Querying meter acuracy

monaco87

I'm in N.Ireland on Airtricity and I'm convinced that my meter is over reading. I've used a wireless energy monitor to check usage. I know they aren't as accurate (10% tolerance according to the manufacturer) but the utility meter is showing nearly 100% more usage than the monitoring device. I've contacted them and they say that the charge is £62 to check the meter. A charge is reasonable to cover their costs but here's the rub, they say that charge is NOT refundable if the meter is found to be faulty. So I pay to help identify their faulty kit.

Is this right, does anyone else have similar experiences?

Peter

j2011

So I pay to help identify their faulty kit

If it is faulty you don't pay.


You can quite easily check your meter yourself.

Turn everything off and check the meter isn't turning.

Then put a 1 kW fire or 2 kW kettle on and observe the meter for 5 minutes to see how much it has moved then calculate how much electricity you have used.

When you switch on a 2 kW kettle what reading is on your monitor?

monaco87

A 3KW kettle reads about 2.9Kw. When the power is off the meter doesn't turn but it makes a loud buzzing noise.

j2011

When the power is off the meter doesn't turn but it makes a loud buzzing noise

Mine doesn't.

Not all meters are the same.

Premier_2

monaco87 wrote: »

...I've contacted them and they say that the charge is £62 to check the meter. A charge is reasonable to cover their costs but here's the rub, they say that charge is NOT refundable if the meter is found to be faulty. So I pay to help identify their faulty kit.

Is this right, ...

No

http://www.airtricity.com/knowledge-base/kb-meter-read/what-do-i-do-if-i-think-my-electricity-meter-is-faulty/?section=ROIDOM

monaco87

Premier wrote: »

No

I think thats from the Republic of Ireland area of their site. In N.Ireland the URL's have a /uk/ element. the TOC's may be the same but I can't find anything to say this applies in N.I.

Premier_2

Try this then

http://www.airtricity.com/knowledge-base/kb-meter-read/what-do-i-do-if-i-think-my-electricity-meter-is-faulty/?section=NIDOM

It now says Northern Ireland at the top (with the option to change)

KimYeovil

monaco87 wrote: »

but here's the rub, they say that charge is NOT refundable if the meter is found to be faulty. So I pay to help identify their faulty kit.

Where do they say this?

monaco87

Just as an update, after much complaining I've had a check meter installed for the last while. Heres the scores on the doors since the check meter was installed:

Oringinal meter unit used - 197
check meter units used - 104

That's wayyyyy out. Any idea how this gets resolved, how far back can I go to get a refund.

Thanks

spiro

My understanding is they only go back as far as when you reported the issue althougth they may monitor for useage for a period of time and then compare this to your read history and work backwards.

The problem is determining when the fault started.

monaco87

Just to close this one of for interest. The meter turned out to be over reading by 89%. NIE went back through my bills and fund a jump in 2008. They calculated the over read for the period and sent me a nice cheque. Some of the over read happend while I was with Airtricity. Total refund around £1400. Credit to NIE for the work in preparing the reports and for all the leg work they did.