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Electricity bill surge after new meter fitted by British Gas


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Posting this on behalf of my parents.

So a little background info. My parents bought their house as a new build in 2000, so it had one of the older style electricity meters, with all the dials and the spinning disc. About 2 years ago they had solar panels installed (purchased outright, not the leased kind) and started to enjoy lower electricity bills, along with the FIT payments every so often.

 

However in November of last year they were contacted by their supplier, British Gas, that their may have been an issue with their electricity meter so it needed to be changed for a newer one, since they might have been under or over paying for their electricity. My parents were rather skeptical but didn't have too much choice. So the meter was changed, though the engineer who changed it declared that there was nothing wrong with the old meter.

(Just a note I forgot, both old and new meter are credit, not prepayment)

 

Since then however, my parents electricity bills have now rocketed up to the same level they were before ever having the panels installed.

Naturally we're very suspicious, it appears to us that the new meter is basically disregarding the reverse input from the panels. We contacted British Gas who were rather unhelpful and basically said it was probably an issue with the FIT element (even though that has been working fine and the cheques received from that have been consistent). British Gas said something must have changed, but when we point out the only thing that has changed is the meter they seem to disregard that.

 

My parents feel they want the meter tested, but they're very distrustful of British Gas. They've already changed the meter under seemingly false pretenses and it'd be in their best interest to find nothing wrong. Even more suspicious is that the online account now suddenly says "Bill history currently unavailable" for their online account, right as we'd have reason to compare the last 2 years of bills/usage to the current usage. Maybe I'm just a cynic but it seems a lot of coincidences happening at once here.

Is there any way to have an electricity meter tested independently? How much would this normally cost? Something just doesn't seem right about all this to us.

 

We're already looking to change suppliers (Sainsburys are coming out £400/year cheaper despite ironically using British Gas) but we're open to other suggestions on what we can do here.

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If the problem is the metering, changing suppliers won't solve the issue.

 

It sounds to me that there is an issue with an incorrect meter set up. I'm not an expert in these areas but I'd have thought that with having solar panels there should be an importexport meter on site. Sounds as if some how they haven't connected everything up right and they are ignoring the solar generation. Either that OR they are adding on the solar generation

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Sainsbury's Energy is another name for British Gas!

 

You need two meters one for buying energy and the other for exporting energy!

Andrew

ASI Industries = As i in does tries!

 

As i in does tries!: My definition.

I will try, i may never succeed in the goal, but at least by trying i have a greater chance of success than never trying at all!

 My opinions are my own & occasionally may offend, but it is not my intention to cause offence in the first place!

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I bet they've reversed the input from the PV panels so the electric they are generating is not being correctly measured or even worse being metered as elctricity consumed rather than generated. try and find an indepepndent expert such as a registerd installer to have a look at the set-up

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Will take a look and see if we can find an independent installer to check the meter setup. How much would this kind of thing normally cost? Just so I know we're not being overcharged for something that sounds like a relatively standard procedure.

 

I've also attached a picture of the meter (With serial numbers and such blanked out), is this type of meter suitable for a solar panel installation?

The display fluctuates between the meter reading and the shown value of "rED". The KWH light also seems to go between periods of solid red and flashing red. Is that normal?

 

I realise if there's an incorrect meter setup then changing suppliers wont solve the problem, my parents just don't trust British Gas to carry out any checks.

We have another meter connected to the solar panels that's used for the FIT readings, but there's not been any issues with that.

IMG_20160516_122538.jpg

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Greetings your meter is fine for energy generation, the reason this meter has more expensive bills is because this meter has an anti-reverse function displayed as "rEd" (Reverse Energy Detected), which is normal during energy generation.

 

During the night your old meter worked as normal, but during the day while you were generating energy your old meter was running backwards, canceling out the energy you previously used, hence lower energy bills.

 

Your meter is Landis+Gyr E110-5235A or Ampy 5235A is a very basic meter that has an anti-reverse function.

Andrew

ASI Industries = As i in does tries!

 

As i in does tries!: My definition.

I will try, i may never succeed in the goal, but at least by trying i have a greater chance of success than never trying at all!

