Check the time on your electricity meter!!!

david1976

My house is all electric heating and on an economy 10 tariff.

Whilst recently cleaning the cupboard the meter is in, I noticed that the timing on it was an hour and a half out so when I thought I was on a cheap rate I was actually on a more expensive rate.

I contacted southern electric and was told tough luck go by the clock on the meter not the real time which I found infuriating.

I contacted a company called changeworks who not only contacted southern electric but organised a new meter and a refund of all money overspent.

Southern electric recalculated units I had used at 70% cheap rate and 30% expensive rate and I got the difference recredited to my account.

My advice is to check the time on your meter and demand it is changed to the correct time if it is out.

Hope this may be of some help to people.

[Deleted User]

Hi, as a meter reader I ve found about 8 out of 10 of the old mechanical type meters to be way out.Most of the time it will be to customers gain as it will be recording cheap rate in peak morning times. The suppliers must be losing many millions over the years ( no wonder theres an imbalance.) Ime talking about the non digital ones.If you ve got one have a look at the time the pointer is pointing to as this governs the switch over period,seen as a little red square indicating night/day.The digital ones such as Ampys are usually accurate but I ve found these out occasionally.They are set to GMT throughout the year so will be on 1.30am to 8.30 am in BST for the night rate

akarobin

Hi, I have the same problem. Mother in Law recently moved into an Appt - all electric with Economy 10 tariff. I confirmed the cheap rate times with Southern Elec and dutifully set the CHtg & Hot Water time clock to take advantage of these cheap rates. After approx. 2 weeks I thought I'd check the consumption and was horrified to find the meter clock 1hr 34mins slow. I called Southern Elec and their response was 'don't worry its the clock change' I said I thought the difference between BST & GMT was 1 hr not 1hr 34mins - they eventually agreed to come and change the meter and seemed open to a negotiation about compensation. I said they had better bring 45 new meters because all the other meters in the building have incorrect time clocks - they said the individual customers need to contact them to arrange this - this implies that they can't be bothered.

david1976

akarobin wrote: »

'don't worry its the clock change'

They tried that one with me as well and tried to palm me off but as I say the company changeworks (who I was also put onto by energy saving scotland) sorted them out for me.

sacsquacco it was a new digital meter I had in the property as the property was only built april 2011 (sorry should have mentioned that)

[Deleted User]

Yes, thats it, they can t be bothered, but bare in mind that the meter itself is really nothing to do with any supplier you care to switch to.In my area the electric meters are the responsibilty of Y.E.D.L. { used to be yorkshire electric board) they own the things, i think theres some sort of rent paid by the suppliers.I have brought up my findings ( 8 out of 10 faulty) to higher management and absolutely nothing gets done.Also there are areas I work such as Worksop,Retford where eco 7 meters are the norm, very common and I can tell you the vast majority of occupiers do not make any use of the cheap night rate at all,half of them have no idea at all what they are, so any faulty timers are most likely to of benefit to the householder and a big loss to the suppliers.I am talking about the old mechanical type meters

john1

David1976

Strange that, my e10 meter is radio telemetry controlled including its internal clock, and switching periods.


My off peak supply is only available when switched on/off directly from the meter as they are on separately wired circuits back indirectly to the meter.


In theory it doesn’t matter when the switching times are as I would only have off peak supply and be charged at the off peak rate when the meter is switched. I cannot be charged at peak rate for heating unless the meter goes faulty or the manual “boost” facility is used which I don’t have fitted


I have read that in some “none standard” installations the meter does not directly control the off peak water/ heaters supply circuits / periods and relies on a separate timing switch which can get out of sync with the meter switching periods. In these cases yes you could be charged at peak rate for heating.


Perhaps others have different knowledge.


I note your location is East Lothian and Changeworks are local to you in Edinburgh, its nice to see you supporting a local company and they obtained a refund for you.


Sacsquacco
I agree with your observations re mechanical meters. I used to have a E7 meter (before e10 availability) which never showed the correct time. But no matter , the meter only ever connected the storage heaters to the off peak tariff as the originally installation was correctly carried out, by the then electricity board!

tim9966

My digital meter is out by about 25 minutes now, when I first noticed it it was out by about 10 minutes, but this is better for me as I get up about 7am and have E7 electric until 7.25am so I can use it in the mornings.

echoecho_2

When I worked for a supplier, I once rang the meter people to report this, and was told it was normal! It's designed so that there's no surge if all the properties switch over at exactly the same time. Sounds stupid, but I had to take it as gospel at the time. I was really shocked that as someone who worked in the industry, it was brand new information to me (and i regarded myself as being very good at my job) and more importantly, customers weren't being notified that the clocks on their meter might be out and to take this into account when using their energy.