Think someone in building is stealing my electric

emmamc252

Please help.
We have recently moved to a new town just for 1 year for my job. We are renting an apartment in an apartment complex with 6 apartments.
The meters are pre-pay ones so you have to have credit on them before your electric will work. We go home at the weekends do we are only in the house in the evenings 5 days a week. We have had problems ftom day 1. Firstly we were putting on £30-40 and it was taking £20 or more straight away, this was found to be because the previous remnants owed nearly £1000, no idea how since it's pre-paid but the company apologised and we got money back after about 6 weeks of this.
BUT
It's still eating money!!! We went home this weekend, only things on was fridge freezer, thermostat and heating was programmed to come on Sunday night at 6pm. We checked every plug light etc, nothing in and had managed to spend £10 a day on electric ehilst we had been away!
We have lived in bigger apartments and houses for 5 years and have NEVER had bills like this.
We have phoned the company a few times and they have said our usage is accurate so we are being charged accurately for what we are using, they did say we had high usage so we explained we are either at work in day or home on weekends so we can't have high usage and they just said "well you do."
I have a 3 year old so I can't let the meter run out and have no heating for him so we are forced to keep paying £100+ per week! Similarly we xant turn the power off when we are out as we need it to keep the fridge on and again to allow the heating to start.

We are now going to record the kwh used when we are out in the day and when we go home at the weekend. Take pictures of the meter as we leave and when we come home as we cannot think of any other explanation than to assume someone is hooked into our supply. We have a 12 month rental agreement so we are stuck here for another 8 months and simply cannot afford to keep paying out like this.

Please can anyone give me advice in what to do. We will do anything, we just need this to stop.

Thankyou very much.

rogerblack

You need to first turn everything off.
Including the fridge, hot-water heater, ...

Then find out if the meter stops flashing, or turning, or whatever it does to indicate fractional units.

Does it stop - or almost so?

Now, with everything off, take a fan heater, or some other known load, and run it for an hour, constantly on.
If your heater uses 2kW, and you run it for half an hour, and it doesn't show 1kWh (one unit), something's wrong.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Owl-CM119-Energy-Monitor-Wireless-Electricity-Meter-/130487886638?pt=UK_Gadgets&hash=item1e61af232e - for example may also be of use - to measure (approximately) the instantaneous load.

Your first step is to work out what you are paying per unit - kWh.

Secondly, what tariff are you on - are your heaters storage ones?

Thirdly - once you've worked out the above, and your usage, consider switching!

t0rt0ise

Are you sure that they have stopped you paying the debt on the meter? I had one of these when I first moved in here and they kept assuring me that it was charging at the correct tariff when it wasn't. I eventually got it corrected and then had it changed for a normal meter and found the bills to be so much lower. People say that it isn't any more expensive but it is. I paid monthly DD lower than the amount I was paying on the old meter, and still after a few months they reduced my DD from £35 to £9 because I was in so much credit. I just wonder whether the prepayment meters are accurate at all or just set wrongly. They are just so expensive.

spiro

You need to check if you are on a standard tariff (same price 24/7) or an E7 tariff (reduced price for 7 hours overnight, but premium price during the other 17 hours). If you are on the latter and as you say "heating was programmed to come on Sunday night at 6pm" this will be costing you a fortune as you should not really be using the heating during the 'day' hours only the 'night' hours.

To help us help you put the key in your meter and post the details of each screen (screen letter and value) in this thread.

nuttyp

When you got the refund from the electricity company, did they come out and reset the meter? if they havent sent anyone it sounds as tho your still paying a daily charge for someone elses debt!!

dunloadin

Spiros suggestion of giving the details on your meter is a good one, it may well be that you have a debt still on it or have had a cockup on the tariff setup.

There could also be a possibility that the meter is incorrect for the type of heating you have, particulary if the flat was modernised before you moved in.

It's rare to find theft of electricity from someone else's meter (but not impossible)....you could always switch off all your lekkie for 10 minutes or so in the early evening and see who knocks on your door asking if you've had a power cut. If you do this and your meter is in a communal cupboard it may be a good idea to nip down and make sure the red led has stopped flashing, would'nt be the first time that people in flats have been putting money in the wrong meters!

dunloadin

nuttyp wrote: »

When you got the refund from the electricity company, did they come out and reset the meter? if they havent sent anyone it sounds as tho your still paying a daily charge for someone elses debt!!

The keys send reads up the line and receive any changes when they are topped up at the pay points, so unlikley anyone has been round to do it.