Electric meter started buzzing

frugglewump

The electric meter for our house is in a corner of the livingroom. I noticed tues night that it has started humming or buzzing, which it wasn't doing for the previous 2 weeks (we've only been in the house that long).

Is this something I should be concerned about? (other than it's going to annoy any guests on the sofabed). I plan to turn absolutely everything off at the wall this evening to see if that has any effect.

RoCas

Hi,

Might be a good idea to contact your electricity supplier and ask them to check it out.

frugglewump

RoCas wrote:

Hi,

Might be a good idea to contact your electricity supplier and ask them to check it out.

I would - but that's British Gas & I understand their call-out charges are horrible

RoCas

frugglewump wrote:

I would - but that's British Gas & I understand their call-out charges are horrible

We were with BG and had a very old dial type electricity meter which they decided it was time to replace with a digital one - we didn't as for a change and they didn't charge for it - I think it must just be an update programme they have once a meter reaches a certain age. So it might still be worth a call to them.

Also, our neighbours had a meter in a very inconvenient place and BG agreed to move it free of charge for them. This was, however, some years ago and BG's policy may have changed since then.

Giddytimes

You shouldn't be charged anything for a callout to look at a buzzing meter. Don't call British Gas-call the emergency number of your local electricity distributer.
I am in the Manweb(ScottishPower) area and when my meter was buzzing I called their emergency number directly and someone came out the same day(only within office hours if I remember correctly) and changed it for me.

It doesn't matter who your supplier is, the meter is the property of your local distributor so it is them that will carry out any work on it.

Different local suppliers may work differently to Manweb but it's worth a try.


Incidently if your meter is a card meter sometimes inserting a used card into the meter can stop the noise temporarily until it is fixed?

HTH

Nile

Hello Giddytimes


Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

frugglewump

RoCas wrote:

Also, our neighbours had a meter in a very inconvenient place and BG agreed to move it free of charge for them. This was, however, some years ago and BG's policy may have changed since then.

Now that is very interesting - the meter is in a *very* annoying place.

martindow

Is it the meter buzzing or one of the trip switches in the 'fuse' box? I have had a trip switch buzz when an instant water shower was running. It turned out that its rating was too low (too few amps) and it was constantly on the verge of tripping. It was changed to a higher rating and all was well.

I think if you call out your electricity supplier and they find the meter is OK and it is something else at fault you will get charged.

raymond

We had one that did that, a sharp "tap" should shut it up for a while until they replace it but if its isnt buzzing they might do nothing.

The meter is usually beside the consumer unit and even if they did move the meter they certainly wouldnt move the rest as that would be a BIG job.

If you want it replaced no questions asked, tell them the disc stops turning and the buzz gets very loud occasionally. They will replace it pronto if they think they might not be charging you enough