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

CAF80ST

MeteredOut said:

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?

Immersion has been tested, definitely switched off.

I will indeed carry out the completely turning off the consumer unit and tracking usage at the meter and the meter sanity test as suggested (thank you to who posted) I have a good couple of hours window to do that tomorrow morning. 

This is interesting you say this regarding the meter test, this is exactly what I was expecting the test to look like and had read about, installing a check meter next to the existing meter so that electricity could be recorded through both. What actually happened was the engineer had a fob like/memory stick device taken from a sealed package, turned off the consumer unit, turned it back on with one circuit on only, borrowed an electric fan to run while no other electricity was on in the house. The identification number from the fob/memory stick device was input into an app and submitted. I'm sure there has to be more to it then this but this is what happened. 

Our property is detached built in the 1970's. Our neighbours properties left and right were built in 1910 and 1925. Both their addresses appear on UK Power Networks. 

molerat

I would be tempted to splash out on a clamp on energy monitor, loads on sale on Ebay under £30, which would give you a real time view of your usage - not deadly accurate for billing but close enough to give you a good idea of your real time draw and daily / 7 day / 30 day use to compare to your meter.

CAF80ST

QrizB said:

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.

This is it!  Sorry I gave the comms number, you are correct it is the EM425-UK

bagand96

CAF80ST said:

MeteredOut said:

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?

I will indeed carry out the completely turning off the consumer unit and tracking usage at the meter and the meter sanity test as suggested (thank you to who posted) I have a good couple of hours window to do that tomorrow morning. 

This is the best thing you can do right now.  You should continue raising the issue with your supplier, however the more evidence you can gather of your own will help.  

One of 3 things is going on here:

1) Something in your property is using a lot of power (ie after your Consumer unit)
2) Something not in your property is using a lot of electricity and you're paying for it (wired after your meter but before your consumer unit)
3) Your meter is faulty and is phantom recording

In the majority of cases it will be 1 which is likely why suppliers tend to drag their feet with this kind of thing. 2 would be exceptionally rare but not impossible (street lights, neighbour's supply, someone illegally tapped your supply etc) and there obviously is something odd going on with your supply on the database.  3 does happen.

Some thorough but simple testing and evidence gathering will help eliminate things!

squirrelpie

CAF80ST said:

Switched to Octopus in September 2023. We have a 1st gen electric smart meter, 8+ years old. Annual kWh usage since switching:

25 Sep 2023 - 31 Dec 2023 = 6,633.623kWh
1 Jan 2024 - 31 Dec 2024 = 20,693.869kWh 
1 Jan 2025 - to present date = 13,235.511kWh

When did you move into the house? What were the meter readings for the six years before the figures you have given?

SAC2334

CAF80ST said:

Reed_Richards said:

You could try visiting this site: https://homebrew.n3rgy.com/
If you put in your MPAN (which should be on your bills) it should tell you the equipment associated with that MPAN and you can check that that equipment is yours.  This might be worth a try, to give yourself some reassurance on that aspect of the issue.

Thank you, this is helpful.  Equipment associated is:
Communications Device
Electricity Meter (Reads 'No Export MPAN configured, Import MPAN configured' followed by MPAN number)
Gas Proxy Function
Gas Meter
In-Home Display Chameleon
In-Home Display Geo

We only have 1 In Home Display (that doesn't work), I'm not sure which it is. 
No warnings or errors that I can see on the report. 

Did you try and get a replacement Chameleon In House Display if yours is not working ?
.My  Chameleon  does show every watt in use down to single watts used on the "now " function which for you is the most important function in tracking down power use .They are so much better than the vague clamps used around a cable .My chameleon ( type 1 ) is so sensitive I could see individual modes on my OLED Tv as I switched the modes to see that dynamic mode was using so many watts more than any other tv modes.
. 
I came on here last year for advice  trying to track down a 10 watt useage when everything  i thought possible was switched off but the monitor was spot on with measuring 10 unknown watts on 24 hours a day seven days a week .It turned out to be an old power supply for a video camera up in the loft I had forgot about . The Chameleon is your best search weapon possible so make sure you get a replacement sent by Octopus 

QrizB

SAC2334 said:

Did you try and get a replacement Chameleon In House Display if yours is not working ?

