Smart meter exchange and pulsacoil boiler

Lemon483

Hi,

I have posted recently about extreme night consumption. Basically I was worried why our off peak consumption was showing nearly 21kwh each night when the pulsacoil was only active for a few hours or not at all and the storage heaters off. I have since then turned off the switches on the fuse box to see if the meter would still record the consumption, and it did record 13kwh usage off peak, even nothing was on in the property.

I have contacted my energy supplier (edf) to see if someone can come around and and check the meter if it is faulty or if someone is feeding off our offpeak electricity (we live in the block of flats and the meters are usually locked in the cupboard with the property management having the keys for it), however it seems like I'm getting a rather default reply that they will change the meter. I am not sure if this will solve the problem and if the engineer would actually look at the issue. Also I am worried about the pulsecoil installed and insure if it will require to be rewired and don't want the meter replacement to mess anything up! Also because the extreme usage only occurs at night at very akward times and the on peak rate is not affected, I am not sure how they will check it. Any inside advice of what to expect? 

[Deleted User]

Lemon483 said:

Hi,

I have posted recently about extreme night consumption. Basically I was worried why our off peak consumption was showing nearly 21kwh each night when the pulsacoil was only active for a few hours or not at all and the storage heaters off. I have since then turned off the switches on the fuse box to see if the meter would still record the consumption, and it did record 13kwh usage off peak, even nothing was on in the property.

I have contacted my energy supplier (edf) to see if someone can come around and and check the meter if it is faulty or if someone is feeding off our offpeak electricity (we live in the block of flats and the meters are usually locked in the cupboard with the property management having the keys for it), however it seems like I'm getting a rather default reply that they will change the meter. I am not sure if this will solve the problem and if the engineer would actually look at the issue. Also I am worried about the pulsecoil installed and insure if it will require to be rewired and don't want the meter replacement to mess anything up! Also because the extreme usage only occurs at night at very akward times and the on peak rate is not affected, I am not sure how they will check it. Any inside advice of what to expect? 

Checking the wiring on the property side of your meter is not a supplier’s responsibility. You will need to pay for an electrician to carry out the investigation; the supplier’s installer will not carryout any internal re-wiring. This cost of any re-wiring falls to you.

The supplier will not normally change your meter so I am a bit surprised that this has been offered. If you believe that your meter is faulty, you can ask the supplier to fit a check meter alongside your existing meter. If your meter is found to be serviceable you will be charged for this check. The problem with fitting a replacement meter is that you will struggle to prove that there was a fault with the meter that was removed as the old meter will most likely be heading towards a skip.

I will ask again - are you 100% sure that the meter that is recording the usage is connected to your flat? Transposed meters is all too common feature of new builds; conversions etc.

Lemon483

[Deleted User] said:

Lemon483 said:

Hi,

I have posted recently about extreme night consumption. Basically I was worried why our off peak consumption was showing nearly 21kwh each night when the pulsacoil was only active for a few hours or not at all and the storage heaters off. I have since then turned off the switches on the fuse box to see if the meter would still record the consumption, and it did record 13kwh usage off peak, even nothing was on in the property.

I have contacted my energy supplier (edf) to see if someone can come around and and check the meter if it is faulty or if someone is feeding off our offpeak electricity (we live in the block of flats and the meters are usually locked in the cupboard with the property management having the keys for it), however it seems like I'm getting a rather default reply that they will change the meter. I am not sure if this will solve the problem and if the engineer would actually look at the issue. Also I am worried about the pulsecoil installed and insure if it will require to be rewired and don't want the meter replacement to mess anything up! Also because the extreme usage only occurs at night at very akward times and the on peak rate is not affected, I am not sure how they will check it. Any inside advice of what to expect? 

Checking the wiring on the property side of your meter is not a supplier’s responsibility. You will need to pay for an electrician to carry out the investigation; the supplier’s installer will not carryout any internal re-wiring. This cost of any re-wiring falls to you.

The supplier will not normally change your meter so I am a bit surprised that this has been offered. If you believe that your meter is faulty, you can ask the supplier to fit a check meter alongside your existing meter. If your meter is found to be serviceable you will be charged for this check. The problem with fitting a replacement meter is that you will struggle to prove that there was a fault with the meter that was removed as the old meter will most likely be heading towards a skip.

