Faulty Electricity Meter?

Neil49

My last electricity bill indicated a dramatic increase in electricity consumption (almost 3 fold in kWh terms) compared with previous years so I have been taking more frequent readings and being vigilant with what is left running.

The situation didn't improve so I recently purchased an Efergy energy monitor. The results in only the first week were worrying in that the monitor reported usage I would expect whereas my electricity meter showed high usage.

I contacted Scottish Power and they asked me to take daily readings for a week and report back. I have also been analysing the figures against my energy monitor and discovered that while I was away from home for a 24 hour period my meter reading increased by 9 kWh whereas the monitor recorded usage of just over 2 kWh for the same time span!

Prior to phoning Scottish Power I took the drastic step of switching the power off at the mains i.e the house had no power and the energy monitor reported zero usage. At this point I took a meter reading (9491.0) and 1 hour later I took a second reading which was 9491.4

In other words, in that hour my meter clocked up usage of 0.4 kwh while the house had no power running whatsoever. I left it a further 30 minutes and the meter showed 9491.6

Before you ask, the house is detached (just over 4 years old), there is only me living there and I can see the meter box from my lounge window, so no one is linked into my supply. Everything is running in metric including the flashing red light on the meter and my energy monitor.

I phoned Scottish Power but upon trying to explain the situation I was constantly told that I don't get billed for minor units of power!!!! I pointed out that if I had run the test for 3 hours then it would have clocked up a full unit in which case would she do anything then! At that point the conversation ended with her saying she would pass the figures onto a manager who would call me.

From the 1st of May to 9th my monitor shows total consumption of 35 kWh while my meter shows 102 kWh

Has anyone out there come across a similar situation to this or have I got something totally wrong.

I'm going away on holiday for 2 weeks from this weekend so there's not a lot I can do for now but I find the whole situation quite worrying.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

sithmaster

simply, i would insist that they send an engineer to test the meter and replace if faulty (sounds faulty), as a supplier they have a duty to make sure meters are as accurate as possible

Terrylw1

This is a strange one because you appear to have more than one problem:

1 - the meter is potentially "speeding" i.e. its over tolerance.

2 - the meter keeps moving despite you turning everything off at the mains.

The 1st would need a Standard Load Test (SLT) to determine, which means an engineer is required to test you meter.

The 2nd is trickier. Usually you would be thinking it was either meter tampering or that you are unaware of certain appliances that are wired to your consumer unit. Has there been any redevelopment that could have caused issues in wiring? Anything else attached? I'm guessing you have already answered this in your post since mixed wiring issues are likely in properties that have been created out of a larger one.

It could just be a faulty meter causing the 2nd issue, in that is continues to advance regardless of load. If your readings always advanced at the same speed regardless if demand, it would sound like the meter is just advancing in error at the same speed and is not actually recording your demand at all. Might be worth taking readings across a day at equal intervals where your demand differs. Monitor the red dial/decimal place as well in this as you did before. If it always advances the same number of units despite different usage, it could be that its not recording based on your demand. You could probably do a kettle test to try and vary the speed to test this hypothesis.

Scottish_Power

Hi Neil49,

if you email me your details i can look into this for you, in these types of situations we would either test the meter or install a check meter for a period of around 2 weeks run alongside your service meter. I look forward to hearing from you, Thanks Lee-Anne @ scottishpower

Neil49

scottishpower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Neil49,

if you email me your details i can look into this for you, in these types of situations we would either test the meter or install a check meter for a period of around 2 weeks run alongside your service meter. I look forward to hearing from you, Thanks Lee-Anne @ scottishpower

Hi Lee-Anne,

Many thanks for your response, I have emailed you details as requested.

Regards, Neil