Small flat, huge bills!

vincent2017

Here's a photo I took when I turned off all the switches:



And here's a photo I took later in the afternoon, showing the meter reading 2 kilowatts higher despite everything having been switched off:



There's no sign from the hallway of anything having been tampered with, so it doesn't seem possible that one of the other flats is siphoning off electricity. I also noted that the hallway light that's often left on overnight is not even on our circuit, although the doorbells are.

It will be down to me to sort this out as the long term tenant, because the owner has zero practical involvement in the property and frankly we're both happy with it that way.

So, what do I do next?

D_M_E

I'm no expert, but the ^ before the last 2 digits looks to me like they should be ignored as they could be the 10ths and 100ths of units and only the number before the ^ should be given as the reading - maybe one of the meter readers who frequent the board could confirm?

frostysaver

D_M_E wrote: »

I'm no expert, but the ^ before the last 2 digits looks to me like they should be ignored as they could be the 10ths and 100ths of units

I don't think so, 5 digits with no fractions is pretty normal for a digital electricity meter. For an example see a meter similar to yours at npower's "how to read an electricity meter" page
(sorry I can't give a direct link as a newer user)

The ^ in the photo looks like the indicator for the mode, pointing to text above the screen. Pressing a button will cycle it through the options.

For a quick way to decide if this is actually your meter, you can use the flashing light, in the white circle next to "1000 imp/kWh".
This means it's got a light which flashes at the rate of 1000 times per kilowatt-hour used. If your flat is using electricity steadily at the rate of 1 killowatt, it'll be flashing 1000 times an hour, which is approx every 3-4seconds.
A kettle uses a electricity at a high rate while it's boiling (around 2-3 killowatts), so that light will instantly start flashing every couple of seconds. As soon as you turn off the kettle, it'll slow down.

So: if you can get your flatmate on the phone while you watch the meter, and turn a kettle on and off a few times, you can immediately decide if it's that meter or a different one that's supplying your flat.

After you are certain which meter is really supplying you, then it's worth going back to understanding how much each electrical item you've got uses, and your measuring plug can help there.

Hope that helps.

CashStrapped

As per above....

You need to do a test with no use. Then, as I stated in my last post, put something on like a kettle and see if the use is recorded. As @frostysaver states, the frequency of the flashing red light is an indicator as to the draw of power. Lots of use = lots of flashing.

Having your flat mate on the phone is a good idea. As he/she can flip the kettle on and off on demand. If this does not correspond to the flashing light or recorded use on your meter, you then need to start looking for the meter that does.

You need to find your meter by doing this test until you exclude all those that are not it.

---

Based on what you have said this far, and the limited evidence, it seems you may, as we suspected, be paying for someone else's electricity use. So the meters are wrongly assigned. This is more common than you think and is a bit of a pain to fix.

This is where it can get complicated. You have to then work out, with the all the flats in your block, who's meter is who's. Label them, and then you need to contact your suppliers individually and alert them to the errors. This must be done together at the same time!

BUT

Before you do that. You need to double check and triple check that this is the issue. You have do this via the method I typed above.

1) Identify your meter first!
2) Make all of the other residents in the block aware of the issue
3) Each flat needs to identify their meter suing the same method
4)Each flat needs to note down the MPRN or MPAN number on their real meter and the MPRN/MPAN of the meter that is currently incorrectly assigned to them.
5) Each person needs to ring their current supplier and inform them of the issue.
Ask for confirmation in writing.

This is where it may get a bit messy.....

6) If you can find out who has been paying your bill, you may be able to use that as evidence for your true energy usage. If you can supply this information to your current supplier, you may be able to get a refund for the total they have charged you. You may need to take advice about this. You are not technically liable for that debt as it is not your use. But, I do not know the legalities of this situation.

I would write a letter headed complaint. Detail the issue regarding the meter mix-up. Show evidence of your actual use based on your neighbours bills (if you can get them). Do not give them your neighbours name or personal details. Just say you had a record of all the meter readings in your block. You don't want get involved in your company chasing another person for debt, if you can help it.

The whole process can be a complete mess so it is important that one person takes charge in sorting it out.

vincent2017

Thanks for your posts.

I honestly don't think that the meters could be mixed up. I just think our flat has a broken/leaky meter. Like a clock that picks up extra seconds and becomes too fast.

Still I'll do the test tomorrow just in case.

There are just three flats in the house, two with Gnergy, so hopefully it shouldn't be difficult to fix. But I'd be surprised if our flat didn't need a replacement meter.

CashStrapped

Well, the self meter test as per above will show if another meter or your current meter responds to your flat. So you will find out either way.

It is very common for conversions and new builds to have incorrectly assigned meters and for it to go undetected for years. This is due to a normally high turnover of occupants, nobody is there long enough to realise there is an issue or even bother to sort it.

-

Alternately, you have a very faulty meter, and I doubt a faulty meter would be constantly incorrect in it's fault, i.e recording variable but wrong use.

You would arrange for your energy company to come and test it. But, if it turned out not to be faulty, they may charge you.

merchcon55

As Cashstrapped as indicated, you are certainly going to need the cooperation of the other 2 flats. This may not be so easy, as the end result may not be in their favour.

Your test that showed 2KW usage overnight is suspect - besides the refrigerator, what else in your flat is actually ON during the overnight hours?

While items on standby should be using very very little power, you may want to try unplugging all TVs, freeview boxes, routers, anything that might draw power overnight. The exception being your refrigerator and boiler - keep those on as normal.

You may need to do this experiment for several evenings - but if you find that you are consistently using 2KW every evening between 11pm-6am (for example), with everything unplugged EXCEPT fridge and boiler - then you have real proof that something is not right.

As a guide, I have a large fridge/freezer which is now 16 years old - so not the most energy efficient, but perfect size for our needs, so no intent on changing it. From past tests, it uses 1.2 kW per day, so in the overnight 8 hour period (11pm-7am) the estimated usage would be 0.4kW.

We also have a small under counter fridge only. This only uses 3kW in a week - that works out around 0.14kW for the overnight 8 hour period (11pm - 7am).

So depending what size fridge you have you can estimate what your real overnight kW usage is - if everything else is unplugged, then anything over that is usage you are paying for, but not using !!

matelodave

When you shut the fusebox off did you actually check that everything in your flat stopped working? That could be a bit of a clue, if they didn't

vincent2017

matelodave wrote: »

When you shut the fusebox off did you actually check that everything in your flat stopped working? That could be a bit of a clue, if they didn't

Yes, I did try flicking lightswitches and I also saw that the oven clock had switched off & laptop had stopped charging.

vincent2017

Well, whaddyaknow!

This morning I turned on the hoover, handheld hoover, lava lamp, fan, vegetable steamer, oven, microwave, kettle, lamps, lights, laptops, phones, and anything else electrical I could find.

Then watched the meters.

And the one that was turning was.... drumroll.... The other meter!! The one that had originally been labelled as the one for Flat C, which had at some later date been scribbled out and changed to Flat A.

So we've been paying the wrong flat's electricity supply. With three meters in a row I guess it made sense all along that they would be A, B, C, and not C, B, A like the biro scribblings indicated.

Flat A have a lean-to conservatory which they used as their lounge all through the winter months, heating it up with electrical heaters. So although they're working regular office hours, it could be this evening and weekend use of the conservatory that has pushed their bill up to about £80 a month.

I've called GNergy (whose customer I know they are also), and they're going to send someone out to confirm it.

I'm not massively bothered about chasing up past overpayments, so long as we can get it corrected going forward.