Deep confusion over electricity meter reading. Please help!

jebus1967

Hi this situation is probably a mixture of circumstances, fear, ignorance and confusion.



In any case, my electricity meter (which I believe is of the old mechanical variety) is located in a cupboard in the basement of the communal stairway to my bock of flats. It isn't readily accessible to me, as this cupboard is generally locked and contains all the other meters for the block of flats (including some exposed wiring etc for other unrelated utilities throughout the building. So usually it's only accessible by my landlord). However my landlord is based in Preston in the UK and I live in Newcastle upon Tyne. My landlord has also increasingly withdrawn all their local staff for these buildings and have instead subcontracted out all the building services for the housing development I live in to outside contractors. So setting up a regular monthly (or even quarterly) appointment is never easy - and indeed is often impossible. To complicate matters further I am also disabled, so even if I did have regular access to this area (which I don't) , actually physically opening the cupboard and taking meter readings would still be likely to prove challenging to me.


Anyway that said, due to these circumstances I have always tended to rely on estimated meter readings from my electricity supplier. This has been going on for over 23 years since I first moved here.



However as luck would have it, recently I noticed that my landlord was doing some work in this area and I asked (for the first time in many years) for them to give me a meter reading. I did this because I feared that possibly my energy company (who I recently switched to) might be overcharging me, so I wanted to see if I could get any evidence to prove this was the case.


In any case to cut a long story short, my energy company gave me an estimated reading of 9957 kWh. However the reading supplied by my landlord a day or so after this was 01218kWh.


I live in a small one room apartment, which is generally extremely well insulated, with no electric heating and no washing machine (we have a communal laundry), I use LED light bulbs and PIR motion sensors throughout to ensure that no light is ever left unattended and am generally very frugal in my energy usage.


So the question is, what does this mean? Clearly there is a big discrepancy in these numbers, which I can only imagine has occurred due to 23+ years of erroneous estimated meter readings? However I am at a loss to understand whether this means I owe my utility company a ton of money (which given my luck seems most likely) or whether they owe me money, or what the case may be?


There is a number at the end of the reading supplied by my landlord that's inside a red square box. But every meter reading guide I have seen without exception says to ignore any numbers written in red. Currently this number reads 2, although since the energy companies don't require it, I'm not sure what value this is in this matter?


The worst case scenario I can think of is that maybe once the meter has counted past 9999 it will reset to zero and start counting from there again, so maybe my meter reading is out and I owe them 1228 kWh? (Hence the number 2 in the red box?) But my meter is clearly capable of counting in the 10's of thousands, so I'm not sure if this makes any sense either? Either way I fully confess it has been an error on my part.


As I said for the 23 years I've been here only my landlord has had access to the meter cupboard in the basement. Not even any of the utility companies have had access to this area. This is probably the first time I have ever been able to obtain an accurate reading (that I can recall).


So can any of you guys help explain (non-critically hopefully) what kind of shape I'm in in terms of these readings? Is it any good news, or very bad news? Or is it just generally impossible to tell somehow?


Thanks for all answers in advance!



So can any of yo

Robin9

Communal meter cupboards often occur on these forums and present the issues you have. The landlord should be providing you with a key - relying on him or his caretaker to provide you with readings is not a good idea.


You are correct in that the readings in red should be ignored.

On the basis of the readings you have given us you could well be heading for a big bill. However what does your last bill say - are you by any chance in credit.?

You say you've been there for 23 years - are you still with your original supplier, on the original tariff ? Do you have an online account ? Do you pay on receipt of bill ?

Cardew

In any case to cut a long story short, my energy company gave me an estimated reading of 9957 kWh. However the reading supplied by my landlord a day or so after this was 01218kWh.


The worst case scenario I can think of is that maybe once the meter has counted past 9999 it will reset to zero and start counting from there again, so maybe my meter reading is out and I owe them 1228 kWh? (Hence the number 2 in the red box?) But my meter is clearly capable of counting in the 10's of thousands,

The reading supplied by the landlord(01228) indicates it is a 5 digit display. Or could it have been 0122(8)?

[Deleted User]

Landlord may have something to hide in there. I don t like the sound of "exposed wiring ", maybe there are some bare copper ends on show in the cupboard by badly installed electric meters.
.As a meter reader for 20 years I `ve been in thousands of meter cupboards, some with as many as 70 electric meters in them. Nowhere have I ever found any risk whatsoever from any "exposed wiring " or the possible threat of an electric shock.

Exposed insulated wiring does not present any danger.. its just not allowed to happen. absolutely no danger from electric shock presents itself in any meter cupboard, at least in the thousands I` be been in
How would an occupier on a prepayment meter get in to see the meter. ? They need to see them at all times, and at any time an occupier could have a force fitted prepay meter by the supplier and have to start using key or card or smart prepays ( which may need a manual top up ).

Your meter needs to be examined by you carefully .The number in the red box is tenths of a unit and to be ignored when entering readings.. Suppliers use 5 figures (usually ) for an electric reading.
Personally, with the help of a friend on a mobile phone , I would do a quick and easy to do "kettle test ".
Switch the kettle on with it full of water so 2000 watts are used.Observe what you think is your meter. The rotating ring of the analogue meter will spin very fast then slow as soon as the kettle is switched off.
A digital meter will show a small red light which pulses faster as more electricity is used.
Electric meters go to 99999 and then reset to 00000

If he`s an absentee landlord I d be tempted to get my bolt cutters out !. That`s just me though. don`t follow my advice on that one ! Replace the lock with a coded lock and distribute the code to anyone who needs it.

I have been to some meter rooms where because of meter tampering by occupants in the past, which could cause an electric wiring overheat on the meters the landlords are justifiably paranoid about giving access to anyone.

Talldave

A digital meter's LED will flash approximately every two seconds when the kettle's on.

It's important to make sure the meter that you're connected to is the one on your bills - check the serial number matches.

As said above, you need access to that meter cupboard. If you can get someone to read the meter weekly for a few weeks you will soon get an idea of your consumption. You can then look at all your estimated bills and see whether you might have been over or under paying.

Whilst going through the old bills, check for any actual readings (ie: not estimated). If they are from your meter they'll provide some reference points from which to untangle the truth.

D_M_E

You have been there 23 years and never given a meter reading?

You also believe that the meter is an old dial type and therefore not digital?

23 years for a lowish user of say 1500Kwh comes to about 34500Kwh so you need to be careful that they don't try and charge you extra by saying that meter has rolled over.

If meter has not been changed in all that time then you could have been charged for some or all of the previous occupant's consumption.

Going forward, you must get unrestricted access to your meter, take or get someone to take readings on your behalf regularly and check that the meter you have been paying for is actually yours.

As has been said above, how would an occupant with a prepay card meter gain access to top up their meter if the cupboard is kept permanently locked?

If it's such a hazard as the landlord describes then he should get someone in to make it safe.

Also look at your own consumption - look at what you use and when and make your own estimate of what you think you're using - does it tally anywhere near what they estimate?