Faulty electric Smart Meter? or something more at play?....

Netexporter

Has the immersion heater been left on?

CAF80ST

Netexporter said:

Has the immersion heater been left on?

The immersion heater has never been switched on. For emergency use only that thankfully we have never had to use. Goodness I don't think I could cope with that expense on top of everything else! 

victor2

CAF80ST said:

....
Demanded complaint be escalated. New MET appointment came through for 13 Aug 2025. Engineer did arrive and carry out the test, approx 1hour. Received email from Octopus stating the engineer did not complete the accuracy test accurately meaning the data is invalid. Another urgent MET appointment request has been submitted, apparently. I still haven't heard from them. 
....

Did that engineer suggest he had seen a problem with the meter?

MeteredOut

CAF80ST said:

Netexporter said:

Has the immersion heater been left on?

The immersion heater has never been switched on. For emergency use only that thankfully we have never had to use. Goodness I don't think I could cope with that expense on top of everything else! 

Unlikely it will be the immersion if it is switched off, but has that been tested?

It is increasing sounding like either something in your property is on that you're not aware of, or the meter is faulty. Someone previously suggested completely turning off the consumer unit and tracking usage at the meter - can you do that?

You need to push for the meter test, both with Octopus and the ombudsman. They can put in another meter in parallel and compare results.

There is a very small chance someone else's usage is being recorded on your meter. What age is the property and those around it? Is it detached, flats?

ic

So you do have a standard boiler with a hot water tank?  Are you absolutely sure that the immersion isn't on?  It isn't wired in to a timer somewhere?  You're not using a tumble dryer regularly?  Have a heated fish tank?  Left a heater on in the garage...

The octopus app will allow you to drill down to usage by the half hour - is your usage fairly flat through the day?  What about when you were away and everything should have been off?

jennifernil

That is a huge amount of  electricity that you appear to be using!   Is the underfloor heating electric?    How large is the house, how many people?

Our use from the grid is around 3200kWh, but we also have solar panels which produce about 3600kWh annually and we use about half of that, or a little less, ourselves, so a total consumption of around 5000kWh.

 House is 280 sq m + 40 sq m integral garage, over 2 levels, heating and HW from gas, cooking is all electric.  Only the 2 of us, but mainly home all day as retired.  No underfloor heating or log burner.   

We do however have quite a lot of “appliances” ……..ceramic hob, double oven, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, 3 under counter size fridges, 3 similar size freezers plus one large freezer, multiple extractor fans, 3 electric towel warmers, 2 TVs, large woodturning  lathe and a stack of other tools, bread maker,  plus the usual kettle, toaster, air fryer, mixer, sandwich toaster, P.C. and printer,  laptop, I pads and phones etc, etc.

 Other than trying to turn off lights when exiting a room, we are pretty casual when it comes to using electricity, and the tumble dryer is used year round as I am physically unable to peg out washing.  I consider us to be high users!

For heating and HW, we like to be cosy and being old, we do feel the cold, so we use about 18,000 kWh of gas.

squirrelpie

CAF80ST said:

In addition to this, our address does not appear on the National DB. There are 18 properties situated on my street, only 10 of which are listed. Therefore its the same on UK Power Networks. Our address is not one of them and is not found upon input. However when inputting our MPAN number it links to just our street name. No property number, nothing to identify us or tell us apart. All other addresses are listed as, for example,  '10 Tree Drive', or '5a Tree Drive' - we are merely 'Tree Drive'. Where are the other 8 properties addresses missing from the Database, surely they have electricity provided from somewhere? 
My concern is there could be something greater happening here. I am aware meters can be registered to the wrong address, we're listed as a whole street. Is it not impossible we could be paying for other properties usage? The electricity units used certainly equates to that.

It certainly sounds like there's something seriously wrong. Does your street have street lighting? If so, maybe the 'Tree Drive' account is picking up payments for that?

The amount you're supposed to be consuming is something like a continuous 2 kW. So something somewhere would be getting very noticeably hot if so.

Exactly which "National DB" are you referring to?

You mentioned UK Power Networks, which is presumably your DNO (Distribution Network Operator). Have you reported the problem of your missing address to them and asked them for help sorting it out?

brianposter

What does your half-hourly usage over the holiday period show ?

Do you have any sort of water pump ?

CAF80ST

victor2 said:

CAF80ST said:

....
Demanded complaint be escalated. New MET appointment came through for 13 Aug 2025. Engineer did arrive and carry out the test, approx 1hour. Received email from Octopus stating the engineer did not complete the accuracy test accurately meaning the data is invalid. Another urgent MET appointment request has been submitted, apparently. I still haven't heard from them. 
....

Did that engineer suggest he had seen a problem with the meter?

The engineer explained he was not allowed to indicate in any way any findings and that there is now a 'tick box' upon submission of findings stating these have not been shared with the customer. This is apparently due to lots of claims when engineers have said they have identified a problem and the supplier then says there isn't a problem. He also said if the results come back inconclusive that it is an indication that something is wrong. Our results were not inconclusive just that the test was not carried out accurately. Does that class as inconclusive?
He also said (he really wasn't holding back) that the reason the MAT appointments take so long to reach customers is because the software that particular suppliers are using is basically not ready and those suppliers are squirreling away in the background trying to get testing apps/software ready. Of course there is also the argument of dragging heels full stop for many other reasons....

QrizB

CAF80ST said:

The meter is an Itron Model EK410-UK.

I think that's a comms hub, commonly used with the Itron EM425-UK meter.

Something like this (a stock photo)?

We don't see many of those on the forum but someone might recognise it and know if it has any common faults.