Electricity Meter Readings - does this seem odd to you?

cat_saving_expert

We've been paying a fortune for electric recently (who hasn't right?) and some of our calls to the electric company have suggested that something weird is going on. Sometiems they say they owe us money, sometimes they say we owe them money - which would be weird as we've been on a key meter.

Either way, we're sure something is up so we've taken the meter readings and either we've misunderstood something, or we've got unrealistic expectations or something odd really is going on. I was hoping someone could tell me which of the above it might be :-)

Here are the reading from the meter : -
H - 7609 kwh (@ 15.16p per kwh) (£1153.5244 by my calculation)
J - 1676 kwh (@ 4.99p per kwh) (£86.63 by my calculation)
Charge/Week £3.01
Total spend £1160
Total KWH 928563

Like I say, I may have misunderstood something here, but the ratio of cheap rate to full rate seems very high to me, and the figures litterally don't add up.

Do the energy companies intentionally make this difficult to follow ? Any help anyone could give would be much appreciated.

espresso

Whenever you read your meter, do it again after 24 hours later and note the difference in the readings. e.g. H - 7619 - 7609 = 10kWh used. It looks like you are paying a standing charge of 43p per day. The ratio of cheap rate to full rate is low at approx 20%.

spiro

Looking at the register ids you have used it implies a prepayment meter, is it credit or prepayment? Is the tariff prices you are using for an E7 (2-rate) tariff?

cat_saving_expert

Thanks for your responses.

The ratio of cheap rate to full rate is low at approx 20%

That's what i thought - I know it's going to be somewhat different for everyone, but what would be the normal range?

Looking at the register ids you have used it implies a prepayment meter, is it credit or prepayment?

Prepayment

Is the tariff prices you are using for an E7 (2-rate) tariff?

If I understand the question then it's a 2 rate tarriff of 15.16p and 4.99p

Premier_2

cat_saving_expert wrote: »

...
Here are the reading from the meter : -
H - 7609 kwh (@ 15.16p per kwh) (£1153.5244 by my calculation)
J - 1676 kwh (@ 4.99p per kwh) (£86.63 by my calculation)
Charge/Week £3.01
Total spend £1160
Total KWH 928563...

I'm guessing here, but could this mean the following

H- this is the amount of daytime units you have used and the current unit price
J- this is the amount of night time units used and the current unit price.
Charge/week - this is the amount of standing charge and/or an amount that is being recovered from a debt owed.
Total spend - this is the amount you have credited the meter (or perhaps the total you have been charged*)

Total KWH - this is simply the total amount the meter has recorded. It may not tally with anything previously as the property may have been previously occupied and/or the meter may not have been zero'd when originally installed.

* Now I'm guessing this consumption in H & J screens has been over a period of perhaps a year where there have been a couple of price increases so you can't work out how much you should have been charged based purely on the above info.

espresso

Tell us what your actual weekly consumption is for normal and cheap rate units.

cat_saving_expert

I'm guessing here, but could this mean the following...

That seems logical to me, at least if I'm mad in my enterpretation then I'm not alone :rotfl:

Now I'm guessing this consumption in H & J screens has been over a period of perhaps a year where there have been a couple of price increases so you can't work out how much you should have been charged based purely on the above info

That also seems logical. Hadn't even thought of this possibility, but it would explain why it's not all adding up.

Tell us what your actual weekly consumption is for normal and cheap rate units.

I'll have to wait a week to find this out, only did the above reading this morning.

CloudedPearl

Screens on a key meter are as follows:

-A: Value of credit in meter (value of emergency credit remaining if followed by solid E)
-B: Minimum value of credit you require to purchase to take your meter out of emergency credit and back into normal credit
-C: Date (only shown on 2 rate meters)
-D: Time (only shown on 2 rate meters)
-E: Total value of credit accepted (since meter installed or last reset)
-F: Total weekly fixed charge (standing charge and debt recovery rate (if applicable))
-G: Total number of units recorded (since meter installed)
-H: Number of units used at Domestic or Day rate (since meter installed or last reset)
-I: Pence per unit for units at Domestic or Day rate
-J: Number of units used at Night or Low rate (since meter installed or last reset, only shown on 2 rate meters)
-K: Pence per unit for units at Night or Low rate (only shown on 2 rate meters)
-R: E=£x.xx Emergency credit value
-S: Total debt value remaining set on meter
-T: Weekly debt recovery rate

Be aware, screens H & J may be reset when an engineer visits to reset your meter or a new key is issued or reprogrammed, although screen G should not get reset (billing problems can occur when meter readers or customers provide screen G as the current reading when the supplier has screens H or J as the previous reading or vice versa.

As with any meter, the current reading minus the last reading will provide the actual number of units you have used. Electricity meters are generally extremely accurate and the number of units registered as being used will be precisely the number of units you have actually used (whether you feel this is excessive or not) - problems generally relate to the pence per unit setting being incorrect or you being billed to invalid readings rather than the accuracy of the meter itself.

dunloadin

Nice post Clouded, expect to be cutting and pasting it a few times!