Opus energy - An absolute nightmare!

thorganby

Robin9 said:

@QrizB  Yes a three phase supply and a single phase meter for Granddad   but where are the other two phases going to ?

No it is definitely not a three phase supply!

There is only one phase and neutral coming out of the main fuse cut out block to the meter which is obviously a multi rate meter e.g. E7.

A three phase supply would have three main fuses, one for each phase not one single fuse. e.g.

https://d1hu4133i4rt3z.cloudfront.net/attachments/346/346294-eb95dafd63ad6f65b5b256b37cc58564.jpg

I realise that you are trying to help but incorrectly stating that it is a three phase supply can only add confusion.

Follow the cables, it is plain for all to see that there are no more phases going anywhere!

Gerry1

The black meter seems to be a private sub-meter for the swimming pool.  Does this give any clues, e.g. is there or was there commercial use of the pool by other people?  This might explain the commercial electricity supply and 20% VAT.

niktheguru

also might be worth knowing if his bulb account was a residential or a business account. 

bravo93

Gerry1 said:

The black meter seems to be a private sub-meter for the swimming pool.  Does this give any clues, e.g. is there or was there commercial use of the pool by other people?  This might explain the commercial electricity supply and 20% VAT.

Yeah the black meter is for the swimming pool and that hasn't changed since I checked it last week - so nothing coming from there it seems! 
The smart meter was only installed in April and the high bills before that were apparently based on estimates - because he wasn't posting meter readings. I'm not sure what they are based on though. I've checked his Bulb account and the bill was around £9000 for the previous 24 months. A lot - but believable in all honesty. Since they installed the smart meter, the apparent electricity usage has actually increased.. despite the heaters not being on as much etc. Opus show how much KwH is being used every 30 minutes online. He's basically using the daily equivalent of 250-300 televisions being left on.. 24/7.
There's no business.. or secret cannabis farm that i'm aware of 

niktheguru

What were the unit rate and standing charges for his bulb account?
How is he using so much energy? Surely alarm bells should be ringing at £4500 a year, even for an all electric house. That is crazy!!

MWT

Time to start turning off breakers circuit by circuit to see where the high use is coming from...

bravo93

niktheguru said:

What were the unit rate and standing charges for his bulb account?
How is he using so much energy? Surely alarm bells should be ringing at £4500 a year, even for an all electric house. That is crazy!!

It costs about £5-10 a day (depending on weather) to heat a small pool with an electric heater apparently. He was doing that June to September. Then the fact it's quite big, old, probably not well insulated with old storage heaters etc. 

tim_p

If as someone earlier commented the consumption works out at a constant 11kW then something somewhere must be getting rather hot!  Should be fairly simple to track down unless it’s many things all getting hot at the same time!  200+ halogen down lights? 

QrizB

MWT said:

Time to start turning off breakers circuit by circuit to see where the high use is coming from...

Yes, if it was my house I'd be doing this. Switch off every circuit then turn them back on, one by one, and see what the drain is on each.

@bravo93 did the smart meter come with an in-home display? Does that show anything useful?

bravo93

I followed the red wire and I found some more contraptions! I also found out that most of it was installed by a bloke called 'Geoff'. Interestingly, the guy fitted the smart meter last month had to phone up Opus to get permission to do some 'tidying up'. So he's clearly done more than just fitting the smart meter..