Smart Meter Accuracy

We have a strange situation with a flat we own. The flat was empty while being decorated (by us) for 3 weeks. We know we used very little power. Yet the bill we got for that period was much higher than we would have expected.

The electricity supplier suggested we turned the power off for 15 mins and take the meter reading before and after to see if it was showing use. However, the meter readings only seem to be whole kWh so it would need to be a big fault to see a change in 15 mins. This aligned with what the smart meter console shows which is about 300W.

Instead we switched it to show Amps used and with the main circuit breakers off it showed about 1.3A. If this use was all day that would be 7kwh per day. Over 3 weeks this would be 10 times the actual bill we got. 

So this makes no sense. Why would a meter show use with the breakers off? And why would that use vary which can be the only explanation for the bill not being as high as an extrapolation of that 15mins suggest?

Parents
  • The period in question was 3 Sept to 25th Sept (quite a hot period). 18.8kWh was used in day and 26.8kWh at night (economy7).

    In that period we were painting so on maybe 7-10 days we had (led) light on in the bathroom (plus the extractor fan) and a small radio. We probably used a vacuum cleaner for an hour or so.

    So 18kWh seems way excessive for day time.

    The immersion heater was on for a day after the previous tenant left and we turned on the water heating for the last 48 hours. The heating was off all the time. Yet for the middle period 8kWh was used of night power when there should have been 0.

    So the charges are not huge - only £12 (plus standing charge of £11) over 3 weeks , but it is the principle!

Reply
  • The period in question was 3 Sept to 25th Sept (quite a hot period). 18.8kWh was used in day and 26.8kWh at night (economy7).

    In that period we were painting so on maybe 7-10 days we had (led) light on in the bathroom (plus the extractor fan) and a small radio. We probably used a vacuum cleaner for an hour or so.

    So 18kWh seems way excessive for day time.

    The immersion heater was on for a day after the previous tenant left and we turned on the water heating for the last 48 hours. The heating was off all the time. Yet for the middle period 8kWh was used of night power when there should have been 0.

    So the charges are not huge - only £12 (plus standing charge of £11) over 3 weeks , but it is the principle!

Children