Worryingly large electricity meter reading

SamIAm_3-2

Hello,
I have just received an electricity bill from Southern Electric. The first reading I performed on the meter was 20862 when we moved in on the 23rd December 2007. We had estimated readings after that until a guy came round to read the meter on the 19th June 2008. The reading then was 22644 which is 1782 Kwh for the 6 months; about right for 2 adults in a small 2 bedroom flat. Furthermore I checked the meter a couple of weeks after this and the reading was under 23000 (I forget the exact figure).
We recently received a bill for the period up to 23rd December 2008. The estimated reading was 24072 and I thought I would check the actual meter reading and correct it online. To my horror the reading was 40653; a shocking 18009 Kwh for the 6 months from June.

Since I found this out, I started checking the meter readings over a number of days and found the average daily consumption is 10 Kwh per day (3 at night & 7 during the day) with normal appliance use. I cannot fathom how we could possibly have used this much electricity over the 6 month period.
My initial reaction was that the meter was broken (a view shared by Southern Electric when I told them my meter reading), but since I have started looking on a daily basis this appears not to be the case. By my calculations I would have had to have left a 3Kw electric heater on permanently from June to account for the discrepancy!
Southern Electric has requested that I take another reading in a week so that they can check that the meter is behaving correctly. I am starting to get worried that I will be forced into paying for the units if next week's meter reading does not show any discrepancies (it doesn't look like it will at this point), even though I am convinced we could not have used all of these units.
We are mainly gas with only the lights (including a security light), fridge/freezer, computers, oven, TV equipment, dishwasher and washing machine on electricity. All of this is the same equipment that we've had since we moved in with no additions, and most of the time these appliances are off with the exception of the fridge/freezer and one computer.
Has anyone got any ideas as to how the reading could have been so high? Does anyone know if the meter could still be broken even though it looks as if it is behaving correctly since I have started testing our daily usage?
I can test each and every appliance I use individually, but I suspect this won't tell me much since the average daily reading does not seem abnormal and we've used each appliance during this time.

Thanks in advance!

Magentasue

I'm assuming you don't have an immersion heater? Or do you?

Is there any way someone else could have hooked into your supply over the summer?

SamIAm_3-2

Hi Magentasue,

thanks for replying.

We don't have an immersion heater. We are exclusively gas (combi-boiler) central heating.

Magentasue wrote: »

Is there any way someone else could have hooked into your supply over the summer?

Possibly. I don’t know how one would go about doing this.
There are only two of us in the flat and only two keys and there has been no-one in the flat who would have had access to our meter cupboard for any amount of time. When I say no-one, I mean no-one that we don’t absolutely trust (i.e. friends & family).

How can I check to see if the meter has been hooked into?

Magentasue

SamIAm wrote: »

Possibly. I don’t know how one would go about doing this.
There are only two of us in the flat and only two keys and there has been no-one in the flat who would have had access to our meter cupboard for any amount of time. When I say no-one, I mean no-one that we don’t absolutely trust (i.e. friends & family).

How can I check to see if the meter has been hooked into?

I really don't know - it would seem more likely if your meters were in a communal area.

From what you say, your meter is and was working normally and you're using about 10kwh a day which is average. But in the summer you used a massive amount. Logically, it would seem that your meter is fine, so you must have used the electricity but you have no idea what could have used so much. A faulty immersion heater could do it, can't think of anything else.

Hopefully, other people will come along with some constructive advice - hope you get it sorted.

SamIAm_3-2

Magentasue wrote: »

From what you say, your meter is and was working normally and you're using about 10kwh a day which is average. But in the summer you used a massive amount. Logically, it would seem that your meter is fine, so you must have used the electricity but you have no idea what could have used so much. A faulty immersion heater could do it, can't think of anything else.

Hopefully, other people will come along with some constructive advice - hope you get it sorted.

Thanks, so do I :-)!

Like you say, I still haven't ruled out the possibility that I did use all those units - especially since the meter looks like it's working OK at the moment. It's just that I can't think of anything that we possess that would use all those electricity units in such as small amount of time!

credit_crunch_victim

not sure if i am reading this right but that works out at 100kwh a day from june to december
you sure nobody has a canabis factory in your loft or next door

SamIAm_3-2

credit_crunch_victim wrote: »

not sure if i am reading this right but that works out at 100kwh a day from june to december
you sure nobody has a canabis factory in your loft or next door

As far as I am concerned you are reading this right:
19th June - 23rd December = 187 days
So 18009 units consumed in 187 days is around 96.3 units per day.

Ha, I almost wish that next door had a cannabis factory - at least that gives a physical explanation for the "missing" units. In my current state of desperation I would feel happier with this explanation than my current situation. Disclaimer: we know our neighbours very well and are certain they aren't producing copius amounts of cannabis! I think it important to make that clear

moneygonemad

I am going through the same problem at the moment. We live in a one bed flat and although our spring and autumn bills were about right, we apparently used approx 5 times the amount of electricity over the summer months compared. We are also with Southern Electric - makes me think there's something dodgy going on to be honest. They have been less than helpful too - they are finally sending out an engineer to check the meter even though we've been complaining for at least 3 months. They have recalculated our bills so many times we now don't know what we have paid for. According to their bills, there is also a full two weeks when we didn't use any units at all!

What's going on?! Hope you manage to sort yours out - make sure you write to them so that everything is documented. Don't be bullied into paying the extra unless they can come up with a satisfactory answer for the huge discrepancy.

SamIAm_3-2

I am sorry to hear that you have been having the same problem. It's interesting, although possibly coincidental, that you are with Southern Electric as well. I'm also sorry that they have not been very helpful in your case - I may regret saying this but the two times I have spoken with them they have been very understanding and helpful; perhaps I've just been lucky with the people I have spoken to. Nevertheless your advice to keep this issue in writing is sound, and is advice I will be following from this point on.

moneygonemad wrote: »

What's going on?! Hope you manage to sort yours out - make sure you write to them so that everything is documented. Don't be bullied into paying the extra unless they can come up with a satisfactory answer for the huge discrepancy.

I really wish I had a remotely plausable theory for what is happenning in both our cases but despite a lot of thinking i've not been able to come up with one - hence my inital post. I'm very grateful for everyones suggestions and it makes me feel a little better that I am not the only one in this bizzare situation.

I hope that next week Southern Electric and I will be able to come up with a mutually acceptable agreement and move on. I really hope you are able to reach one too! Time will tell I guess. In any case I will continue to post updates on my situation.

credit_crunch_victim

i would buy an energy monitor and see where and when this amount of electricity is being used
that is a weeks worth for a lot of people

Belnahua

Have you considered turning off your fuseboard and seeing if the meter is still going round?

Is it also possible that when the meter clicked into the 30000, it double clicked over to the 4 with a physical error in the counting mechanism?