 My opinions are my own & occasionally may offend, but it is not my intention to cause offence in the first place!

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Greetings your meter is fine for energy generation, the reason this meter has more expensive bills is because this meter has an anti-reverse function displayed as "rEd" (Reverse Energy Detected), which is normal during energy generation.

 

During the night your old meter worked as normal, but during the day while you were generating energy your old meter was running backwards, canceling out the energy you previously used, hence lower energy bills.

 

Your meter is Landis+Gyr E110-5235A or Ampy 5235A is a very basic meter that has an anti-reverse function.

 

I thought the meters were supposed to run backwards when generating from the solar panels. Is that not the case? Is it that they're simply not supposed to go up/go up slower during generation from the panels?

If that's the case then I'm guessing that the old meter was simply unsuitable?

 

I can't find any matching images of the old meter, but it was one with the five rotary dials for the reading and had a large spinning disc in the centre.

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If your import (buying) meter runs backwards it is considered as energy theft, your energy supplier may choose to back-bill you, energy supplier's have been known to back-bill a decade or more, but legally they are only allowed to back-bill you up to a maximum twelve months, and that twelve months is currently running out.

 

http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/guides/feed-in-tariffs-explained/meters-running-backwards

Andrew

ASI Industries = As i in does tries!

 

As i in does tries!: My definition.

I will try, i may never succeed in the goal, but at least by trying i have a greater chance of success than never trying at all!

 My opinions are my own & occasionally may offend, but it is not my intention to cause offence in the first place!

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Ah right.

At the time British Gas did say it was their mistake for not realising so they wouldn't be billing any extra. I guess at least that answers the questions and clears up the confusion.

Still worth switching for a £400/year saving though of course :)

 

Thanks!

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Yes you should switch to a lower tarrif or provider at least every few years, I recently switched from British Gas to SSE.

 

British Gas: the final prices include 5% Vat.

Electric = £0.13825 per kwh, Standing charge £0.308 per day 6200 kwh per year £1018.05 (£84.84 per month).

 

Gas = £0.0407 per kwh, Standing charge £0.308 per day, 16900 kwh per year = £840.27 (£70.02 per month).

 

SSE: 1 Year Fixed v6, the final prices include 5% Vat.

Electric = £0.0968 per kwh, Standing charge £0.2467 per day 6200 kwh per year = £724.72 (£60.39 per month).

 

Gas = £0.0223 per kwh, Standing charge £0.2467 per day, 16900 kwh per year = £490.27 (£40.85 per month).

 

Total saving = £643.33 is that money better in my pocket or British Gas's slush fund?

Andrew

ASI Industries = As i in does tries!

 

As i in does tries!: My definition.

I will try, i may never succeed in the goal, but at least by trying i have a greater chance of success than never trying at all!

 My opinions are my own & occasionally may offend, but it is not my intention to cause offence in the first place!

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I think for any one to pay £112.42 in standing charges for elec is madness.

 

 

I now of companies that offer 25p a day so why pay more? Why pay at all?

 

 

What is it you are getting for your money ? Can you please explain?

 

 

Nobody in there right minds should switch unless it related to poor customer services or grotesque business practices from Con men fleecing the UK public. What is needed is proper competition been suppliers to lower usage rates(kWH).

 

 

Why can t suppliers they offer standing charges at£0.10 per day? Answers please?

 

 

Stevie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes you should switch to a lower tarrif or provider at least every few years, I recently switched from British Gas to SSE.

 

British Gas: the final prices include 5% Vat.

Electric = £0.13825 per kwh, Standing charge £0.308 per day 6200 kwh per year £1018.05 (£84.84 per month).

 

Gas = £0.0407 per kwh, Standing charge £0.308 per day, 16900 kwh per year = £840.27 (£70.02 per month).

 

SSE: 1 Year Fixed v6, the final prices include 5% Vat.

Electric = £0.0968 per kwh, Standing charge £0.2467 per day 6200 kwh per year = £724.72 (£60.39 per month).

 

Gas = £0.0223 per kwh, Standing charge £0.2467 per day, 16900 kwh per year = £490.27 (£40.85 per month).

 

Total saving = £643.33 is that money better in my pocket or British Gas's slush fund?

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