Smart meter menu - what it means

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Becca22
Becca22 Posts: 15 Forumite
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Hi, have been going backwards and forwards with my supplier since my smart meter was installed last October. Since then the meter is reading over 4000kwh for a small flat with hardly any usage. They have said to take readings over 7 days and also turn the power off and see what the meter says.


Can anyone please advise what all the menu options (on the actual smart meter in the cupboard) mean. It says IMP Kwh, EXP kwh, IMP Kvah, EXP Kvah, CREDIT, USING NOW, £ NOW.



Does using now and £ now actually mean what I'm using at the very moment or is it over a certain time period. Reason is that when the power was turned off at the trip switch the meter was reading 24kwh using now.


Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.
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  • Thomas_Edison
    Thomas_Edison Posts: 148 Forumite
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    Imp kWh is your actual meter reading is that 4,000? 3100 kWh is the annual average so that would be very high.

    24kwh would be extremely high consumption to be using at any one point even with the power on.

    Have you tested putting a kettle on and seeing what happens?
  • Becca22
    Becca22 Posts: 15 Forumite
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    Thanks for the quick reply! Yes the actual meter reading is 4106 Imp kwh. No have just turned everything off to see what it read. Will try putting the kettle on and see what it says. Trouble is being a flat the meters are all in a cupboard in the foyer all together so it isn't easy to check!
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
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    Not really enough information given.


    Depends on supplier as configuration for meter are different.


    Current power draw should be kW not kWh.


    What are your daily reads? And have you ignored the display unit and actually read the meter?


    Do you also have a gas meter? Are you looking at a combined view?



    Which switch was off, the main one of just something?


    (and probably other questions too!)
  • Becca22
    Becca22 Posts: 15 Forumite
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    It's an EON smart meter. No gas, just electric. This is the reading on the actual digital meter itself. Don't use the in-house display as it won't reach the meter in the flat foyer from my flat - too far away. I turned the main trip switch off in the flat.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    edited 17 April 2019 at 11:09PM
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    It is a Secure Liberty meter, used by many small suppliers. Ovo and Utilita were the first suppliers to use this meter about 7 years ago as their smart prepayment meter . Eon seem to have also adopted them for use.
    As another poster has commented only IMP (Import ) KW is the only screen of any use and that will be after pressing button 9 on the keypad , then the next press will show the reading you need.
    Be aware that this baffling meter baffles again by showing a hard to see decimal point on the IMP kw screen. of the 8 digits it shows only the first 7 are needed.
    It really is a joke of a meter and quite disappointing that many of the small suppliers use this meter only because it is cheap to buy. They are not interested in how the end user may be confused by all the screens.
    Maybe occupiers should complain to the suppliers call centre and ask them what Kvarh means (kilo volt amps reactive hours ) stands for and why would a domestic customer ever need to know that reading on their meters
    ..I guarantee that the call centre staff will not know the answer.
  • Raxiel
    Raxiel Posts: 1,401 Forumite
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    Becca22 wrote: »
    It's an EON smart meter. No gas, just electric. This is the reading on the actual digital meter itself. Don't use the in-house display as it won't reach the meter in the flat foyer from my flat - too far away. I turned the main trip switch off in the flat.


    Is this any help? https://utilita.co.uk/downloads/user-guide/dualfuel.pdf


    Start at page 26 for what each button does.
    3.6 kW PV in the Midlands - 9x Sharp 400W black panels - 6x facing SE and 3x facing SW, Solaredge Optimisers and Inverter. 400W Derril Water (one day). Octopus Flux
  • Michaelw
    Michaelw Posts: 296 Forumite
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    Theres more on that meter here.

    Consultation on the enrolment of Secure SMETS1 meters in the Data Communications Company (DCC)

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/783149/enrolment-secure-smets1-meters-in-dcc.pdf
  • SnowTiger
    SnowTiger Posts: 4,461 Forumite
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    Houbara wrote: »
    It is a Secure Liberty meter...

    [...]

    Maybe occupiers should complain to the suppliers call centre and ask them what Kvarh means (kilo volt amps reactive hours ) stands for and why would a domestic customer ever need to know that reading on their meters
    ..I guarantee that the call centre staff will not know the answer.

    Big Clive took one of these meters apart. It's an interesting video if you're in to that sort of thing, as are his other videos.

    I think he's briefly talking about kVArh at about 12 minutes in.

    There are a few vidoes on YouTube about it. One of the easiest to understand was posted by The Engineering Mindset.
  • baldelectrician
    baldelectrician Posts: 2,467 Forumite
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    You can have your own electrician add a meter YOU own after the Liberty meter.
    Then you will have correct readings to compare to theirs

    I can buy a meter for around £30-£40 for a single rate one at my wholeasaler
    baldly going on...
  • Becca22
    Becca22 Posts: 15 Forumite
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    Hi everyone, thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated. I asked Eon to see if they knew about the menu options and the representative from Eon said that you should be pressing 6 on an electric meter, not 9 (which is for gas meters apparently - this goes against anything I've read but there we are). The menu 6 options are even more confusing what they are listing!

    This morning and yesterday morning the meter was reading 37 kwh usage now. Where to go from here really, Eon said that if I thought the meter was faulty I'd have to pay for a load test!
    Would this show up if someone else's supply was linked to ours by mistake though? Or anything else that could be causing the high readings?


    Thanks :)
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