Faulty electricity meter

Giammy85

Hello everybody,
I bought my new flat and on 9th January I took the first reading: Day 99058 - Night 73450. The meter is located in a locked cupboard in the communal area of the building - therefore I have to ask the building manager for the key every time that I need to read it. The meter (GEC C11B2A R-H Dual Tariff) is an old analogic meter probably there since the building was built around 2001.
The deemed electricity provider is EDF and I thought to stay with them for the beginning because I have still not moved there. On 3rd February I thought to take a reading and was surprised to find: Day 99121 - Night 73451. This was non sense as I do not live there and I made sure of switching off the main switch in the flat. The night reader is OK, but the day reader moving by 63kwh meant that the meter is faulty and it is moving on its own by about 2kwh per day. I took photos.

On 6th February, with still the main switch off, reading was 99127 (took photo). This confirmed my thesis and I therefore informed EDF. They told me to call on the Monday to have an appointment booked with an engineer. 

On 8th February, I called EDF and the guy wanted to make sure that I was not an idiot and therefore I checked while on the phone with him the the main switch was off but still the day meter had moved to 99130 (took photo). He said he would have called me in the following day to book an engineer appointment.
Today 13th February I called again EDF to check whether it was possible to book this appointment. The operator told me that they have a requirement for me to take meter reading photos for 7 consecutive days at the same time. I told her that I could not understand why I was not asked for them whey I first contacted them on 6th February and that anyway, with photo evidence taken on 3rd, 6th, 8th February, also his colleague on the 8th had agreed that the meter was clearly faulty and moving on its own by about 2kwh per day. She replied that having photos for 7 consecutive days was a requirement before being able to book an engineer. I told that I found EDF vexatious, a laughing stock if they wanted me to waste more of my time visiting every day at the same time a property that I do not live in.

I will try with help of my family members to take pictures from today of the meter. What else shall I do in your experience?
Given what has happened so far, I am worried that when next time I'll present photos for 7 consecutive days, EDF will not accept them if not certified by a public notary or that they will be reject as not taken precisely at the same time of the day :S

matelodave

Stop phoning and write, making sure that you head the letter COMPLAINT and give them the details in plain facts. Even send photo's. You need to establish a timeline, just keep phoning lets this stuff disappear into the black hole because you sometimes end up starting from scratch again.
Once you've made a formal complaint then you've started the clock and can go to the ombudsman after eight weeks if its not resolved, so the quicker you do it the earlier you can escalate it.

tim_p

matelodave said:

Stop phoning and write, making sure that you head the letter COMPLAINT and give them the details in plain facts. Even send photo's. You need to establish a timeline, just keep phoning lets this stuff disappear into the black hole because you sometimes end up starting from scratch again.
Once you've made a formal complaint then you've started the clock and can go to the ombudsman after eight weeks if its not resolved, so the quicker you do it the earlier you can escalate it.

Wonder if it might be something as simple as the OPs flat feeds a communal area (hallway, stairwell etc) 

Gerry1

Have you checked that the serial number of the meter is the same as that on the bill?

Giammy85

So I have monitored and the meter is stuck on 99130 since 8th February!
This is a mystery. I emailed the building manager on the 6th, he didn't reply, but it seems unlikely that he could have fixed the issue on the 8th. Meter was moving at a 2kwh per day pace for one month and then stopped :S 
I don't know whether my meter was feeding a communal area (there is no button to switch off the supply from the meter itself).
I have checked that the serial number of the meter is the same as that on the bill.
Not sure what to say to EDF, but I cannot keep an old analogic meter that might go bonkers every now and then

niktheguru

Giammy85 said:

So I have monitored and the meter is stuck on 99130 since 8th February!
This is a mystery. I emailed the building manager on the 6th, he didn't reply, but it seems unlikely that he could have fixed the issue on the 8th. Meter was moving at a 2kwh per day pace for one month and then stopped :S 
I don't know whether my meter was feeding a communal area (there is no button to switch off the supply from the meter itself).
I have checked that the serial number of the meter is the same as that on the bill.
Not sure what to say to EDF, but I cannot keep an old analogic meter that might go bonkers every now and then

Why don’t you just update your meter to a smart meter then. Sounds like the obvious thing to do.

