Crossed meter or not?

baglessupright

Two months ago, my electricity usage started to shoot up with absolutely no changes on my part. My energy usage, according to my meter, is now 6 times what it has been for the last two and a half years. My supplier, Eon, insisted that this must be due to a problem in my flat but my electrician has pronounced everything to be 'within working limits'.

I even turned my electricity off at the mains overnight for 7 hours and 20 mins, and, in the morning, the meter had recorded a 7 unit increase.

When I reported this to Eon, they started to acknowledge that I might have a crossed meter. The call handler promised to send an engineer and said that it would be up to 2 weeks before I heard from the engineers. Two weeks passed and I didn't get an appt. I rang Eon again.

The new call handler said that the previous person hadn't made a appt but after another 30 mins of him asking and me answering all the same questions, he agreed that it was probable that I had a crossed meter and that he would make me an engineer's appt and that it would take up to 2 weeks to hear from them.

Two weeks later I had still heard nothing. I rang again. The new call handler said that there was a note on my file that I needed an engineer's appt but that one hadn't been made. (You couldn't make this up!) He said that he would have to contact the call handler who had left the note but would get back to me.

Two days passed and I had heard nothing so I rang the Eon Complaints line. I told the young lady on the line the whole sorry story again, only to hear that, after looking through my file, she had done "some tests", the result of which was that I did NOT have a crossed meter although it was possible that my meter was running fast. I needed to pay £100.93 for a member of the Complex Meter Team to come out and check my meter. I would be entitled to a refund of the fee if the meter proved to be at fault - although this was not often the case.

I paid the fee because, by that time, I had been on the phone for 73 mins and was so stressed I could have kicked a hole in the wall! I was then told that she would get back to me once she had an appt date.

After I put the phone down, I emailed her and asked her to tell me the name of the tests (plural) that she had carried out. She wrote back: "I checked the meter serial numbers on our records which match the serial numbers you provided (in the picture of your meter)".

I'm no expert but surely that can't be proof that I don't have a crossed meter?

Can anyone advise, please?

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Start by doing the Meter Sanity Test.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78850409#Comment_78850409

baglessupright

Hi Gerry1, Thanks for the welcome. Just looked at the Meter Sanity Test but the meter is inside my flat.

baglessupright

Forgot to add: When I was asked to do a 'kettle boil test', which I was told was to check for a crossed meter, there was no increase at all on the meter during the duration of the test and for at least 5 mins afterwards. I had switched on as many appliances as I could get my hands on during that time - including my electric water heater.

Robin9

Can we have a photo of your meter and surrounding equipment please ?   Just wondering if there are two consumer units/switches.

Reed_Richards

baglessupright said:

Hi Gerry1, Thanks for the welcome. Just looked at the Meter Sanity Test but the meter is inside my flat.

Which makes it very convenient to turn the power off at the meter.  What's the problem?  If your power goes off then it's supplying your flat.  If your power stays on then it's not your meter.  If somebody nearby starts complaining then it's not just supplying and metering your flat.  

baglessupright

This is the meter that I use. There is also a disused economy 7 meter that has been switched off since I bought the flat and took over the account.

baglessupright

This is the consumer unit

baglessupright

This is the Economy 7 meter that has been at 26692 since I moved in

baglessupright

There was also another consumer unit which was labelled 'Storage heaters', Immersion Heater' and 'Underfloor heating'. I don't have storage heaters or an immersion heater. The flat does have the original underfloor heating from the 1960s but I've never been able to get it to work and the electrician disconnected the live cable to it when he came to make sure everything in the flat was working as it should.

baglessupright

There's also this but I don't know what it is...