Major issue with electricity meter

Observer2015

Hi all,

I appreciate this is a long post but I've tried to detail absolutely everything. Really grateful if you could take the time to read/review.

I'm really hoping someone can help me on the forum. I'm not overly experienced in electric meters and the like but I've done my best research wise before posting.

I recently moved in with my partner to a flat she bought from new and has been living in since May 2014. When she moved in she received paperwork from the house builder to advise her that her meeting reading was 00029 upon moving in.

Fast forward to a few months ago, let's say around August 2015 this is when I moved in with her.

My partner had never supplied meter readings before and the meter had never actually been read by a meter reader from the company. Well, that's what the company are saying anyway. My partner states that around June 2015 time it was read at her request however the company are saying they have no trace of this.

She did submit readings by phone in August when I read the meter and it was reading 31333. When she submitted these though the company have submitted 313. I can only imagine they have done this presuming the 33 on the end was after a comma or a full stop, but it wasn't.

I didn't think anything of the reading I gave my partner of 31333 as I didn't realize that the meter would have been 0 to start with when the property was built. (Silly mistake)

Anyway... Fast forward to last week - she received an email looking for meter readings to be submitted and forwarded this to me to take care of.

I went out and got the gas reading which looks entirely normal and matches with previous meter reader read readings (they must just come and do the gas when they are in the area as the gas meter is outside so easy access, where as someone would need to be home for them to get into the flat) and then I read the electricity reading which is where the major problem lies.

The electricity reading was 31939. Yes, 31939... There are no commas, no full stops or anything on the display and it is a digital single meter, so no buttons to bring up more numbers.

Now whilst the variance between 31939 and 31333 seems normal over a 3 month period I'm at a loss as to what could have caused the reading to go from 00029 to 31333 between May 2014 and August 2015 and I'm not really sure what to do!!

The company are sending out a fault engineer to look at the meter on Monday but I'm not confident there will be a fault as it seems from reading that this is rather rare?

Last night before bed I took the reading again and it was 31944 and switched off everything with the exception of the TV (sky+), our phone chargers, the boiler and the fridge freezer. I woke this morning (8 hours later) to see it had only moved forward to 31945 so that would appear normal?

I've done the same when i've left today so expect when I go home (in another 8 hours) for it to have moved forward 1 or 2 points again.

If that has happened by the time I go home I plan on each night trying a room at a time to see what's causing the meter to go really fast and then isolate each appliance in that room to work out if there is a particular one causing the problem?

Is there anything else I can do? What do I do if I find there is a particular appliance at fault here?

You'll understand my partner and I are concerned about the potential bill we may be liable for. I used some online calculator and worked this out to be around £4,500...

Thank you all so much for your time and I hope you can help.

[Deleted User]

Is the meter make Ampy , a small white digital meter? Also Landys and Gyr do the same small meter.This meter is known on here for adding units.
We had a thread on here a few weeks ago with exactly the same problem

Observer2015

Hi,

The meter make I believe is a Landis Gyr+

I'm not at home just home so can't actually check but from a quick google search I believe this is the case.

When you say adding units, do you mean adding single number or adding numbers at the start/end of the display?

Do you have a link to the thread and what action should I take?

Thanks

MeterMan

If you can get your usage so low that the red light on the meter comes on, it is recognising no electricity is passing through it.

Observer2015

MeterMan wrote: »

If you can get your usage so low that the red light on the meter comes on, it is recognising no electricity is passing through it.

Is this something I should be trying to do?

I didn't mention that when the meter is working the right hand light appears to be flashing red - but I'm of the understanding that this simply means the meter is working...

[Deleted User]

Observer2015 wrote: »

Hi,

The meter make I believe is a Landis Gyr+

I'm not at home just home so can't actually check but from a quick google search I believe this is the case.

When you say adding units, do you mean adding single number or adding numbers at the start/end of the display?

Do you have a link to the thread and what action should I take?

Thanks

Digital meter adding 26 units a day on 4-11-2015..maybe you can get some info from this thread

Observer2015

I'll search for this just now - any other advice would be appreciated.

I've just realised something else also.

Our gas meter serial number matches the bill but our electricity meter serial number doesn't.

I'm not quite sure what this means though in practical terms but it can't be right?

[Deleted User]

Flat dwellers frequently get the actual meter mixed up.do the "kettle " test..Watch the meter when kettle is on.red light should flash quite quickly. when kettle switches off red light flashing rate slows.

Observer2015

sacsquacco wrote: »

Flat dwellers frequently get the actual meter mixed up.do the "kettle " test..Watch the meter when kettle is on.red light should flash quite quickly. when kettle switches off red light flashing rate slows.

Ok I will give this a try when I get home tonight.

Can I clarify then, does this mean that potentially the meter in my cupboard is in fact measuring the electricity being consumed by another flat, so entirely wired up incorrectly?

If so is there a way that the engineer will be able to check this on Monday when they visit?

lstar337

Observer2015 wrote: »

Can I clarify then, does this mean that potentially the meter in my cupboard is in fact measuring the electricity being consumed by another flat, so entirely wired up incorrectly?

If so is there a way that the engineer will be able to check this on Monday when they visit?

Yes, you need to get this checked.

Observer2015

lstar337 wrote: »

Yes, you need to get this checked.

Ok - will the engineer from the supplier coming on Monday be able to trace whether the meter in our cupboard is reading the usage from the other flat or do I need to get this checked by some other means?

Thanks