I will ask again - are you 100% sure that the meter that is recording the usage is connected to your flat? Transposed meters is all too common feature of new builds; conversions etc.

Yes, I have done a sanity check. During the day the usage is recorded correctly and accurate, however during the night I have turned the switches off on the fuse box for the entire night and it has still recorded 17kwh used overnight. It looks like either someone stealing our electricity or the meter is faulty, as the landlord has also received a huge bill while the property was empty (it was empty for 10 days and he got billed for 200kwh usage during those days). Could also be the case of someone's meter being replaced and reconnected wrong.

[Deleted User]

Lemon483 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Lemon483 said:

Hi,

I have posted recently about extreme night consumption. Basically I was worried why our off peak consumption was showing nearly 21kwh each night when the pulsacoil was only active for a few hours or not at all and the storage heaters off. I have since then turned off the switches on the fuse box to see if the meter would still record the consumption, and it did record 13kwh usage off peak, even nothing was on in the property.

I have contacted my energy supplier (edf) to see if someone can come around and and check the meter if it is faulty or if someone is feeding off our offpeak electricity (we live in the block of flats and the meters are usually locked in the cupboard with the property management having the keys for it), however it seems like I'm getting a rather default reply that they will change the meter. I am not sure if this will solve the problem and if the engineer would actually look at the issue. Also I am worried about the pulsecoil installed and insure if it will require to be rewired and don't want the meter replacement to mess anything up! Also because the extreme usage only occurs at night at very akward times and the on peak rate is not affected, I am not sure how they will check it. Any inside advice of what to expect? 

Checking the wiring on the property side of your meter is not a supplier’s responsibility. You will need to pay for an electrician to carry out the investigation; the supplier’s installer will not carryout any internal re-wiring. This cost of any re-wiring falls to you.

The supplier will not normally change your meter so I am a bit surprised that this has been offered. If you believe that your meter is faulty, you can ask the supplier to fit a check meter alongside your existing meter. If your meter is found to be serviceable you will be charged for this check. The problem with fitting a replacement meter is that you will struggle to prove that there was a fault with the meter that was removed as the old meter will most likely be heading towards a skip.

I will ask again - are you 100% sure that the meter that is recording the usage is connected to your flat? Transposed meters is all too common feature of new builds; conversions etc.

Yes, I have done a sanity check. During the day the usage is recorded correctly and accurate, however during the night I have turned the switches off on the fuse box for the entire night and it has still recorded 17kwh used overnight. It looks like either someone stealing our electricity or the meter is faulty, as the landlord has also received a huge bill while the property was empty (it was empty for 10 days and he got billed for 200kwh usage during those days). Could also be the case of someone's meter being replaced and reconnected wrong.

It that is the case you need to bite the bullet and ask the supplier for an independent meter check. The supplier will arrange for a check meter to be fitted alongside your existing meter. If a meter fault is identified then your account will be re-billed. As I said before, if no fault is found then a charge will be raised.

Mstty

Just so it is clear there will just be two wires coming from the meter in the cupboard a live and a neutral wire straight to your property.

Anything you have in the property is wired into your fuse board which you have obviously mastered turning the switches off in your test.

However are there any signs of wires coming out of the fuse board into neighbouring properties or into the ceiling etc that look added and incorrect?

Lemon483

Mstty said:

Just so it is clear there will just be two wires coming from the meter in the cupboard a live and a neutral wire straight to your property.

Anything you have in the property is wired into your fuse board which you have obviously mastered turning the switches off in your test.

However are there any signs of wires coming out of the fuse board into neighbouring properties or into the ceiling etc that look added and incorrect?

I can't see any fuses coming from the fuse box, but will also double check the meter. I live in the block of flat and all of the meters are in the communal cupboard and none of the flats have gas supply either. 

