Confusing Electricity Meter

InsideInsurance

So, our rented flat has its electricity meter inside a store cupboard in the communal area which we dont have the key for as the landlord uses it for storing their own things. When we moved in we were given a meter read and werent able to validate it.

Now, finally have access to the cupboard today and seem to be having a slight "problem".... It is a digital meter (Siemens S2AM-100) and the display cycles between to values one is labeled "1" and the other is labeled "Tot". Looking at the LCD screen there is also a 2, 3 & 4 present but they never light up. The difference between the two values it is displaying is about 5,000 units (we've been in the place for 15 months)

Speaking to the Electricity company they are saying that it is a single rate meter and so they have no idea why it is showing more than one reading or what the difference is between them and suggest that I take half a day off work and try to coordinate with the landlord and get it checked. Naturally I dont want to take a half day off.

So, does anyone have any knowledge of electricity meters and can tell me whats going on and which of the two I should be using?

macman

Unless you are on a dual rate tarif (E7) then the register 1 and total reads should be the same.
If you are on E7, then the 2 registers (1&2) should combine to give the total.
Your LL is not allowed to deny you access to the meter, you should have enforced your rights earlier than at 15m. How does he expect the meter reader to access it? This presumably means that al your bills for 15m have been estimated?
Which reading corresponds with your most recent actual reading on the bill?

Inspectorman

I'd go off R1 - If it's the meter I think it is (small grey rectangle shape with lcd display at top) then they do sometimes have a Total screen that doesn't start from zero. I've only seen a couple and that was when I was reading - not seen one while fitting.

Atidi

InsideInsurance wrote: »

So, our rented flat has its electricity meter inside a store cupboard in the communal area which we dont have the key for as the landlord uses it for storing their own things. When we moved in we were given a meter read and werent able to validate it.

Now, finally have access to the cupboard today and seem to be having a slight "problem".... It is a digital meter (Siemens S2AM-100) and the display cycles between to values one is labeled "1" and the other is labeled "Tot". Looking at the LCD screen there is also a 2, 3 & 4 present but they never light up. The difference between the two values it is displaying is about 5,000 units (we've been in the place for 15 months)

Speaking to the Electricity company they are saying that it is a single rate meter and so they have no idea why it is showing more than one reading or what the difference is between them and suggest that I take half a day off work and try to coordinate with the landlord and get it checked. Naturally I dont want to take a half day off.

So, does anyone have any knowledge of electricity meters and can tell me whats going on and which of the two I should be using?

Ask for a Saturday morning appointment, or a weekday evening appointment, from the supplier to arrange for getting it checked out

Alternatively, do you have much time off in about a month? If so, and the supplier is working some of those days, perhaps that would be a more convenient time to arrange an appointment for?

[Deleted User]

I dont recognise that meter, its not something I come accross in my area. Maybe best to check with the supplier to see if you are on an eco7 tariff. we would only know by how many registers we imput into our handhelds if it was that tariff, Single rate tariff I would go for the " TOT " reading.
If you are an eco 7 tariff you then would have to use "1" and "2" readings, and see which register moves in the daytime hours to determine day from night

InsideInsurance

macman wrote: »

Unless you are on a dual rate tarif (E7) then the register 1 and total reads should be the same.
If you are on E7, then the 2 registers (1&2) should combine to give the total.
Your LL is not allowed to deny you access to the meter, you should have enforced your rights earlier than at 15m. How does he expect the meter reader to access it? This presumably means that al your bills for 15m have been estimated?
Which reading corresponds with your most recent actual reading on the bill?

Our tarriff is not an E7 one and according to their records our meter cannot do it. Its a new build and has gas central heating so is unlikely to be E7 (thankfully the gas meter is inside the property)

Opening read was given to us as "05297"
1 now reads 11598
2, 3 & 4 are greyed out and dont show
Tot now reads 17737

We are the first ever occupants of the property but it was empty for 18 months from competition to us moving in as the builders went bust. Elec company says they took on the property on 5 Jan 2010 with an opening read of 04765 and both that read and our opening read was done by one of their people.

Yes it does mean we have had 15 months of estimate bills but have been massively over paying because the amount they've estimated was far too low.

Unfortunately the "landlord" is a company and they are 9-5 mon-fri type organisation. They are accommodating between those hours but talking of out of hours is a no. Both the wife and I work away from the town and so the rare occasions we are here during the weekday day tends to be due to sickness or emergency.

