Possible electric meter errors.

Paul989

We live in a 3 bed detached house, use electric for all things except heating, all lights are LED, no immersion heater and only 2 retired people in the house. 
Our meter readings over the past 12 months show an average monthly usage of 600 Kwh.  This is fairly constant average from January 2020 to sept 2020 when it started to rise each month.   My latest monthly reading is now 1350 kwh. Way over twice and rising by 20% per month.    Nothing new in the house,yet usage going up and up.
Could this be a faulty Meter?  If so how do we check?   The meter was installed and dated 1999.  Its a Siemens S2BS100.

[Deleted User]

You can contact your supplier and ask them to fit a check meter. If the check meter shows that your present meter is accurate, then the supplier will raise a check meter charge of c.£85. That said, I would do a few meter tests on my own first . Turn off the isolation switch and make sure that the meter stops turning is a good start.

All that said, for two people, 7200kWhs a year for electricity which is not used for heating is a very high annual consumption. My wife and I struggle to use more than 3000kWhs/year.

MWT

While on the one hand we certainly wouldn't find it a struggle to use more than 3000kWh/year we would find it hard to hit 7200kWh/year with no heating and no EV and we couldn't get close to 1350kWh/month even with heating and charging our car...

I would agree that a test with no load to make sure it stops is a good start and if that doesn't show a problem then I'd suggest working your way through the individual circuits in the consumer unit and check the consumption for 30 mins with just one turned on at a time until you find one that is using more than it should...

With that amount of power being used something should be getting hot somewhere...

Do check things like fridge/freezer to see if they are running constantly due to heat-exchanger clogged up, or lack of refrigerant.

Also stalled garden pond pump for example is another one that is easy to miss...

Gerry1

The quickest way to get an idea of the consumption at any moment is to look at the flashing red LED on the meter that's labelled 1000 Imp/kWh or similar.  1000 flashes (impulses) means that it's clocked up 1kWh.

Switch off all the circuits at the consumer unit, watch the LED for a few minutes and make sure it never flashes even once.  Then turn on one circuit and record the number of flashes in a minute (or the time between each flash).  Switch that circuit off and do the same for another one; rinse and repeat until they have all been been tested.

It's then very easy to work out the kW being used by each one.  For example, a flash every four seconds (15 flashes per minute) corresponds to 0.9kWh in one hour, i.e. 900W.

Try these tests at different times of day and you should soon get an idea of what's going on.

Robin9

OP does your meter look like this ?

Paul989

Ok thanks. Will try to trace it. At the moment with hardly anything on the red light is flashing 70 times a minute.  Also it's getting faster.  Do meters ever give bad readings ?  Perhaps someone is bitcoin mining in my loft ! 

Tallerdave

Does power go outside the house to a garage, shed or greenhouse?  Could there be something there eating power?  A floodlight in the loft might be another option if there's no bitcoin squatter?  Do you have a bathroom or ensuite with electric underfloor heating that you didn't know about that's got switched on?

Paul989

Robin9 said:

OP does your meter look like this ?

Yes exactly.  Dated 1999. 

MWT

Paul989 said:

Ok thanks. Will try to trace it. At the moment with hardly anything on the red light is flashing 70 times a minute.  Also it's getting faster.  Do meters ever give bad readings ?  Perhaps someone is bitcoin mining in my loft ! 

At that rate it is consistent with the high daily usage you are reporting and should be easy to spot which circuit the problem is on if you switch them on one at a time.

Robin9

@Paul989 What have you got switched on at the moment  - go around the house, every single room  - dishwasher, tumble dryer, big american fridge freezer, old freezer. 

Gerry1

Paul989 said:

Ok thanks. Will try to trace it. At the moment with hardly anything on the red light is flashing 70 times a minute.  Also it's getting faster.  Do meters ever give bad readings ?  Perhaps someone is bitcoin mining in my loft ! 

That's a massive 4.2kW.  During the day the background use might be expected to be around 150 - 300W if only the fridge and freezer are on.  Perhaps another 100W or so when the CH pump is running, assuming you have gas central heating.