemes, you know how you get to the bottom of the bags, and there are always a small bit left over, but not enough for a meal? We dump them in a bean jar.. all our smalls at the end of the bags from pinto beans, chick peas, split peas AND rice!!!!!!!! and when the jar is full, we put half in a baggie and get all the air out and with marker, mark date and time and dump in a plastic bucket. the other half we make two meals out of *grins*

we do the same with sugar and salt.. I am not saying its fast going on filling those buckets up with dried goods, however.. it is taking steps forward and not backwards.. less panic when emergencies happen.

If something happened and we couldnt go to the grocery store.. we could just pull out a bucket of dried goods and have a weeks worth of meals right there!!

heck, anyone can and should do it.. but see.. i grew up on a farm, yet dirt poor.. and stock piling for 6 months was a normal way of life.. we also picked a lot.. pickled onionis, pickled beets, pickleds eggs.. pickles!

sometimes we move so fast forward, that we forget it can all be taken away.

Edited by willowdreams
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Gotta admire the man's stubbornness with refusing to cave when he knows he's right.

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Hiya bulveye, 1st I would like to point out that i am no fan of these electricity companies.

In this particular case, eon has not broken the data protection act, it is him who went to the press:

After three years living in miserable conditions, he has finally decided to speak out having reached the end of his tether.

http://www.dailymail...ring-meter.html

3 years is a long time, really this should have been resolved a lot earlier.

As for no cooking conditions, that IMO is :

his choice,

a complete lie

or the man has some mental issues

Camping stoves are not hard to find, he could have easily bought one of these:

31PmwcpaeML.jpg

I had to use one of these for 2 months on my first boat while we were doing it up. They are cheap and do the job and are quite safe to use indoors.

I had exact same on my boat, and gas cartridges can be found VERY cheaply in multi-packs etc. Heck I even had, again on the boat, a fairly large solar panel for trickle charging my boat batteries (which powered the lights and heater) with connectors for things like phones. That cost me about £30 and worth its weight in gold,

No I think this guy has 'issues' and has dropped out of society for whatever reasons.

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I had exact same on my boat, and gas cartridges can be found VERY cheaply in multi-packs etc. Heck I even had, again on the boat, a fairly large solar panel for trickle charging my boat batteries (which powered the lights and heater) with connectors for things like phones. That cost me about £30 and worth its weight in gold,

No I think this guy has 'issues' and has dropped out of society for whatever reasons.

We now have a full size gas cooker now, the bottle lasts us a year because all we have using the gas is the cooker.

And you are so right about the solar panel to trickle charge the batteries, we have 5 x 270amp batteries and have them on charge this way.

I am the man in question and Eon still refuse to even talk about it

electric Chris? haha, love the name.

if you are the guy in question, why can you not use other means to keep yourself warm or heat your water?

I hope you have picked up a few ideas from here and hope you stay warm for the coming season. :tu:

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Watched? are you kidding, i was not going to go out there, it was far too cold.

Just spat my wine out at that, in fact I think it is coming out of my nose.

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