I'm confused by my electricity reading!

tryingtoruletheworld

Hi

I've just taken a meter reading for a quarterly bill, and it's gone from 72629 in October to 15404 today. As it's showing a lower number, does that mean it's gone all the way up to 99999 and started again at 0? If so, it seems like a lot of electricity, I live in a one bed house, but it is all electric - emersion heater, shower, cooker, appliances, heaters (no central heating), but I'm not particularly wasteful with any of it and only put the water on once a day etc.

Does this sound wrong? How do I check the meter is working correctly? I haven't lived here all that long so haven't got a lot to compare it to.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Sounds like you ve got a "dial " meter, 6 little rotating dials. very easy to read incorrectly.

Cardew

If your meter readings were correct, that would mean you had used 42,775kWh and a bill from Oct would be over £5,000!!

So it is fair to assume that something is amiss!!

Firstly, is it a digital meter or a dial meter? If the latter it is very easy to make a big mistake if you do not realise that the pointers on the dial go clockwise and anti-clockwise on alternate dials, see:

Reading a dial meter
If the pointer falls between two
numbers, always read the lower number – in Fig A you would write down the
number 4.

If the pointer is directly over a number always record it – in Fig B you
would write down the number 5.



If the pointer on a dial falls between 9 and 0, reduce the reading already
taken for the dial on the left by one – for example, if your original recorded
5, reduce this to 4.



Following these instructions, the correct meter reading for the dial in the
diagram will be 44928.

Are you reading the correct meter(if outside) - could it be a neighbours?

Failing that you have a faulty meter - assuming both meter readings were correct.