Meter broken so happy days?

downshifter98

Hi.

2 days ago the electric went off in our street and stayed off for at least 4 hours. Today I checked our electric meter (not the spinning disk part - that is fine) and the digital reading is just flashing lots of zeros; I rang Scottish Power and they have booked an appointment in 3 weeks time for unit to be replaced. I asked how my usage would be measured in the meantime and was told that it would not be measured again until new unit in place and between the last reading (sadly only about a week ago) and the new one I would have free electric - her actual words were 'turn on all your christmas lights and heaters for 3 weeks' - I double checked this by asking surely they would charge me based on last years usage but she said that wouldn't be the case and repeated 'free electric for 3 weeks' - now I'm a cynical chap so I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? At the very worst I will get charged a guesstimate amount so Mrs and I have already stripped down to our undies and turned on every leccy heater haha.

Scrounger

I wouldn't notice a meter fault like that :beer:
Scrounger

jessmist

This Happened to my in-laws with there gas meter.
They had no gas usage recorded from September last year. Then the energy company had trouble with the meter fitters. So the Meter never got replaced with a working meter till the end of January this year. So they had a period of 5 months with the meter not working.
British gas agreed a meter reading with my in-laws based on the previous years avareage But this was considerably lower than we were expecting.
And they were able to use the heating as much of the winter months as they wanted and not worry about the cost.

leeruddecology

Sounds great but I would be careful and only use what you normally would. That way if some how they do bill you for usage then your be fine as you don't lead a life of luxury to only have to pay for it. But if you really don't have to pay then brilliant. You might regret not having that hot tub on 24/7!

I wonder what would have happened if you just left it and didn't report it. Perhaps based on last years usage as no company can afford to just give free energy away?

Keep us updated :-)

[Deleted User]

Digital electric meters are always going faulty, especially the little white Ampy make and others of the same size. They go blank screen, no flashing anything , but I can tell you OP, that never are you offered "free " electric until it gets changed. Its not even the suppliers electricity in the first place to be giving away. The 3 big suppliers I read meters for, thats British Gas, Scot Power, and EDF all use an estimated usage for the meter down time and many times its a lot longer than 3 weeks, could even be 3 months .I would nt take a call centre employees words as gospel truth, maybe he/she was just in a festive mood. I think her line manager would take a different view of a report of a faulty meter.
what I think the call centre advice meant was that you will be charged your usual monthly payment regardless of what you use. You wont really know for sure if you re using more or less . Its a bit wasteful for them to say use more than you need. The blank screen meters cant be recovered but dont be so sure of a flashing row of digits, I think that that meter can be recovered to show the correct reading

stator

Assume they are going to charge you your usual monthly payment, but yes since they can't tell how much you've used that does seem to mean that you could use more than average.

downshifter98

My own feeling is that they will estimate our usage but I will, of course, explain that we were away for much of Christmas and the new year and therefore used very little....;) it's the least I can do as their call centre advice was very clear on the subject despite my emphasising concern on how much I will be charged. I will update as and when but thanks for all sage advice.....sorry have to go now - long queue at door of neighbours with extension leads....:rotfl:

Andy_WSM

I'm looking forward to the hilarity of your new thread in January: "Scottish Power managed to recover the readings from the meter and are trying to bill me my actual usage. They say I owe £1,000, how can I avoid paying this."

Cardew

As indicated above, my understanding is that in most cases they can recover consumption details from meter even if it is not displayed - several posts on this subject - so 'don't count your kWh before etc etc!

downshifter98

It's no worries (and the neighbour comment was just a little joke, obviously). All we will tend to do is use a little more leccy for heating in place of central heating and be a bit more relaxed re using leccy over Christmas and New Year - 3 weeks of that shouldn't break the bank but if it's a freebie/cheapy then happy days.

lvf

From experience, the faulty meter will mean you will have a period of non-measurable energy. As for those who have earlier mentioned about recovering readings from the meter, this cannot be done. You will still be billed, but to estimated reads up to the point of removal.

The estimation is normally done by taking your actual consumption per day from actual reads, and if they are fair, they will ask you for reads about 2 weeks after the exchange to check your consumption now as well. With both these figures, an average per day is calculated and taken from the date of your last actual read to the the day of the exchange.

So technically anything over your normal use, yes you could see as 'free' energy.