Can elec meter be faulty?

Julysea

Hi,
We've just moved house and had a prepayment elec meter that was here when we arrive changed to a normal digital one which was zero when installed. Since then, 2.5 months ago, apparently we have used over 3500 kW hours of elec! In our old place, we would use max 750 in that time. We have no extra appliances here, the heating is gas, our new washing machine is triple A rated, and uses less power then our old one plus the oven here is gas rather than electric. Surely we can't be using all that power? Elec company (Good Energy) are also dubious so we're giving them weekly readings for 3 weeks to monitor and then probably having an accuracy test on the meter. How likely is it that the meter is at fault? Is is possible we could be using so much elec? We don;t have a tumble dryer, dishwasher, iron or electric heater. The hot water and heating are on a combination gas boiler. What could be the problem?

thescouselander

This does sound a bit dodgy. There is an easy check you can do though. first of all go round the house and switch everything off. Then have a look at the meter and note how fast the red light flashes (this indicates how fast you are using electricity). It shouldn't flash at this point if everything is off - if it is still flashing either the meter is faulty or you have missed something.

Next you will need something that uses quite a lot of power such as an electric heater - switch it on (this will be the only thing switched on in the house). Then keep an eye on the meter to make sure it goes up at the right rate - for example, if you have a 2kw heater it should take 30 mins to use 1 unit - make sure the heater stays on all the time and that it does not turn itself off with any thermostat that may be attached.

If you dont have an electric heater you will need to use something else as long as you can be relitivly certain of the power rating.

MadMonkey

We have a similar problem - we changed from a pre-payment meter to a standard one 12 months ago and since then our useage has gone through the ceiling.

We are also making daily readings for a week to give to Npower. We stopped using the tumble dryer for a week and it made no differnce at all !

Terrylw1

Hi,

For you & MadMonkey, the change in meter is not in anyway related to a change in kwh, your devices do that.

Now in your case you have seen a massive jump. I can tell you now that the meter is very unlikely to be faulty. It's rare that a meter is running to fast.

I would suggest that your Supplier has not done enough here and having a Standard Load Test (SLT) at this stage would be a waste of time.

You've just had a meter change and had a huge jump in your bill. Now, 99.9% of the time it's a reading cobble up with your Supplier. You can check this as you have been diligent in noting the start reading of the new meter.

So, this is my advice (and I spent many years resolving issues such as yours for 1 large utility as well as writing processes, training & auditing such teams):

Get you bill. Can you see the meter change on your bills? You should have a final reading where your old meter has billed up to. Then you should see a new opening reading of the new meter at 0. Then you should see a new reading that your Supplier has billed you up to which is higher than 0.

So, you should see something if you write it all down that looks like this:

Old meter billed from
Previous quarterly reading of 45637 up to removal reading of 45999 (362 units used)
installed meter reading new meter of 00000 up to reading of 00245 (245 units used)

Hence overall 607 units used on the quarter. It should look like this on paper.

Now if it doesn't, it could be that your Supplier has sent you a quarterley bill based on a reading from the old meter as held but billing you up to the new meters routine reading.

E.g. last billed read on bill 45637
New quarterley read on bill 00245

This would mean that you have had a huge bill as your Supplier has not insreted the meter change in between your last & current readings. This is very common.

Your Supplier should have done all this before wasting your time with submitting daily readings.

Also, you Supplier have have inserted the closing meter reading of the old meter as the installed (00000) reading of the new meter. This would also cause a huge jump.

PM me if you need any help with it if you want, only take a few secs to check if you just send your readings from the bills.

Julysea

It can't be that as the old meter was a prepayment one with a key and hence not 'read'. We moved into the house, discovered the prepayment meter and used up the cash on the key until the meter was changed 2 days later. It was zero then and now is over 3,500 - there doesn't seem to be any room for reading error. The only charges we've had are from 0-768 and then from 768-present.

Terrylw1

Hi,

Ok, ALL meters are read in including PP ones. If they don't take readings, they can't ever bill you on their systems or map your payments. If they told you that, you have spoken to someone with very little experience.

For a start, they have to legally show the meter change in your bill and for that you need removal & installation readings.

So, are you saying that the current reading on the actual meter is 03500? If so, and you haven't added anything to your property that could generate that, there are a few things to consider:

- How do you know the installation reading was 00000? It could be that the meter started on a higher reading and thats whats caused this. I've seen that many times, but that will be harder to deal with since no one will know what it should have been. Hence, they wil have to estimate one based on your daily readings.

