My Meter Reading is Less Than it was in May?

Kavanne

My electrical meter reading now (Aug) is LOWER than the exit figure given to the elec board when the prev. tennants left in May.... What do I do? They have asked me to call back in one week with another reading but I am not sure why? Is this to make sure the meter is functioning properly?

If it's broken do I have to pay to fix it?

gerturdeanna

Has it not gone all the way round and started again?

Kavanne

it's not THAT much different. They have the May 08 reading as 41353 and the reading now is 41254.. which is why I am confused...

tehone

Did you take a start reading in May - I expect it was simply just read wrong in May. It does happen sometimes (even the elec. people can read it wrong - I remember once having to do a similar thing, where the meter reader had got it wrong in the same way)

I just got free electric until my meter reading went past the "leaving" reading from the previous tenant.

spiro

Kavanne wrote: »

it's not THAT much different. They have the May 08 reading as 41353 and the reading now is 41254.. which is why I am confused...

How are the readings displayed on the meter? Is it like the mileomitter in a car or a series of dials each with 0 to 9?

Sprintblue

Kavanne wrote: »

it's not THAT much different. They have the May 08 reading as 41353 and the reading now is 41254.. which is why I am confused...

Could be a miss read, but give them a larger number than the May 08 OTHERWISE they will charge you for what they have already charged somebody else ....

MarkyMarkD

You don't have to pay for the meter to be fixed; it's their property not yours.

As others have said, the closing reading was probably wrong which means that the previous occupier has paid them too much in their final bill.

You can't simply provide them with an artificially high reading, or they will get very suspicious if a meter reader reads a lower reading at some point in the future. Better that they correct the opening reading (and hence the previous occupier's closing reading) and charge everyone the right amount.

mrsmcinnes

the reason they are asking for another reading a week apart is so they can calculate your usage. then they can use this to re-estimate what your start reading ought to have been. Unless you have a key meter in which the company should have payment reads on their system

Kavanne

spiro wrote: »

How are the readings displayed on the meter? Is it like the mileomitter in a car or a series of dials each with 0 to 9?

Yeah it's dials... I did right down a meter reading on the day we completed but I have Nooooo idea where I put it. I TRIED to give it to them when I registered as living here but they said no it's OK we have a final reading from the prev. owner I thought that was a bit off and I knew I shouldn't have trusted it.

whatatwit

The dial meters are a pain to read.
At the moment, the current read is 100 units less. For us, that is just over 1 weeks usage.
Soooo, personally, I would provide a reading that is about 300 higher than the May reading. If they query a low usage, you could say not fully moved in, or have been working away
Maybe say that you got confused and mixed up your numbers.
Then keep an eye on the meter and try and do a weekly read.

I did post on another thread (kymblogs) I think, that one dial on my old meter was running fast, so that when one of the dials was approaching 9, the next dial moved on too soon. That might be what has happened to you.