I think I have a faulty electricity meter?

MattHaslam wrote: »

I’m fairly sure that the meter is faulty but talking to EDF is just making me question myself, espoecially as they will charge £80 upfront for the meter to be tested and only refund if it’s found to be faulty which only happens ‘very rarely’.

Hi - welcome to the forum. I think that you have your answer. If suppliers carried out free meter checks every time that someone questioned their usage then the cost to all of us would be huge.

You should try turning everything off for an hour and then check whether your meter reading has increased. If you then believe that you have a faulty meter, then what have you got to lose? If meter is found to be faulty then there will be no charge, and your usage will be re-assessed.

MattHaslam wrote: »

Thanks for the reply,
Whilst the power was turned off when I first noticed the light still blinking, the number of units did increase by one but was within a minute of me turning the power off. A couple of friends have said that the meter may have a delayed update on it and that the meter may not have clocked up while the power was off?

That’s a new on me. Normally, when the LED flashes there is a current flow. If you turn everything off the LED should stop flashing.

For example, the label on the meter states 1000 Imp/kWh, so the LED will flash 1000 times per unit of electricity. We can use that value of 1000 to estimate the power. If a constant 1000W (1kW) is going through the meter, then in one hour (3600 seconds) the LED will flash 1000 times, so the LED will flash once every 3600/1000 = 3.6 seconds. With a constant 3000W (3kW) going through the meter, in one hour 3 kWh will pass through the meter (3 x 1000 = 3000 flashes in 3600 seconds) so the LED will flash every 3600 / 3000 = 1.2 seconds.

It is more likely that you will want to measure the rate of flashing, and from that calculate the power going through the meter. This can easily be achieved by reversing the calculation above as follows:
Power (kW) = 3600 (secs in 1hr) divided by (the seconds between flashes * number of Imp/kWh printed on meter)

The most likely reason for the occasional flash is something on, or left on, that you have not noticed. For example, a BB router; Sky box etc. Turn everything off at the mains switch then your meter reading should not increase whatever the LED is or is not doing.