Flash32

Just a little and polite word of caution here.  It is rare for an analogue (rotating wheel) meter to move on its own without a load connected - it defeats most of the laws of physics.  Also, they normally either work or don't - it's very rare for them to "go bonkers" as there is very little to go wrong inside of them - if they are going to play up, they will read low, or not at all (seized bearing), or slightly high (braking coil defect) but again, this is rare.  The fact that the meter is not incrementing at night, but it is during the day again tends to indicate that the meter is working and the problem could be due to a meter or time-switch defect.  It could also be due to the meter numbers have become muddled in the system and that you are not actually observing your meter - possibly being billed for someone else's usage. I have just dealt with two cases like this at a commercial premises and another at a tenement block, both of which were driving the poor customers nuts, where the meter serial numbers had been attached to the wrong property. 

An alternative is that the time switch, that switches the meter between day and night rate is not working - I had this at my own property - therefore all of the load is being incremented on the day register.  Check that the clock is running and showing approximately the right time - they are normally set to GMT.  In my case, I reported this to EDF and they came almost straight away.

If you still suspect the meter, can I suggest that, with the help of a family member or neighbour, you get a substantial load, like a kettle, and get them to switch it on while you are observing the meter and talking to your assistant on a mobile phone - that way you can observe the precise behaviour of the meter when the load is applied/disconnected.  With a load such as this, you should observe a major change in the speed of the metal wheel inside the meter immediately the load is connected and assuming the kettle is the only load, the speed of the meter wheel should remain constant until the load is switched off, when it should slow or stop.  The speed change, either way, should be almost instantaneous to the eye.  If the meter is not responding to this load change, you have a cast-iron case to go back to EDF with a video of the meter.  Also if you can, observe other meters while you are doing this test - as you may see the behaviour you are expecting on what you think is someone else's meter.

If you want to do a rough check on calibration, use a fan heater and over a period of 1 hour, for a 2 kW heater, assuming there are no other loads, the meter should increment approx 2 kWh, for a 3 kW heater, 3 kWh.  Note that heaters are not a precise load so don't be surprised if it's not spot-on, but it should be close.  Hope this helps.

Verdigris

Was the immersion heater on continuously? I can imagine keeping a not very well lagged cylinder up to temperature could use 2kWh/day and would not vary much.

Alter_ego

Verdigris said:

Was the immersion heater on continuously? I can imagine keeping a not very well lagged cylinder up to temperature could use 2kWh/day and would not vary much.

Said main switch in flat was/is off

brewerdave

2Kwh per day sounds like a 100w bulb on continuously -wonder if an outside hall light is wired to the supply and someone turned it off finally.

Giammy85

niktheguru said:

Giammy85 said:

So I have monitored and the meter is stuck on 99130 since 8th February!
This is a mystery. I emailed the building manager on the 6th, he didn't reply, but it seems unlikely that he could have fixed the issue on the 8th. Meter was moving at a 2kwh per day pace for one month and then stopped :S 
I don't know whether my meter was feeding a communal area (there is no button to switch off the supply from the meter itself).
I have checked that the serial number of the meter is the same as that on the bill.
Not sure what to say to EDF, but I cannot keep an old analogic meter that might go bonkers every now and then

Why don’t you just update your meter to a smart meter then. Sounds like the obvious thing to do.

EDF had stopped booking Smart meters during the lockdown. However, I see they are now offering them again and can book an appointment for March.
Btw, a resident in my block told me that he could not get a smart meter because he was told that our communal walls are so thick that the signal cannot pass