Suspicious Electrical Interruption

gosanke01

This may be a l ong shot, but i have had extremely excessive electric bills for more than 8 years. Please belive me when i tell you that i have had it invesigated in everyway possible, including having 3 different meters installed....anyway, the story is, next to our property is a building which my neighbour obtained planning for, for a residential house. He never got around to converting it to a house and it has remained full of engeering equipment. Early this year he died and relatives have inherited it and have spent several months clearing it out, with the use of heavy lifting machinery. Today we have an electrical interruption (of which we were informed about in writing). When leaving for work this morning i have 4 western power vechicles outside our property, countless workmen and a very large generator has been put to the front of my neighbours building. I just wondered if anyone might have an inkling as to what may be going on?

Andy_WSM

If next door to you was industrial then it's highly likely they had a sub station or transformer of some sort in there to run industrial equipment. If the place is being converted to residential this won't be needed and requires disconnection, which obviously affects your supply too. Nothing particularly suspicious about that?

matelodave

The really easy way would be to go and ask them - why would you think that someone on a forum 300 miles away would be able to guess any better than you can.

gosanke01

We are not in an industrial area, we live in a small village of about 50 houses.

I accept matelodave's comment, but i work 7 days a week and am only home in the evenings, and beleive it or not i have not seen the owners to ask them.

Anyway, sorry for the thread, as i said it was a long shot and thank you for your time in replying.

Andy_WSM

gosanke01 wrote: »

We are not in an industrial area, we live in a small village of about 50 houses.

I'm not suggesting you live in an industrial area, however, you said:

anyway, the story is, next to our property is a building which my neighbour obtained planning for, for a residential house. He never got around to converting it to a house and it has remained full of engeering equipment. Early this year he died and relatives have inherited it and have spent several months clearing it out, with the use of heavy lifting machinery.

Engineering equipment that needs heavy lifting machinery to move it out does not plug in to a domestic electrical outlet!

Anyway, as Matelodave said, go and ask. I made assumptions based on your post.

lstar337

Ask a Western Power Distribution guy. I'm sure they'll give you enough info to explain why your supply needed to be shut off.

bryanb

Maybe next door was wired into your supply, your bills will drop if they were, so that's good.
Are you sure it was a generator?

gosanke01

No i am not totally sure it was a generator, so i could be wong.

I am going to read my meter when i get home tonight and i am sending my daughter over to the house, to ask WPD what they are doing.

Thank you all for your help. I propably am a bit paranoid and i have found it useful to be able to talk on this forum.

BJV

matelodave wrote: »

The really easy way would be to go and ask them - why would you think that someone on a forum 300 miles away would be able to guess any better than you can.

Its not bash a newbie day. I completely understand the rational behind your post but a little harsh. I really do but the OP was only asking. MSE has loads of experts from all different walks of life so not unreasonable to ask.


OH Perhaps there is something to the very erratic bills don't know? Perhaps all just coincidence? Best option is to get the electric supplier to investigate.

gosanke01

Just thought i would mention that i did post a thread back in 2010 with the name Redspider - it was about our high electric bills and the fact that we have 22 solar panels installed aswell. It took me 15 months to resolve the problem with the Solar Panels. The company finally agreed to come out and check the equipment only to find that two feeds had been put into one so they agreed to pay me £1500 compensation.

We are now happy that we are getting a good return on the investment but our electric is still averaging £550 per month. The energy company has been out on three occassions and have changed the meter. I have also paid for an independant electrical surveyor to come out but they could not find anything either. So after years of battling with energy company i have given up as it was beginning to make me ill with all the worry and anxiety. It's not that i can afford to pay the bills, i just have to work harder, thus the reason i work 7 days a week. I don't want to move house because my elderly mother lives with me and i don't think she could cope with moving. Thus the reason my mind starting to tick this morning when i saw all these people turn up next door this morning.

lstar337

£550/month and still ongoing?

IS your meter registering your generation as import by mistake?

Have you tried isolating your solar array for a day to see if your consumption goes down?