Help-Faulty Electricity Meter

krissy08

Hi everyone,

I hope you can help.

I took my meter reading on the 31st of March as advised on here and when I have come to do a reading for 30th of May, I noticed the numbers have remained exactly the same. 

On the energy supplier website, it says a faulty engineer visit  costs a £120 - can this be right, would this be my fee?
 As I am a tenant would this be the landlord or myself? 
I haven't done anything to the meter. 

pochase

Don't worry. The £120 are if somebody believes his meter is faulty, for example beliefs it is showing more units than he really uses and asks for it to be checked. If no fault is found he will be charged the £120.

In your case there is a clear issue with the meter, so you will not be charged for the visit.

Robin9

Well done for reading your meter regularly and picking up the problem.

You are the customer not the landlord - ring your supplier ASAP

Petriix

The first question is are you absolutely certain it's your meter? (could be a pointless question if you live in a detached house, but flats sometimes have incorrectly assigned meters in a communal space)

Does the label on the meter match the reference on your bill? 

SAC2334

If the meter is a Sangamo Weston analogue meter and the reading has stopped advancing , just give it a thump on top of the meter .It should restart .

When this very common analogue meter does stop a blank space drops down on the last digit ( not on tenths ) on the single unit dial. 
As a long time meter reader I once found three of these meters all stopped on one street alone. So three people were upset when their meter suddenly started up again when I restarted them all.

These old analogue meters have another lovely freebie the digital meters will not do. Solar panels will make these meters run backwards especially on a sunny day when little electricity is being consumed . 
Anyone who has one of these meters hang on to it for as long as possible as that blank may drop down ( usually after 99 on the previous 2 digits ) and the meter will not record very very expensive kwh s .

Mstty

Or you could leave it well alone and let your electricity company work out the issue when they notice it and can be bothered to fix it.

brianposter

Never tell your supplier that the meter is faulty. Simply tell them that the readings appear to be incorrect and leave them to work out what is wrong.

Gerry1

If you're in a flat, do the Meter Sanity Test: what you think is your meter might actually be supplying an empty flat.  If you're unknowingly using a lot of energy you could be building up a big bill.

Similarly, same risk again if the empty flat becomes occupied and they find their bills don't increase much if they have it tropical.

Gerry1

SAC2334 said:

If the meter is a Sangamo Weston analogue meter and the reading has stopped advancing , just give it a thump on top of the meter .It should restart .

When this very common analogue meter does stop a blank space drops down on the last digit (not on tenths ) on the single unit dial. 
As a long time meter reader I once found three of these meters all stopped on one street alone. So three people were upset when their meter suddenly started up again when I restarted them all.
Anyone who has one of these meters hang on to it for as long as possible as that blank may drop down ( usually after 99 on the previous 2 digits ) and the meter will not record very very expensive kwh s .

Interesting !  How does it work and what will be displayed if the blank hasn't dropped down?  All the images I've found show the blank is in place.

QrizB

Gerry1 said:

SAC2334 said:

If the meter is a Sangamo Weston analogue meter and the reading has stopped advancing , just give it a thump on top of the meter .It should restart .

When this very common analogue meter does stop a blank space drops down on the last digit (not on tenths ) on the single unit dial. 
As a long time meter reader I once found three of these meters all stopped on one street alone. So three people were upset when their meter suddenly started up again when I restarted them all.
Anyone who has one of these meters hang on to it for as long as possible as that blank may drop down ( usually after 99 on the previous 2 digits ) and the meter will not record very very expensive kwh s .

Interesting !  How does it work and what will be displayed if the blank hasn't dropped down?  All the images I've found show the blank is in place.

None of those photos show "a blank space drops down on the last digit (not on tenths ) on the single unit dial."

If they did, they would look something like this (not my photo, taken from Flickr):

SAC2334

Gerry1 said:

SAC2334 said:

If the meter is a Sangamo Weston analogue meter and the reading has stopped advancing , just give it a thump on top of the meter .It should restart .

When this very common analogue meter does stop a blank space drops down on the last digit (not on tenths ) on the single unit dial. 
As a long time meter reader I once found three of these meters all stopped on one street alone. So three people were upset when their meter suddenly started up again when I restarted them all.
Anyone who has one of these meters hang on to it for as long as possible as that blank may drop down ( usually after 99 on the previous 2 digits ) and the meter will not record very very expensive kwh s .

Interesting !  How does it work and what will be displayed if the blank hasn't dropped down?  All the images I've found show the blank is in place.

It only appears on single rate meter s and every time its following at least 2 x 9 s on the 100 and 10 ths unit registers 
eg 63998  , then next kwh the blank drops down .I ve got a few old photos of it somewhere on my old camera but I don  t know how to upload .
    This 6399blank  shows then stays like for years if the meter is nt knocked. . ..Then the meter stops until a good thump dislodges this blank with an audible click .then the reading go s to 64000. 
I ve performed this many times in front of customers who wanted the meter working properly .

Others are upset about it and I ve had the "jobsworth " title aimed at me .

I usually reported the meter as being faulty but as usual most  suppliers took no notice unless the occupier phoned up personally, then the meter was changed to a standard digital or smart meter
 
Revenue Protection Unit were not really interested neither as it was nt theft of energy . 
One customer complained that "I d added a 1000 units to the reading after a restart  and complained to British Gas about it .

 I d only added one unit but it looks dramatic when 4 registers all suddenly change .

Meter readers and meter fitters alike do not understand this meter and routinely register the blank as a zero so it can go on for years  .

Years ago someone who knew the Sangamo Weston meter well, explained it and why its doing but I m still not clear what or why this blank drops down and why its there in the first place.
Sangamo Weston analogue meter ( not the dial meter ) was probably the most common meter in the UK  and there's still lots around now. I ve still got one myself but so far its never stopped recording usage for me .
I d have to buy a used one and take it apart to see what and where this blank comes down from. 
A mystery meter