electric meter

confuseddad_2

Hi.

Round at my brothers yesterday and he has some pv panels fitted. It was a sunny day and he was raving about them, but i noticed that the dial in the electric meter was gioing backwards.

I didnt mention to him but is this legal as it will be affecting his readings. Does he have to inform somebody?

rogerblack

The installer, or him should have informed the company, who will come and replace the meter with one that doesn't go backwards.
If it's later discovered, and he's not mentioned this, he may be liable to get a shock in the future for electricity he hasn't paid for.
In practice, there have been a few reports of companies taking a _long_ time to fix this, on reporting it properly, so that could still have been the case.

Terrylw1

This is sadly common. He needs to contact his supplier about it.

If his readings are going backwards, I think it needs a backstop meter to prevent it. If you mean the meter the FIT payment is lined to, he won't get any money and it would mean the metet us faulty...not heard of this yet. So I suspect its the former and its an incorrect set up.

Its not the customers fault but you should report it. They will just get it sorted for him.

They will start to see it, I know suppliers arre picking this up as the meter reader takes the reading and its reported to the supplier as a negative advance reading. That may take some time though.

spiro

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Its not the customers fault but you should report it. They will just get it sorted for him

It is the customer fault if they failed to tell their supplier that they were have micro generation installed.

Terrylw1

spiro wrote: »

It is the customer fault if they failed to tell their supplier that they were have micro generation installed.

The distributor also sends the supplier the information that the supply is microgen capable. The supplier should use that information to ensure an error like this is spotted.

So, they share the blame. The customer doesn't know this happening until they check the meter as the OP has.

jessc_2001

Think about this logically people. Who know more about electricity supplies? The supplier, the installer or the customer? Definitely not the latter. The supplier and installer should bear responsiblility here - but the customer should also investigate thoroughly what should take place before and after installation.

Terrylw1

jessc_2001 wrote: »

Think about this logically people. Who know more about electricity supplies? The supplier, the installer or the customer? Definitely not the latter. The supplier and installer should bear responsiblility here - but the customer should also investigate thoroughly what should take place before and after installation.

And the people putting the meter in since they should know what will work and what will cause reverse running.