Phantom Electricity? How do I get electricity provider to check the meter

getmore4less

Turn it off at the meter as that stopped everything.

See how long it takes for someone to raise a fuss.

chris_n

Maybe some communal supply like lights etc are running off your meter.

Gerry1

Did you do the Meter Sanity Test, as suggested a week ago?

With all the high consumption items switched on, which meter flashed like crazy?

macman

are there other meters in this locked cupboard?

obamtl

Gerry1 said:

Did you do the Meter Sanity Test, as suggested a week ago?

With all the high consumption items switched on, which meter flashed like crazy?

Because the meter is in a locked communal area, and the concierge is away until the 3rd, I can't do tests dirrctly with the meter, and can only rely on the smart meter readings from Bulb.

I've effectively done a more extreme form.of a sanity test, with the electricity in my apartment turned off completely from the fuse box from last week until 8:07 AM yesterday (Saturday, 31/12). 

This is the usage graph for the week so far:

obamtl

macman said:

are there other meters in this locked cupboard?

Yes, all the meters for the apartments on this floor are in the same cupboard. It is a high rise building.

obamtl

chris_n said:

Maybe some communal supply like lights etc are running off your meter.

Possible, but it’s unlikely to be communal lighting because the daily usage has 2 spikes that are unaccounted for. The spikes are more consistent with a boiler or storage heater running on a timer and going off at those two points.

Petriix

Before anything else you need to start thinking in W and kWh rather than £.

It's not impossible for your own supply to be split before the main consumer unit so it's not necessarily someone else stealing your electricity. You need to figure out the actual level of the energy being used to help identify what it's being used for.

Ultimately we can only speculate until you tell us what you discover. Most similar threads never have a conclusion. 

getmore4less

Petriix said:

Before anything else you need to start thinking in W and kWh rather than £.

It's not impossible for your own supply to be split before the main consumer unit so it's not necessarily someone else stealing your electricity. You need to figure out the actual level of the energy being used to help identify what it's being used for.

Ultimately we can only speculate until you tell us what you discover. Most similar threads never have a conclusion. 

They said if they turn the supply of at the consumer unit the power still gets used at the meter.

Given they(meter consumer) are some distance apart it's very possible and probably relatively easy depending on the construction of the flats

obamtl

Petriix said:

Before anything else you need to start thinking in W and kWh rather than £.

It's not impossible for your own supply to be split before the main consumer unit so it's not necessarily someone else stealing your electricity. You need to figure out the actual level of the energy being used to help identify what it's being used for.

Ultimately we can only speculate until you tell us what you discover. Most similar threads never have a conclusion. 

I'm conversant with units of energy and how £ costs translate to kWh unit costs. 

£7.08 charge in a day translates 19.95 kWh (standing charge of 47.19p, unit rate of 31.43p and VAT of 5% for a residential property). 

Still doesn't explain how a property with power switched off from the fuse box consumes almost 20 units, and this doesn't change if it's framed in unit terms or £ terms.

That said, I am grateful for all tips and advice given on how I can discover why this is happening so that it is fixed.