Is it common for electric meters to be wrong?

tori.k

We moved house almost a year ago since living here our electric usage has jumped massively despite moving from an very old all electric house to a modern duel fuel.
Water, heating and hob are gas as currently using just under 2 units a day.
There is four of us here but all working full time so house is empty most days from 8.30 to 6pm yet suddenly over the last three months we seem to be using 33units of electric a day. Almost triple what we had been using before and that was with a electric immersion heater.
I will daily monitor our electric over the next week to see if it is us, but been told its very rare that an electric meter is wrong.

bsms1147

Possible, but rare. You could get it checked and if found to be faulty there shouldn't be a fee to pay.

It's possible you have something faulty, running when it shouln't be, or consuming more than it should.

Is someone in the household running some new device (a reddit thread in the recent past fond someone was running a bitcoin mining rig, they eat electricity)

Switch off every appliance in the place and check that at that time no electricity is used. Someone outside the house could be leeching electricity from you.

brewerdave

Also, have you got underfloor heating anywhere? We have in our conservatory and recently I found that one of the grandchildren had switched it on - it was eating leccy!!:eek:

[Deleted User]

Yes it certainly is possible, but mostly with one particular make/model. The small white digital meter made by Ampy, and in other guises (Siemens, Landis Gyr ) has been going blank on a regular basis for years..A cheap and nasty little meter, it has some sort of flaw within its covers. I find, as a meter reader, on average one a week gone blank.
Some customers love the blank screen and prefer to keep it receiving estimated bills, sometimes for years.
This meter has a record of running fast too .Meter readers can t spot it but occupiers would notice it adding units even when no electricity is being used.

The other one is a real beauty, also a very common meter , Sangamo Weston old analogue meter simply sticks and stops and for some odd reason drops down a blank digit on the last single kwh digit.. A good thump on the side gets it ticking over again. I have one myself and will keep an eye out to see if I mine does it.
Sangamo Westons will also run backwards (illegally) for people who have a solar panel system.. Most occupiers do not report this.
Suppliers are pretty stupid and can t work it out though.

Robin9

Is the immersion heater switched on ?

Other high uses - electric showers, American style fridge

coffeehound

33 units a day would be like an appliance of 1375 watts running continuously, so quite substantial. The fact that it is happening over winter does suggest some sort of heating — any heated communal areas shared with other homes?

.

tori.k

Thanks everyone
Looks like something really isn't right.
Only name I can see on the meter is wylex
The heating is all gas and the shower is run off the combi boiler, A few new appliances since we moved A+++ washing machine and a new B rated tumble dryer But I had older less efficient appliances in the last house other I expected our cost to rise in line with the hikes but not our usage, will do daily readings and go from there
Thanks again

Chrishazle

A faulty meter is unusual but not unknown. I track my useage monthly on a spread sheet, and twice in the past I have noted discrepancies. The first was indeed a faulty meter, sorted and corrected by the supplier including back calculating the lower amount they should have charged and crediting my account. The second was when, somehow or other, a small switch in the door frame of our Bosch dishwasher was moved, making it do 2 hot rinses instead of 1 cold. No idea how, took a while to find.

Robin9

tori.k wrote: »

.................................
Only name I can see on the meter is wylex .....................

Odd - I didn't think Wylex made meters - they make the consumer units which contain the fuses/mcb's of your installation.

Can you post a picture please . Use imgur or similar and post the link

[Deleted User]

Robin9 wrote: »

Odd - I didn't think Wylex made meters - they make the consumer units which contain the fuses/mcb's of your installation.

Can you post a picture please . Use imgur or similar and post the link

They did make a KWH meter. Personally I ve never seen one . I have seen Wylex small solar panel meters built into the consumer units.