Coin meter is costing me £10 a day. What should I do?

farazk86

Hi,

I recently moved to this flat that has a coin meter installed. But its costing me almost the same amount as the rent. Its a small studio flat with no gas connection so everything is electric. I live alone and use the electric oven in the morning for making breakfast and once at night for dinner. Other than that the fridge is the only thing that would be using any noticeable electric. All bulbs are LED's so no energy wastage there either. Its summers so no heating at all.

From searching around on the forums I came across these two threads where this topic has been previously discussed. forums.moneysavingexpert[DOT]com/showthread.php?t=5075544 and forums.moneysavingexpert[DOT]com/showthread.php?t=5251993.

So I understand that the meter is installed by the landlord and he sets the rate and collects the money. But when I have the kettle and a single plate on the stove on the rotary disc on the meter starts rolling like crazy, like very fast. The meter goes to max on £10 but after 24 hours its almost back at empty.

Here is the meter:

i67.tinypic[DOT]com/332nl0p.jpg

As discussed in other thread, the silver pin is set to 6.4 on the scale, how much does that come to per unit?

What can I do? How can I know whats going on and how can I know if Im being over charged or if anything is broken?

Thank you

edit: As a new user I am not allowed to post links, so I edited it above, can a mode please fix this so it gets more readable. As its not spam but links to the same forum threads.

Mr.Generous

Had a pre payment meter on a 3 bed terrace refurbishment project, obviously no heating running (too mean) no cooking but a few power tools, kettle and radio 2 on all day. lights all LED.

Just looked it up for you, £10 lasted from the 3rd to the 15th December, it was paying the standing charge for gas and electric and the power used.


If I lived there I would have had a fridge, washing machine, TV etc so I would expect that to double. Still makes it look as if your landlord is making a few quid from the utilities.

worried_jim

LL making about £3k a year from this scam!

farazk86

Thanks for the replies guys. I just had to put in more money into the meter as it was again almost empty, this has now cost me £30 in 3 days. This is crazy.

Is there any way I can tell the rate set by the LL from the meter picture and the pin position? I did manage to find this: electricmeters[DOT]co.uk/documents/meters-q10-coin-meter-smiths-upc-and-upc-table-lh.pdf which shows the rate of 15.6 pence per unit, but I dont know how old that document is, as there is no date on it, and at that rate I should not be burning through pound coins like this..

or is my case like this user here: forums.moneysavingexpert[DOT]com/showthread.php?t=2308511#12 where her meter was defective and changing it made her troubles go away?

SnowTiger

farazk86 wrote: »

So I understand that the meter is installed by the landlord and he sets the rate and collects the money. But when I have the kettle and a single plate on the stove on the rotary disc on the meter starts rolling like crazy, like very fast. The meter goes to max on £10 but after 24 hours its almost back at empty.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/74486/11782-resaleupdateoct05pdf:

From 1 January 2003 the maximum price at which gas and electricity may be resold is the same price as that paid by the person who is reselling it ("the reseller"), including any standing charges.

In the set up you describe, I think £10 should last at least a week.

I couldn't view your picture. Presumably your meter includes a counter to show units used. If I were you I'd take a picture of it every day and a log of how much money you tip in to it.

I think you're in a very sticky position. Your landlord almost certainly knows he's vastly overcharging for electricity and I can't see him being happy about losing more than £250 a month after you point it out to him.

I think you need to urgently talk to someone who will be able to give you correct legal advice. If I were you I'd contact Citizens Advice and/or Shelter.

farazk86

Many thanks for the helpful reply @SnowTiger.

Sorry about the pic, dont know why its not working. I reuploaded it here (replace __ with //): https:__ibb.co/ZGyQZ49

I'm logging the money I am putting in and as I said, its the third day and I've so far put in £30 in it. Today before cooking dinner I put in £5 and after I finished cooking (using only 1 plate of the cooker) for about 30 minutes half the units had been used up.

I'll start taking pictures as well, but what should I be focusing on? how will the pictures help me?

I got the flat through a letting agency. So should I contact them or should I contact Citizens Advice or Shelter directly?

Thanks again

SnowTiger

farazk86 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. I just had to put in more money into the meter as it was again almost empty, this has now cost me £30 in 3 days. This is crazy.

Is there any way I can tell the rate set by the LL from the meter picture and the pin position? I did manage to find this: electricmeters[DOT]co.uk/documents/meters-q10-coin-meter-smiths-upc-and-upc-table-lh.pdf which shows the rate of 15.6 pence per unit, but I dont know how old that document is, as there is no date on it, and at that rate I should not be burning through pound coins like this..

or is my case like this user here: forums.moneysavingexpert[DOT]com/showthread.php?t=2308511#12 where her meter was defective and changing it made her troubles go away?

It shows how many units you buy per coin.

Look at the number next to the pin. That's how many units of electricity a coin (£1?) buys.

Many of these meters have an 'A' and 'B' rate. If yours does, you should check the meter to see which it's set to and read the appropriate number.

If you buy 15.6 units for £1 that would be fantastic value. Forgetting about the standing charge, you'd be paying 6.5p per unit of electricity. Something the rest of use can only dream of.

However, in this example, if your meter is set to rate 'A' £1 would buy you 3.9 units of electricity. 26p per unit. That's expensive, but no where near £10 a day territory.

Most people pay about 15p per unit, with a standing charge of about about 15p a day.

SnowTiger

farazk86 wrote: »

Many thanks for the helpful reply @SnowTiger.

Sorry about the pic, dont know why its not working. I reuploaded it here (replace __ with //): https:__ibb.co/ZGyQZ49

I'm logging the money I am putting in and as I said, its the third day and I've so far put in £30 in it. Today before cooking dinner I put in £5 and after I finished cooking (using only 1 plate of the cooker) for about 30 minutes half the units had been used up.

I'll start taking pictures as well, but what should I be focusing on? how will the pictures help me?

I got the flat through a letting agency. So should I contact them or should I contact Citizens Advice or Shelter directly?

Thanks again

Meter is set for rate 'B'.

Looks like you're buying 6.6 units for £1. About 15p per unit. That's fine.

I guess either the meter is faulty or a huge amount of electricity is being lost elsewhere. The meter looks like it's had better days, so I'm guessing there's a fault with it.

Contact the letter agency and tell them your meter appears to be faulty and overcharging.

Thankfully this doesn't appear to be a case of landlord vastly overcharging for electricity. Phew!

Talldave

When the meter runs out, read the meter (e.g 37638.4 in your pic), put in one coin, when it runs out read the meter again. Maybe repeat a few times to confirm measurements. Post the info back here.

[Deleted User]

Hi,


here's the meter,





on B rate, set at 6.4 units/coin, so about 15p/unit if £ coins.


Coin reg 265, unused units, 26, meter reading 37638.4

[Deleted User]

Is the account in the landlords name?
I wouldn't be putting up with that, I'd either change the meter or move.