Electricity Meter seems dud, advice please

[justfin]

Hi;

 

Over the last few days i have been monitoring my electricity usage as i have been receiving what i consider excessive bills.

 

Since Wednesday PM - Sunday Morning we have apparently used 111 unit of electricity.

 

According to my energy smart meter (it's British Gases version of the box that wraps around the electricity meter to allow you view consumption on the display inside) I used 16.27 KW hours yesterday (Saturday)

 

Yesterday i was in all day, i used a lot of juice between PC's and Gaming, most days we use a lot less.

 

If i had spent the last 4 days doing the same i would have used about 65 units. In reality i have used about 10 units a day during the week, as an absolute maximum. (based on what i have seen over the last couple of days.

 

Our bill for the last quarter was £481. (thats electric only)

 

My gut feeling is that £481 a quater or £160 a month is probably double what it should be, but before i kick up a stink, do the figures seem excessive to others also if the meter is faulty, how far back a rebate will i get?

 

Bit of background info, i live in a small, gas heated, electric oven/shower house, there are 2 of us, the fridge freezer and the computer tend to stay on (the computer is on standby as it records tv for us, it uses about 50w an hour if not recording anything)

 

 

There are 2 occupants in my house, we both work full time and are out the house from 7 - 5. Nothing extra is left on when we are out.

Edited January 22, 2012 by justfin
Correcting terrible english! Sunday mornings are my least literate times!

[rebel11]

Hi just

 

That seems way too high. 37 units a day, a faulty meter is a strong possibility. I'm thinking of old appliances, but that is still far too much. Get the facts on paper send it to your Utility company, Recorded, alternatively we have some company reps on this site if you can name the company. Is it British Gas?

[justfin]

It is British Gas!

 

I am going to gather some more evidence this week, I have setup a spreadsheet today, to track the EnergySmart meter each day, i am also going to upload daily meter reads for them, so hopefully i will have an exact discrepancy. I know the EnergySmart meter has full signal so should be reasonable accurate, i just hope that it is the meter not the energy smart thing. Its quite worrying as £285 a quarter on top of £97 a month, especially as we are going nuts about turning everything off, seems a lot!

[rebel11]

No British Gas Rep, write a letter of complaint with the facts.

 

17) OFGEM - COMPLAINTS CLICK HERE

 

If you've got high bills previously it can't be the energy smart gadget.

 

Heres some more info:- http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.bis.gov.uk/nmo/gas-and-electricity-meters/electricity-meters/meter-accuracy-and-dispute

[justfin]

Shame, i shall finish off this weeks spreadsheet and send it next week recorded delivery.

 

Do you know how far back you can reclaim if the meter is at fault?

 

To be honest i'm more bothered about getting the recent bill confirmed than getting money back but its good to know as if i have been paying about double for some time, thats a whole lot of pennies!

[nohope]

what does your energy smart meter say your using per day in money.

[rebel11]

I think it would be six years, you could send them a SAR request, they would send you all the data over the last six years.

It's your money you should claim it back.

 

Shame, i shall finish off this weeks spreadsheet and send it next week recorded delivery.

 

Do you know how far back you can reclaim if the meter is at fault?

 

To be honest i'm more bothered about getting the recent bill confirmed than getting money back but its good to know as if i have been paying about double for some time, thats a whole lot of pennies!

[nohope]

And the hourly rate £/H, also tels you this on the energy smart meter

[justfin]

It says i used £2.60 yesterday.

 

But its set at 16p per kWH however i am charged 23.68p for the first 670 a quarter and 10.948 thereafter so i picked 16p as a guide. Hence using kWH for comparison.

 

Still, if i was only charged at the high rate, 23.68, that would be £117 a month based on a year of saturdays@16.27 kWH, (i.e. £10 more than i am presently paying)

 

In other words, my bill is £77 more a month than that crazy scenario i just explained.

 

Not sure if someone can check my math, but i think thats right

Edited January 22, 2012 by justfin

[justfin]

I think it would be six years, you could send them a SAR request, they would send you all the data over the last six years.

It's your money you should claim it back.

 

I had it in my head it was only 1 year for some reason, or is that council tax

[dx100uk]

there is no time limit if the meter IS wrong

i got back 8.5yrs from british gas electric.

