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FAULTY SUPPLY COMPANY METER METER

John Peckham
I have power logged shed loads of supplies over the years to investigate if a supply company meter is faulty. I have never found a faulty meter. I have found a lot of waste, lack of understanding of what it costs to run various loads and supplies to other users from the complaints supply.


You will know from reading my posts that I had a new E& meter fitted in October and had to have a dumb meter fitted as the supply company does not provide Smart 5 hole meters. Since having the meter fitted the account bill has rocketed to something like 5 times the cost of the old meter readings.


So over the last couple of days I power logged the supply and low and behold the meter is over reading on rate 1(daytime) and under reading on rate 2 (night time).  


At first Scottish Power said I would have to pay for a check meter to be fitted and I said no I can send you my recorded readings. They have now agreed to fit a new meter in 3 weeks time and after 3 consecutive meter readings they would recalculate the bill.


So my new meter is very dumb in more ways than one.
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    So over the last couple of days I power logged the supply and low and behold the meter is over reading on rate 1(daytime) and under reading on rate 2 (night time). 



    I don't suppose there's any possibility of a wiring error - e.g. 24h and off-peak connections having been reversed by the meter fitter? (in which case, beware of the same bloke making the same error with the new meter...)

       - Andy.
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    Andy


    No the switched output of the meter goes directly to the E7 consumer unit and the storage heaters are only coming on at night. Also if the wrong way around the lights and TV would not work before midnight and we would have noticed that.


    2 days of E7 heaters only used 3 units according to the supply company meter my logger says 113 units. Daytime company meter says 58 units, my logger says 16. About the same price overall when I am using the E7 heaters but when not very expensive.
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    At first Scottish Power said I would have to pay for a check meter to be fitted and I said no I can send you my recorded readings. They have now agreed to fit a new meter in 3 weeks time and after 3 consecutive meter readings they would recalculate the bill.


    So my new meter is very dumb in more ways than one.



    Umm ......., I'm surprised the directors haven't all been fired. Its not the first time they have managed to generate their own pigs ear. I eventually had to use the services of OffGem to mediate an outcome.


    Legh
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    Legh Richardson:





    At first Scottish Power said I would have to pay for a check meter to be fitted and I said no I can send you my recorded readings. They have now agreed to fit a new meter in 3 weeks time and after 3 consecutive meter readings they would recalculate the bill.


    So my new meter is very dumb in more ways than one.



    Umm ......., I'm surprised the directors haven't all been fired. Its not the first time they have managed to generate their own pigs ear. I eventually had to use the services of OffGem to mediate an outcome.


    I have had to use the Ombudsman twice, so I am still quids-in.


    Back to the OP. John, you can come round here and do some logging if you wish, but I agree that meters are seldom the cause of the problem and my annual consumption has not changed over a period of 20-odd years and a couple of routine meter changes.


    I have had a play with a clamp meter in order to try to identify the hungry circuit(s), but without success. I blame Mrs P for watching too much television, but in fact the consumption has been stable both before and after her retirement.


    Does 6,000 kWh seem a lot for a house with gas heating and cooking? ?

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    6000kWh for a house with gas heating and cooking (and water htg?) is right at the top of high usage.  OFC it could be a large house but I'd expect 3000 to 3500 kWh for gas htg/cooking in average sized house these days.


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    Chris


    That does seem rather high unless you have a huge house.


    You might want a campaign of turning off all those tiny insignificant loads when not in use such as phone chargers, electronic equipment left on standby etc as all the small loads add up. I assume you are now all LED lighting including outside lighting?
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    Does 6,000 kWh seem a lot for a house with gas heating and cooking?



    Does seem high to me - from memory I think my import is well under 2000kWh per annum - and that's with electric cooking too (not to mention more than a healthy number of mains powered gadgets). Admittedly there's a 2kWp PV system that'll shave a fair bit off the daytime baseload but I'd expect at least half of the PV output is exported so not contributing to reducing imports - even if all of it was consumed internally with a total generation usually in the 1700-1800kWh range I can't possibly be using more than two-thirds of your figure - more likely around half.


      - Andy.
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    John Peckham:

    Chris


    That does seem rather high unless you have a huge house.


    You might want a campaign of turning off all those tiny insignificant loads when not in use such as phone chargers, electronic equipment left on standby etc as all the small loads add up. I assume you are now all LED lighting including outside lighting? 




    The house is fairly large, but apart from extra luminaires, I don't see why that should make much difference. With the lights all off, the CH off, no laundry or dishwashing underway, consumption right now is about 1.6 A.


    The lights are mostly CFL or LED.


    Yes, I suspect that all those power bricks and TVs, etc. on standby do add up. I just have this irrational fear that somewhere somethings hasn't been turned off for 20-odd years.

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    Yes, I suspect that all those power bricks and TVs, etc. on standby do add up. I just have this irrational fear that somewhere somethings hasn't been turned off for 20-odd years.



    Fridges/freezers?


    Or a light in the loft...?


        - Andy.
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    I’m assuming you have already checked that the serial numbers on the actual meter and on your bill match?


    I had this problem after my meter was changed a few years ago and the meter serial number had been incorrectly recorded (by one digit) somewhere in the process. 


    Quickly resolved via a telephone call and visit from a metering operative to confirm the actual serial number on the meter. 


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