High Energy Usage?

mbramwell

So... Another twist in the needlessly and endlessly confusing story... Last night before I went to bed at roughly 10:45 I took a reading, and it was recording to the day time rate. Tonight I took a reading at around 11:15 and it was recording to the night time rate, which leads me to believe that it must be switching at some time around 11? So it would seem the time being behind has no impact as in that case the meter would think it is half 10... So anyway, I've reset all my timers again to turn off at 6, assuming that it does indeed swtich at 11... Let's see if my day rate has changed in the morning!

mbramwell

Yet more confusion.... This morning I have apparently used no units of night time and 4 units of day time... What on earth is going on

matelodave

You seem to still be guessing when it switches. Mechanical clocks can be hours out rather than minutes so you need to check when it actually switches, either by watching the meter or trying to put a clock or timer on which is only powered up when on the night rate.

You can then check for how long it was on and work out when it switched.

Some suppliers have a split night-time rate, ie there are actually two periods of off peak but with an hour or so of peak rate in the middle - you'd have to check with your supplier - but I'd guess that would only work properly with a tele-switched meter.

[Deleted User]

Mechanical 24 hour timer switch have on and off pointers showing the 7 hours cheap rate and a pointer showing the actual time it thinks it is ! This could be anywhere in the 24 hours. The old analogue high/low electric meter itself has a little window on the top right hand side which also shows which rate is active. With these old meters it can be an advantage when the cheap 7 hours is skewed to a more usable time slot away from the dead of night so long as the user is aware of it. Suppliers can t and won t guarantee the accuracy of when the cheap seven hours is active. Its not their concern if there has been local power cuts which has changed when the cheap rate is on.
Only Radio Teleswitch timers are more or less correct to a few minutes.Digital meters with built in clocks can drift an hour or two and both these meters stick to GMT

mbramwell

Okay thanks for those replies guys! I can confirm now that my meter is an AMPY 5224E, its a digital one. I've been on the phone to my supplier, the people who fitted the meter, the people who made the meter and ofgem, and no one seems to have a clue.

Last night it supposedly used nothing at all on the night time rate, now, I have an immersion heater and 2 storage heaters, so that's just not possible. And with that, it apparently used 4 on the day time rate...

The only options given to me are to get an engineer out, but if they then say there's no problem then I'll get charged £150!

victor2

As has been said, you need to determine when the day and night rates apply for your meter.
A bit of investigative work required, but it could be to your advantage if the meter's night is actually part of your day.

mbramwell

Yep, investigating as we speak. Heres a bit more confusion for you all... So, I live in a block of 6 flats, 6 flats = 6 meters. My energy supplier told me that this particular meter is mine, so I've been giving them the reading from that meter. Turns out the national database actually gives a different meter number, but that's not all.. So the meter number that it gives matches a meter number on a tag attached to a different meter, saying that the meter with that number was removed in 2011 and replaced with yet another different meter. I have absolutely no idea whats going on at the moment. Does anyone know of a way to find out for definite which is mine?

Carrot007

mbramwell wrote: »

Does anyone know of a way to find out for definite which is mine?

Turn yout consumer unit off and see which one stops. Only useful if the other are moving but...

Whack on something that uses a lot of electric and see whch one spins fast. Shower/Kettle/Electric Heaters being good candidates for this.

Doing these at times should confirm it for you. Obviously you could try to following the wireing but I assume it will be mostly hidden away and not easy to follow.

[Deleted User]

Yes, put the kettle on and watch for the little red light flashing much faster then slows right down when kettle is switched off. Many Ampy meters show r1 as day, r2 as night then T for total for the two combined. This T would be used if your supplier was totalling the two rates to bill single rate tariff all the way through the 24 hrs. Other Ampy meters will scroll through the three reads and highlight in some way the rate which is active.

mbramwell

Thanks for the shower tip, put my electric shower on and the light was flashing like mad on the meter that I have been giving readings for, turned it off and that stopped, so at least I know that it is my meter now. So the 2 questions that remain are, why does the national database have it wrong, and how did I somehow use no night rate units over night, but did use 4 day units.... starting to think I need to do an all nighter and watch what my meter does...