 

dx

[nohope]

I would use roughly £100 a month as i am now, only things on in the house is the pc,fridge,freezer but as soon as i start turning lights,tv and cooker on and the washing machine, tumble dryer, i do that for a few hours here and there and all of a sudden i'm doing £150 a month.

[nohope]

You could ring british gas and tell them you want your meter checked as you think its faulty but if they find no problem with it then you pay £70 for the visit.

I was in the same boat as you and thought my usage was miles to high but once i looked at the extras i use from time to time it suddenly built up to a lot more than i realised specially if you turn everything on at the same time and watch your energy meter, it will shoot up to something silly like £2.50 an hour.

[justfin]

Hi nohope

 

I see what you mean, but...i don't have a tumble dryer etc...i am anal about lights being turned off etc...

 

This is post watching the energy meter, optimizing my fridge / freezer temperature so that its at an absolute minimum whilst still safe.

 

Reducing the amount of water i boil, even cooking in a more efficient ways, steaming veg so that i only use 1 device rather than 3 hobs (based on there usage)

 

I can accept that 2 showers, 1 wash load and 1 meal will probably be £2.00 a day, and £1.50 for general usage (i.e. lights and computer) but even that is £3.50 a day so £106 a month.

 

But I must be missing something, or the energy smart meter must be lying about how much i used yesterday by about 1/2!

Edited January 22, 2012 by justfin

[dx100uk]

you HAVE got the smart meters inductive sensor on the single core THICK + POS RED feed to your comsumer unit?

 

there are instances whereby if you are on the - NEG BLACK wire or around 3 cores cable it will read wrongly.

 

also make sure it is TIGHT and cannot easily be rotated?

 

dx

[justfin]

you HAVE got the smart meters inductive sensor on the single core THICK + POS RED feed to your comsumer unit?

 

there are instances whereby if you are on the - NEG BLACK wire or around 3 cores cable it will read wrongly.

 

also make sure it is TIGHT and cannot easily be rotated?

 

dx

 

Yup definatley. Just checked the cupboard and its on the single core Live feed (tagged with an L) not N which i assume is Neutral, the cable its running on comes out of the meter and goes straight to the fuse box inside.

 

Ii have also just run a little test, my kettle is rated 2500 - 3500W and when i hit it consumption goes from 0.87 kw with (lounge light, fridge, freezer, tv & pc (inc. router & other accessories)) to 3.46kw which suggests around 2.7 ish KW's

 

So i take it that would suggest its setup alright?

[nohope]

Yep that sounds about rite.

[justfin]

Cool, well in that case i shall call British Gas tommorow, explain my concerns, explains that i intend to track my usage for the week by recording the meter and the smart energy meter and then report back.

 

I just know there gonna assume the smart meter is wrong, but hopefully the kettle test will help my arguement.

 

Thats not to say some freakish electrical interference occurs at random points in the day and the meter misses usage, but i can't see that being the case.

 

Will post updates as i go for my record and incase anyone else runs into this

[nohope]

You've got me wondering again now about my own usage. Think i mite check my tarrifs and make sure there rite on the smart energy meter then keep an eye on what i use against what the meter says i use.

[justfin]

I do the same, i go through phases of that can't be right and then do the readings and am assured all is ok.

 

but to be honest, its not until now that i have hard core data on whats using what that i can comfortabley say...no this isn't right

[dx100uk]

the first thing they will do is get you to do 7 days of manual readings

 

dx

[justfin]

Interesting just done another little test, my other half was in the shower, so i boiled the kettle and turned the oven on to get the meter turning (ouch expensive idea)

 

Below are the meter readings and the smart readings:

 

Starting: 40105 - 7.85

40106 - 8.69 Meter: +1 Smart: 0.84

40107 - 9.54 Meter: +1 Smart: 0.85

 

In 2 units i will have been charged for an extra 0.31. i.e. my bill is 15% more expensive than it should be.

 

Now these results are under extreme loads over a few minutes, so i could easily imagine when running on low loads, if this is a timing issue, this could slip to being upto 30-40% of a loss, gonna keep experimenting and recording

[justfin]

dx100

 

I'm starting that today and i am going to monitor the smart meter as well

[rebel11]

Try to do the tests at the same time. I did that for about 5 weeks or so.