Some advice on coin operated electricity meters

Stone_Fox

I've just moved into a studio flat in a big blog of similar studio flats where every studio has it's own coin meter.

The problem is, it seems to be charging me an absolute fortune!

I've read another thread on here saying that the landlord can't charge me more than he's paying but how do I work out what he's charging me from the meter? And what do I do if he won't provide me with evidence of what he's paying?

markharding557

You should ask him what the unit rate is first
if he has nothing to hide then he will tell you,the charge should not be more than 14p

Stone_Fox

thanks, yes I'll ask him what he's paying but is there anyway of telling from the coin meter in my studio what I'm being charged?

macman

Run it to empty, note the meter reading, run it to empty and note the meter reading again. Deduct one from the other to calculate the units used. Divide total cost by units used to calculate unit cost.
Edit, should have said the obvious-put some more money in it once run to empty and meter reading noted!

Stone_Fox

thanks mate, i'll try it the run it empty trick.

How come it shouldn't be more than 14p? And what is normal / fair?

[Deleted User]

Hi,



if it's this type of meter, on the coin slot, if you look round the outer edge it should tell you how many units/coin.

macman

Stone_Fox wrote: »

thanks mate, i'll try it the run it empty trick.

How come it shouldn't be more than 14p? And what is normal / fair?

Whats normal is what you would pay per unit in your region.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

managed to get a close up but not the full picture,



on the unused units face there should be a pointer at A or B, then on coin slot mechanism look for the A or B circle, think A is the outer, then, where the coin box fits over the locking nut there should be a wee pin telling you how many units you are getting for each coin.

Stone_Fox

I looked, at it says 'B' rate, and I can see the rate on the dial, but I can't see any indicator of which rate it's charging me.

I tried the run it empty, read it, put 50p in, run it empty and read it thing but either I wrote the first reading down wrong or there's something wrong with it;- I read it half way and it seemed to go DOWN, then back up for the final reading...

It seems to be charging me around £5 per day to run an old fridge (the type with the little open fronted freezer box at the top) and a convection heater set to the bare minimum to keep the room warm.

Any thoughts?

spiro

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

managed to get a close up but not the full picture,



on the unused units face there should be a pointer at A or B, then on coin slot mechanism look for the A or B circle, think A is the outer, then, where the coin box fits over the locking nut there should be a wee pin telling you how many units you are getting for each coin.

Surely if the dial on the left shows the unused units and you put a pound in the meter you will see how many uints are added. That will tell you how many to the pound and therefore roughly how much per unit.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

as spiro says that'll give you a rough idea, the 'pin' that tells you how many units per coin is off picture, but should be roughly in the 7 o'clock area, where the coin box sits on locking nut.

Edit: if it's set as in the picture, looks as if about 2.5 units per coin.