The supplier originally said they only do half day appointments of 8-12 or 12-6 mon - fri..... after some pushing theyve given a 2 hour slot but claim they dont do evenings or weekends hence needing to take a half day off

[Deleted User]

have had a look at a picture of that Seimens S21A -100 meter. Its a very common meter, now not used from new. We always go for the Total reading on this meter, unless our handhelds are configured for eco 7 reads. The curser blinks when pointing to the rate in progress

InsideInsurance

I just wonder therefore why rate 1 is lower than rate Tot

Secondly, if Tot is what is correct, how we've used £1,500 of electricity in a two bed flat with all gas heating. Our last place our bills were just under £60 a month and the only significant change is we have changed our TV from CRT to LED so would be expecting things to be the same or lower. If the Rate 1 is to be used the spend is about right.

macman

Forget £ spend, what is your annual electricity kWH usage? What your monthly DD is tells us nothing about your actual usage. £1,500 over what period? Average electricity usage for a property with gas CH and DHW is about 3,300kWh annually.

[Deleted User]

possibly that meter was nt new when it was installed, or it was previously used as an eco 7 meter and now is a single rater. Is the curser blinking on the tot display. Its a bit baffling to me too as normally when I see that , the two readings are the same. are both the readings advancing at the same time.? That meter cant be used to advance from zreo for different occupiers like prepays can. the Tot ( unless its been put in as an exchanged meter ) is the units used from installation at your address. Is there a meter exchange card somewhere around the meter ?

InsideInsurance

macman wrote: »

Forget £ spend, what is your annual electricity kWH usage? What your monthly DD is tells us nothing about your actual usage. £1,500 over what period? Average electricity usage for a property with gas CH and DHW is about 3,300kWh annually.

Its over a period of 15 months.

Assuming the number for the opening reading done by the elec company was correct then we've used either 6,301 kWh or 12,440 kWh over the space of 15 months depending on which of the two figures on the meter we use.

possibly that meter was nt new when it was installed, or it was previously used as an eco 7 meter and now is a single rater. Is the curser blinking on the tot display. Its a bit baffling to me too as normally when I see that , the two readings are the same. are both the readings advancing at the same time.? That meter cant be used to advance from zreo for different occupiers like prepays can. the Tot ( unless its been put in as an exchanged meter ) is the units used from installation at your address. Is there a meter exchange card somewhere around the meter ?

There is no cursor per say, along the top of the LCD are 5 black boxes, the first 4 are numbered 1 - 4 and the last one says Tot.

The meter starts with everything on the screen "lit up" for 5 seconds, it then goes blank and then comes back with box 1 lit up and the lower reading for 5 seconds, then blank and then goes to the everything lit up for 5 seconds again and then blank and then to the second higher reading with the Tot box lit up for 5 seconds and then blank and then starts the cycle again.

I'm not technical about these things so will have to go with a descriptive response....

It is a new build development but the development was dormant for about a year to 18 months because the original builders went bust and the bank took possession. The development is 2 terraces behind each other with each terrace comprising of 4 houses and one block of 3 flats (one ground floor, two first floor). The houses are all up for sale and the flats are being rented out and managed by a property management company (what their relationship to the bank is I have no idea but they are the ones named on the rental agreement)

We were the first ones into our flat and out of the all the flats we are the only ones not to have our elec meter in our own property (even the other ground floor one in the other block has its own). The Elec company says they've only had two meter reads since Jan 2010 and both were done by their meter people. The first was done when the meter was "commissioned" (I think it was the word they used) and a the second Aug 2011 which was 2 days before we moved into the flat and was used as our opening read. Both were just a single value and within about 200 units of each other.

In the cupboard where our meter is there is the 3 white boxes, inside one is our small meter, the big fuse thing (said I wasnt technical) and thats it. Inside the second is a fuse box and a second very large meter and the fuse box is labeled with things like Sky Distribution, Parking Lights etc and the Landlord says that is their meter. The final box contains a very large metal box with 3 trip switches in the middle (didnt notice any labeling on them)

I did check a few minutes later of the two reads and the (1) had advanced one unit but the (Tot) hadnt. I checked again later and both (1) and (Tot) had changed but my torch died before I got time to write the new figures down.