Creep Test and Accuracy Test results

bob2302

BarelySentientAI said:

One meter that I tested in the past had a creep test result of 300W, but it turned out that it was acting as a minimum reading, so at no load it recorded 300W, at 100W load it recorded 300W, at 200W load it recorded 300W, and from 300W and upwards it was accurate.

Given that most properties would be using at least some electricity all of the time, applying creep as well as accuracy test results would have been a massive overestimate of the error in that case.

 That meter would triple my recorded usage.

BarelySentientAI

bob2302 said:

BarelySentientAI said:

One meter that I tested in the past had a creep test result of 300W, but it turned out that it was acting as a minimum reading, so at no load it recorded 300W, at 100W load it recorded 300W, at 200W load it recorded 300W, and from 300W and upwards it was accurate.

Given that most properties would be using at least some electricity all of the time, applying creep as well as accuracy test results would have been a massive overestimate of the error in that case.

 That meter would triple my recorded usage.

And assuming the error was 3x (for inaccuracy) + 300W (for creep) would be a massive overestimate.  Even more so in your case.

Reed_Richards

It seems to me that if an electricity meter goes wrong you can test it to see how it is misbehaving at present and this can be complex, creep, creep only at low powers being drawn, sudden jumps, overreading by some multiple of the correct reading, probably more.  Under these circumstances I would have thought that the only way you can deal with correcting for a faulty meter is to look at usage before the meter went wrong, possibly usage after the meter was replaced and use that as a means of estimating the unknown usage when the meter wasn't working properly.  So I don't see how Octopus can glibly declare that the meter was just overreading by a constant x% abd believe that to be credible.  It's not credible to me.    

BarelySentientAI

Reed_Richards said:

It seems to me that if an electricity meter goes wrong you can test it to see how it is misbehaving at present and this can be complex, creep, creep only at low powers being drawn, sudden jumps, overreading by some multiple of the correct reading, probably more.  Under these circumstances I would have thought that the only way you can deal with correcting for a faulty meter is to look at usage before the meter went wrong, possibly usage after the meter was replaced and use that as a means of estimating the unknown usage when the meter wasn't working properly.  So I don't see how Octopus can glibly declare that the meter was just overreading by a constant x% abd believe that to be credible.  It's not credible to me.    

Well of course it's not credible if you interpret it as someone just looking at the meter and picking a number.

Correcting for a faulty meter by assuming that someone's usage this year is exactly the same as it was last year and/or exactly the same as it will be next year is equally not credible.

Fortunately, neither are what happens.

Reed_Richards

Oh @BarelySentientAI; you're so cryptic sometimes.  Care to share what does happen, for the benefit of the OP?

Joe_Tanner

Thanks for all the comments. 

So I’ve spoken with Octopus again and they asked me what kind of resolution I was looking for on this case and I said that I obviously want the meter to be replaced, but on the condition that it was sent to be tested in an independent lab, like it’s stated on the ‘Independent testing of accuracy’ gov page that you shared (I’ve actually called the Office for Product Safety and Standards and they confirmed that the test Octopus did on my meter should have been done differently, namely that the engineer should have discussed the results with us, there should have been a second person from SGS present and the meter should have been removed and sent for further testing in an approved lab). I know that if that doesn’t happen as soon as the meter leaves our flat it will disappear and then there will be nothing we can do about it. He said he was going to open a new complaint and also told me that the rebilling will also take into account the previous years’ usage and the new readings from the new smart meter, so that’s already a bit of progress as the last person I spoke with told me that the rebilling would be calculated based on the 5.49% inaccuracy result and nothing more. So now waiting again to see what happens next…

In the meantime, I’ve checked all of our appliances energy usage with a metering plug and nothing seems to be using more energy than it should. Only things I couldn’t check were the wired smoke detectors and an over the mirror bathroom light that has a transformer that is always warm (not hot), but that can’t justify the extra almost 400 units a month we’re using at the moment, or I imagine it would probably burst into flames. Also measured wake time and night time usage and got some interesting results. From 8am until 11pm (average day with two people working from home with three laptops on and cooking dinner and running one dishwasher cycle) our meter measured 15.8kw which averages to 1.05kw per hour, and during night time from 11pm until 8:30am (only the fridge plugged in, along with a couple of chargers and tv and one computer on stand-by) it measured 8.7kw which averages to 0.92kw per hour. Both hourly usage results are very similar and it seems that whether we’re using appliances, lights, etc or not the meter is always clocking an insane amount of energy, which explains why in months that we’ve been away for a couple of weeks our usage hasn’t really deviated much from the other months. It seems that throughout the year just while we’re sleeping the meter’s measuring way more units than what we used to use during a complete year before this problem started.

BarelySentientAI

Sounds sensible - OPSS have given you the right information and the new rebilling suggestion from Octopus is more plausible (although keep pushing).

Just to check, you don't have a hot water tank?

Joe_Tanner

BarelySentientAI said:

Sounds sensible - OPSS have given you the right information and the new rebilling suggestion from Octopus is more plausible (although keep pushing).

Just to check, you don't have a hot water tank?

No, heating and hot water are gas only

Reed_Richards

So it's a combi boiler, no hot water tank?