OP has a SMETS1 meter. Compatible IHDs are relatively hard to find.

SAC2334 said:

My  Chameleon does show every watt in use down to single watts used on the "now " function which for you is the most important function in tracking down power use .They are so much better than the vague clamps used around a cable 

Any IHD will only report the same information that the smart meter is seeing. In the OPs situation, where the smart meter itself is suspect, an IHD won't provide the same independent check that you'd get with an add-on current clamp.

SAC2334 said:

The Chameleon is your best search weapon possible so make sure you get a replacement sent by Octopus 

As above, Octopus are unlikely to supply an IHD for a SMETS1 meter.

SAC2334

Looks like the OP has an older SMETS1 Itron meter but really needs to be upgraded to SMETS2
.This could be done remotely by the DCC via Octopus.  .There is a national upgrade program called Enrollment and Adoption ( E and A ) . If that is not possible for this older Itron meter then Octopus will arrange to fit one of their own  excellent smart meters allowing full function and allowing access to all the smart meter tariffs like Tracker ,Agile , Go etc and would also get the IHD properly functioning .

QrizB

SAC2334 said:

Looks like the OP has an older SMETS1 Itron meter but really needs to be upgraded to SMETS2

SMETS1 meters can't be "upgraded" to SMETS2. They will always be SMETS1.

SAC2334 said:

.This could be done remotely by the DCC via Octopus.  .There is a national upgrade program called Enrollment and Adoption ( E and A ) .

It seems likely that the OP's meter has already been adopted by the DCC, as Octopus are receiving smart meter data from it.

SAC2334 said:

If that is not possible for this older Itron meter then Octopus will arrange to fit one of their own  excellent smart meters allowing full function and allowing access to all the smart meter tariffs like Tracker ,Agile , Go etc and would also get the IHD properly functioning .

OP's meter is working (as a smart meter, no comment on its accuracy) and I'm not aware of Octopus replacing working meters without good reason.

A replacement meter would entail a replacement IHD.

CAF80ST

Hello all, thank you for all your help and assistance, I have been carrying out further testing and more delving. 

A little update, unfortunately the recommended test (turn off consumer unit, turn off each circuit , see if meter reading increases, turn on each circuit one by one and monitor) was to no avail. There was no movement on the meter at all. 

We also monitored the use of every single appliance using an RS Pro energy monitor, nothing of significance to report there.

Octopus confirmed our SMETS1 meter has been adopted by the DCC. The GUID number was also checked on the communications hub confirmed to be correct configuration. 

It has however come to light that actual meter readings and smart meter readings are off, even though we have been told on many occasions the readings and usage is the same.  
On 01 Sep 2025 our actual meter reading was 04392, Octopus have 103047. I was told the reason for this is apparently SMETS1 meters tend to pull from a different rate on the meter which may be why meter readings are coming through differently on our meter. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of this?  Apparently Octopus systems do not clock over to 0 and put a 10 in front, our alleged smart meter reading was 3047 but appears with Octopus as 103047. I understand this but regardless of whether it reads 103047 or 3047 it is not the same as on the actual meter of 04392. For clarity 04392 is the Total reading on our actual meter. We have 2 rates on our meter, Rate 1 day/peak and Rate 2 night/off peak. The Total on the meter is the 2 rates added together. 

Further investigation. In June 2025 Octopus took 3 readings in 3 consecutive days - that in itself is questionable -  as follows;
01June 100093
02June 98799
03 June 98854
Our actual meter reading was 01417. 
Their response to this was again the clocking over and adding a '10' function on their systems, told it does not effect my billing at all and this is why readings do not show the same on my meter. 

Head and brick wall. I am absolutely at my wits end. I am assured the MAT appointment has been escalated and is being chased daily by them....