Help - heart rate through the roof - elect meter not working - what to do?

PrudentEllie

I am partially disabled, ill and housebound and have now got Parkinsons shakes (and have had three bereavements in my family and friends in the past year), my elec and gas provider know this but have not sent anyone to read the meter for years, but were bullying me to photograph it last year at the end of May, which I eventually managed to do with the help of someone as the camera shakes... Lots alternative therapies later I thought to photograph elec and gas meters today and went to enter my readings on the Ovo site - and they said two worrying things, one is they SAY a reading of 2,000 units plus higher was submitted on 16 Dec 2021.  I say a) no it wasn't - as I have not been out to read the meter for about 10 months, and b) I have the photograph I took this morning which I have just compared to the reading sent last year - and to my HORROR it is identical to last years May reading!  All my desperate economies over the last year have been wasted!  Living with one light bulb working... staying in bed in the day with hot water bottles...  My heart rate is currently 130, and my bp up 40 points and am not tremoring any more but shakiing badly!  I am panicking as you can never get through to anyone there on the phone...

It is obvious to me that they made up the 16th Dec reading for their own purposes - but what on earth do I do?  They do not have a good track record in the last couple of years and have treated me with no sympathy and very little decency - and it seems fairly clear they will exaggerate my electricity usage, based on past experience. 

Please tell me the electricity meter is their property and they have to replace it?!!!

Thanks for any help - and if this post should go in another part of the site could you tell me where?

Thanks

Ellie (can I change my name - and remove the first bit - it certainly seems no longer apt!).

PrudentEllie

IDBI - I've just checked my gas meter and that seems to have the same thing, it has just stopped - what is happening?!!

Just checked on the Ovo website, and it says that meters should be changed every ten years and I've been with them for about 11 or 12 years and the meters are both 27 years old at least, so that might explain it.  Especially given my circumstances, which they knew about, shouldn't they have checked and replaced them before they both broke and nearly gave me heart failure?

I have found my meter reading histories for both gas and elec on the Ovo site and all seems to have been well till that day in May 2021, so that is a tiny crumb of comfort.... although I have been paying monthly, I still worry about and fear a big bill from them.

Thanks for any help

Ellie

newlywed

Are the readings on 16 December estimates?

Brie

is there a friend or neighbour who can help you take a photo today?  Maybe someone from the NextDoor website - there seems to be lots of friendly people on our local one.  Or even the post delivery person??  Some friendly looking dog walker?

Then ring the power company and say their reading is wrong and give them todays.  Don't worry that it hasn't changed in months - that's their problem.  If your meter isn't working and you have asked them to get it read and they haven't bothered then it's up to them to prove that you have used the supply, not yours.  They know that you are considered a vulnerable customer and have failed to act in an appropriate way.

A friend of mine had the opposite problem but with their water supply.  Got the semi annual bill and their monthly amount was being raised from about £10 a month to £90.  Apparently there's been a leak for months and the water co didn't let them know and is refusing to do anything to fix it even though it's part of the supply that is theirs to fix.  Ultimately this is going to be a complaint to the company for not doing their job.

PrudentEllie

Just discovered an 'Energy' heading that I couldn't find before - am moving this there.  TY.

PrudentEllie

Hi Newlywed, no, it says on the website that it is a 'manual' reading - and it says that for all of them, whether I took them or not, or whether they estimated them.  However since the meters have (I know from today's date) been broken since May 27 2021, it cannot be true, can it?

PrudentEllie

Hi Brie - thank you so much for your reply, it is much appreciated.  

I actually managed to take a photo of each meter this morning, and sent them in an email to myself while experimenting on how to send photos with emails - at that time I was only tremoring, so out of a few photos of each meter I managed to find one each that is  in focus - I started shaking in earnest when my bp shot through the roof when I realised that the meters had broken!  (Qigong and Energy medicine help a lot, if anyone else is in the same boat).  I then noticed the date on my little digital camera has gone crackers and is now saying it is 2009 (can't remember how to set it), so am thinking of taking a piece of  paper down with today's date on it and trying again. 

I hadn't heard of NextDoor - will look that up, thanks for the heads-up.  I can see from cars outside that one of my neighbours might be in - am just going to wobble off and see if I can get her to photograph it too, to be a disinterested witness, perhaps she could email it to me, then we'd have lots of proof.   

Thanks so much

Ellie

[Deleted User]

PrudentEllie said:

Just checked on the Ovo website, and it says that meters should be changed every ten years and I've been with them for about 11 or 12 years and the meters are both 27 years old at least, so that might explain it.  Especially given my circumstances, which they knew about, shouldn't they have checked and replaced them before they both broke and nearly gave me heart failure?

That advice isn’t entirely accurate. As meters are produced, the meter manufacturer can have them tested and certified by the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The original meter life can be extended through re-certification:  this is why many analogue meters have been in use for over 20+ years. 

This is what it says on the Government website:

Quote: Certification periods are allocated by OPSS and are restricted to 10 years for newly approved induction meters and for periods of between 10 and 20 years for static meters. Certification periods greater than 10 years (for static meters) are subject to the submission and validation of a component reliability model based on the Siemens Norm SN29500.

Subsequent in-service surveillance monitoring through the national sample survey or In-service testing can result in the certification life of a meter type being either extended or reduced. When certification is required meters must be removed from service when the certification period expires. Unquote

Please don’t take this as a criticism but your personal situation suggests to me that you would best served by allowing the supplier to fit smart meters. My wife and I are in our 70s, and nearly 3 years on, we are very happy with the smart meters that have been fitted.

jimjames

It sounds very unlikely that both gas and electric meters have broken at the same time so I suspect something else has happened here. Meters don't just stop working when they exceed the 10 years so that is probably a red herring. Our meter is at least 40 years old and still working.

Robin9

PrudentEllie said:

IDBI - I've just checked my gas meter and that seems to have the same thing, it has just stopped - what is happening?!!

Are you saying that both your gas and electric meters are reading exactly the same today as when the photographs were taken at the end of May ?

When this present problem is sorted apply for  Smart meters.

wild666

The only time a meter should stop recording usage is when the meters are disconnected for non payment but they normally put in prepayment meters and claim the arrears back through a daily payment plan.