Electric bill excessive . where do i go for help

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  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,054
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    There is a good argument to be made here for entering your readings online as when I enter my readings online I am only given 5 digits to enter and this corresponds to the amount of digits on the meter.

    Does anyone have one of these Polyphase meters and can they enter more than 5 digits?

    What I cannot understand here is how the nPower system allows 7 digits to be accepted when that is clearly wrong.
    Never pay on an estimated bill
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534
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    edited 3 September 2016 at 6:30PM
    Polyphase is should not be used for a domestic metering situation and generally is used in high useage business where they have polyphase motors that will benefit from the system to be more efficiant (or where are domestic meter would be insufficiant).

    They have 3 incoming lives and a neutral not just live and neutral live a typical domestic setup.

    However I have seen polyphase where each phase supplies somewhere seperate so really should be changed for 3 doemstic meters. if the property was a former business converted it could be like this and maybe the other 2 phases are supliing somewhere else and should not be part of his bill. However it will be hard to prove if you no longer have access. This often occurs where a property was converted from business to flats on the cheap and the landlord will not pay the thousands to get the electric split into seperate metering.

    Polyphase metering is generally 6 digits but can be 7. Domestic is 5, or sometimes 6 but I have seen 6 digit domestic where a blanking label was put over digit 6 because some legacy systems could not support it!
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,467
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    edited 3 September 2016 at 6:36PM
    kVArh reading suggests this is a meter for a commercial set up where useage is high and half hourly metering may be used.

    The L1 L2 and L3 also suggest high capacity as these are three phase readings.

    Over to npower rep!

    I've had similar on a domestic property where the owner had a workshop in the garage with a three phase supply, but that property had three older type dial meters.

    That too was npower and it was a saga which I don't believe is over yet.
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,467
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    Robin9 wrote: »
    There is a good argument to be made here for entering your readings online as when I enter my readings online I am only given 5 digits to enter and this corresponds to the amount of digits on the meter.

    Does anyone have one of these Polyphase meters and can they enter more than 5 digits?

    What I cannot understand here is how the nPower system allows 7 digits to be accepted when that is clearly wrong.

    But with no decimal point do you give the first five or last 5?!!!
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,054
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    No problem when you follow the online advice given by your supplier.

    The more usual error is to forget the leading zero when you have 4 digits to enter.
    Never pay on an estimated bill
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534
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    daveyjp wrote: »
    I've had similar on a domestic property where the owner had a workshop in the garage with a three phase supply, but that property had three older type dial meters.

    That too was npower and it was a saga which I don't believe is over yet.

    Hardly the suppliers fault here, they just fit what is asked. If it becomes inappropriate over time it is not their fault.

    Blame the owner who did not want to change the supply. Which is very often done because converting from polyphase to single phase costs a lot.
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534
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    daveyjp wrote: »
    But with no decimal point do you give the first five or last 5?!!!

    This is a polyphase metyer and appears to be requiring all the digits. There is no decimal place.
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,467
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    Carrot007 wrote: »
    This is a polyphase metyer and appears to be requiring all the digits. There is no decimal place.

    If that is the case the bill readings appear to be correct.
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 7,558
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    From the Polyphase manual found here:
    The meter is a whole current credit meter, capable of measuring kWh and kVArh type approved
    to IEC1036: 1996 class 1.0 for kWh and IEC1268: 1996 class 2.0 for kVArh. The Meter has 3
    measuring elements capable of being configured as 3 phase 4 wire, 3 phase 3 wire, 2 wires of 3
    phases, 1 wire of 2 phases or single phase of 3 wires.
    Total kWh Register
    The total kWhs measured are stored internally to 3 decimal places. The total
    kWhs are displayed on the meter to a maximum of 2 decimal places unless
    programmed via the Flag Port (see User Interfaces) to 3 decimal places for
    testing purposes.
    Maybe it is not a commonly used meter, and that is how the presumed erroneous readings came about.

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  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534
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    victor2 wrote: »
    From the Polyphase manual found here:



    Maybe it is not a commonly used meter, and that is how the presumed erroneous readings came about.

    It's true a polyphase meter can be used as a single phase but it is unlikely as they are more expensive and would be a waste of money.

    The usage here does indicate a 3 pahse usage pattern. If only we had picture of the number of wires going into the meter! (and perhaps more importantly the wires coming out and where they were going)
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