- Right, now you say that the only charges you've had are 00000 - 00768 from your Supplier. So, is the 768 units an estimate? If so, you can never consider an estimate to be correct unless it lines up with your meter.

The other option if all else fails is that the meter is speeding. There is an industry standard range for the speed a meter records. The SLT the engineer performs would show that.

If it's not the meter speed, can you see any wiring attached to your fuse box that appears to go outside or even next door and not to anything you have outside? If so, you have a case of energy theft. If you do, whatever you do, don't tell anyone or move anything but call your Supplier immediately as an engineer will need to come out and potentially photograph the offending cabling as they prosecute in these cases if you find a neighbour doing that. Thats on the rare end of the scale though.

If you suspect that you are powering other peoples devices, switching everything off and watching the dial move will prove it. Or at least may allow you to find other devices you were not aware of.

- Could it be possible that you are powered any communal?

Julysea

We saw the zero reading on the meter when it was put in, we also saw the 768 reading when it was read by a meter-reader and now the reading is 3,800+. There's definitely no mistake with the actual readings. I've been reading it every day now and we seem to be using an average of 45-50 kW hours per day!
I really cannot make it out. The appliances used most often are the pc, which is used, then switched off at the plug, a digital radio, again used and switched off at the plug. Less often, we use the washing machine and tv with freeview box. The washing machine has a clock so stays on at the plug but the tv and freeview are switched off at the wall when not in use and only used an hour a day max. The only things which stay on are the boiler's time clock, the clock on the oven, the clock on the washing machine and a radio/alarm clock.
I don't know about dodgy-looking wiring, the meter is on an inside wall so the wiring goes into the wall/floor and there's no way of seeing where it goes, but when the meter was changed the engineer didn't seem to notice anything untoward, he merely said it was old but sound.

espresso

Using 3500 kWh in 2.5 months is what some customers use in a whole year! Have you switch off the main switch at the fuse box and checked that the meter does not increment?

Cardew

Is this a flat or a house? (I appreciate you said move house)

You have a faulty meter(very rare) or you are supplying another property(s)(particularly in a block of flats or street lighting etc.

It is impossible to use 45-50kWh a day so should be easy to track down. Do as espresso states to begin with and then watch the meter. To use 2kWh 24/7 an hour your meter will be really moving.

Despite your assurances that you are reading the meter correctly, are you really really sure that you are not missing a decimal point? i.e. 3,800 is not 380.0

Terrylw1

Julysea wrote: »

We saw the zero reading on the meter when it was put in, we also saw the 768 reading when it was read by a meter-reader and now the reading is 3,800+. There's definitely no mistake with the actual readings. I've been reading it every day now and we seem to be using an average of 45-50 kW hours per day!
I really cannot make it out. The appliances used most often are the pc, which is used, then switched off at the plug, a digital radio, again used and switched off at the plug. Less often, we use the washing machine and tv with freeview box. The washing machine has a clock so stays on at the plug but the tv and freeview are switched off at the wall when not in use and only used an hour a day max. The only things which stay on are the boiler's time clock, the clock on the oven, the clock on the washing machine and a radio/alarm clock.
I don't know about dodgy-looking wiring, the meter is on an inside wall so the wiring goes into the wall/floor and there's no way of seeing where it goes, but when the meter was changed the engineer didn't seem to notice anything untoward, he merely said it was old but sound.

Ok, if there was anything attached near the meter the engineer would have spotted it.

However, is there anything connected in your fusebox inside the property that go externally that is not yours? Sometimes this happens in vacant properties when you get energy theft issues.

45-50kw is very high for what you have got. However, it depends whats connected to it.

If it's a flat, I wonder if you have communal lighting and anything else connected that you don't know about for instance.

I would do what the others have said. Switch everything off and see if the red dial is still spinning (give it a few mins though as it needs to stop), if so, there are other devices connected. Now, if you have a landlord, ask them. Otherwise, you could get a trace done which you will need an electrician for (unless you are in the Yorkshire region and your Supplier used A&ED as an Agent as they still do free meter tracing)

If the dial stops, hence nothing extra connected, it's likely that your meter may be speeding. Whilst faulty meters are rare, speeding happens. If this is the case your Supplier needs to send out the engineer to do the SLT.

espresso

Perhaps there is a hydroponic cannabis factory in the loft or adjacent property using all the OP's kWh's.

:eek: