Electricity meter is still recording units even after I've turned the electricity off at the mains

AcklingtonLass

Our electricity meter is recording units even when the mains is turned off. The meter readings that we are continuing to log are showing approx. 1 unit per hour which is easily double what our normal usage would be. Our previous 2 years have been approximately half of what is now being recorded, even though our usage remains unchanged. No electric heating only gas and restricted use of the oven (most meals microwaved) and washing machine (machine filled with hot water already heated by gas) therefore keeping electricity use to a minimum. We have an AMPY e5258K electricity meter which was installed in 2009. We found a thread on this site dated January 2015 which highlighted the same issue we are now having. And a reply to that thread, dated March 2019, identified an electronic fault with some AMPY meters involving a faulty capacitor, which can cause the meters to free run. Or at least flash at a greater frequency, indicating an increased use of electricity. Despite the previous 3 years' bills, the energy supplier is unwilling to test the electricity meter and verify its accuracy. Instead, making us wait 6 weeks for an installation of a smart meter. Meanwhile, we have to pay the inflated electricity bill (and with the energy costs going up 10% in October). How do we get our energy supplier to take responsibility and provide a rapid solution and to calculate the year's worth of extra units for a refund.

tacpot12

Call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.

AcklingtonLass

We have contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau who have been helpful, but we have gone as far as we can with their advice. The only step left is to request a deadlock letter and refer to the Ombudsman

EssexHebridean

ahh how we miss (former forum member) Dolor at times like this.  Paging @BarelySentientAI who may have some info, also @MeteredOut who had a similar issue with a gas meter and may know how the processes work in practice. 

Gerry1

EssexHebridean said:

ahh how we miss (former forum member) Dolor at times like this.  Paging @BarelySentientAI who may have some info, also @MeteredOut who had a similar issue with a gas meter and may know how the processes work in practice. 

Sadly, BarelySentientAI has also been banned... 😨

Spoonie_Turtle

This might be a silly question but I can't see it explicitly stated in your post - have you told your supplier that the meter is increasing with the mains turned off?

Vudeo evidence could be helpful, if you haven't already sent it to them.

Scot_39

Seems strange they have not offered to do any actual accuracy tests themselves - given that even half of your 1kW / hour you estimate as being in error is a non trivial error. 

My night consumption goes as low as 20-30W - unless F/F running one of its cycles.  I left the alarms (burglar, 2 mains smoke), 2 LED bulbs c10W ave - between them c30hrs - and just the F/F running whilst away recently - used just over 1kWh each day away.  Pretty much as I expected.

There was a couple of posts on potential meter error behaviours by one of the now banned users above so cannot easily search for them - but like any complex device - the fault could manifest in any way - zero drift - reading accuracy (1 kW rather than 2 etc) - under or over actual - potentially very load dependent - mix of the two.

Ideally you would hope they could install a calibrated meter in series - which I have seen done only once - and that was in an industrial premises for much higher £££ stakes.

OR you could use the previous years measurements - and the measurements on the new meter - to refute the higher bills during the faulty period - and ask for a rebate in some form.

But in reality - that can be difficult to prove.  You could have simply switched off something in the house.

As well as the CA general guidance - which i assume you have been through and getting nowhere - which talks of suppliers checking meters - there is a bit on gov uk - on suspect metering and your right to ask for independent testing.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/your-energy-meter/find-out-if-your-energy-meter-is-faulty/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/electricity-meter-accuracy-disputes

"If you have contacted your energy supplier (the company sending the bills) about your electricity meter readings but remain unhappy at the outcome, you have the right to request an independent test of your meter."

Note the potential cost warning though if found OK - as echoed on the CA pages

You may already by the sounds of things - be at that stage - I am not sure you need to wait for Ombudsman's normal 8 wks to ask for - and if it is a right as gov uk implies - to demand the test.

MattMattMattUK

As Scott says your best option is to go the independent meter test route. Your supplier will charge you £175-195 for the test if your meter is correctly recording, or refund your excess consumption if the meter is inaccurate.

Just to check when you say turned off at the mains, do you mean you have turned all the plugs off, or do you mean you have flipped the master switch on the consumer unit? If the latter then that is the correct way, you would then need to check readings over a period of at least an hour, but over a longer period would be better. If it shows usage then that is obviously wrong, if it does not then that element is not faulty and you need to run a subsequent test against a known load to see if that is recording correctly.

MeteredOut

The issue I had was with my gas meter. Long story short: raise it with your supplier, and keep fighting until they agree to replace the meter AND send of the existing one for testing. Alternatively, get them to fit a secondary meter alongside your existing one. DO NOT let them just replace the meter - it will be discarded and you'll have no evidence of any issue.

I'm 2+ years in after first reporting the issue with my meter (full story here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6452074/gas-meter-still-increasing-whilst-gas-isolated-siemens-landis-gyr-e6s) but I'm nearing the end-game.

So, be ready for a fight, be ready to take it to the Energy Ombudsman, and be ready for it to take time. 

tim_p

Gerry1 said:

Sadly, BarelySentientAI has also been banned... 😨

What do you have to do / say to get banned?  Presumably it wasn’t for something said here?

Swipe

tim_p said:

Gerry1 said:

Sadly, BarelySentientAI has also been banned... 😨

What do you have to do / say to get banned?  Presumably it wasn’t for something said here?

By breaking the forum rules and yes, it was likely something said here or in a DM.