It is currently a bit of a pain to get the key as the property management has it and it is not a usual fire brigade key either. As currently it looks like the following: at about 12:30am the consumption jumps at 3.5kwh, the pulsecoil is not due to turn on until 1am. Turned everything off at the fuse box and the home display and the app is still recording usage even everything is off (checked after 10-15 minutes). Turning the fuse box back on and once our pulsecoil comes up the usage jumps to 3.6kwh.

ariarnia

that's interesting because 12:30 is a common time for the night rate of e7 to kick in and you mentioned storage heaters (which can have a mechanical timer to turn on and of at the right times). if you are sure the storage heaters are of (turned of at the wall and not on a seporate fuse circuit) i wonder if theres something else with a timer hidden somewhere. or i guess its possible for a e7 meter to have only one of its rates broken. 

i no youve had a advice already but i'm with dolor. dont agree to get your meter removed yet and pay for an electrician to come and trace your wires. the cost of paying for the meter test if its not faulty will cost more than the sparky to make sure your not missing something so it might feel pointless but could save you money. 

Lemon483

ariarnia said:

that's interesting because 12:30 is a common time for the night rate of e7 to kick in and you mentioned storage heaters (which can have a mechanical timer to turn on and of at the right times). if you are sure the storage heaters are of (turned of at the wall and not on a seporate fuse circuit) i wonder if theres something else with a timer hidden somewhere. or i guess its possible for a e7 meter to have only one of its rates broken. 

i no youve had a advice already but i'm with dolor. dont agree to get your meter removed yet and pay for an electrician to come and trace your wires. the cost of paying for the meter test if its not faulty will cost more than the sparky to make sure your not missing something so it might feel pointless but could save you money. 

Hi,

I have checked the storage heaters and all 4 of them are turned off at the wall and at the fuse box. I'm not calling the electrician yet as the landlord is planning to come around this week and check the meter too, since they received a very high energy bill too while the property was empty and everything turned off at the fuse box.

[Deleted User]

Lemon483 said:

ariarnia said:

that's interesting because 12:30 is a common time for the night rate of e7 to kick in and you mentioned storage heaters (which can have a mechanical timer to turn on and of at the right times). if you are sure the storage heaters are of (turned of at the wall and not on a seporate fuse circuit) i wonder if theres something else with a timer hidden somewhere. or i guess its possible for a e7 meter to have only one of its rates broken. 

i no youve had a advice already but i'm with dolor. dont agree to get your meter removed yet and pay for an electrician to come and trace your wires. the cost of paying for the meter test if its not faulty will cost more than the sparky to make sure your not missing something so it might feel pointless but could save you money. 

Hi,

I have checked the storage heaters and all 4 of them are turned off at the wall and at the fuse box. I'm not calling the electrician yet as the landlord is planning to come around this week and check the meter too, since they received a very high energy bill too while the property was empty and everything turned off at the fuse box.

How exactly is the landlord going to check your meter? if there is a 'phantom' draw as others suggest then it needs a qualified electrician to check the consumer box wiring.

Lemon483

[Deleted User] said:

Lemon483 said:

ariarnia said:

that's interesting because 12:30 is a common time for the night rate of e7 to kick in and you mentioned storage heaters (which can have a mechanical timer to turn on and of at the right times). if you are sure the storage heaters are of (turned of at the wall and not on a seporate fuse circuit) i wonder if theres something else with a timer hidden somewhere. or i guess its possible for a e7 meter to have only one of its rates broken. 

i no youve had a advice already but i'm with dolor. dont agree to get your meter removed yet and pay for an electrician to come and trace your wires. the cost of paying for the meter test if its not faulty will cost more than the sparky to make sure your not missing something so it might feel pointless but could save you money. 

Hi,

I have checked the storage heaters and all 4 of them are turned off at the wall and at the fuse box. I'm not calling the electrician yet as the landlord is planning to come around this week and check the meter too, since they received a very high energy bill too while the property was empty and everything turned off at the fuse box.

How exactly is the landlord going to check your meter? if there is a 'phantom' draw as others suggest then it needs a qualified electrician to check the consumer box wiring.

He has the key to the cupboard and wants to see for himself if there's anything that connects to it due to also receiving a high bill. To me it currently looks like the meter has been replaced sometime summer/autumn last year and might have not been connected properly and then call the electrician if needed.