Smart Meter - Excessively High Usage
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- smart meters
- usage
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Level 9222-11-22Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player. I DON'T work for or on behalf of EON.Next, but am willing to try and help if I can. Not on mains gas, mobile network or mains drainage. House heated almost entirely by baby dragons.
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Level 9222-11-22
In my experience, it depends on the location of the meter to an extent. If outdoors in a meter cubby facing a driveway, accidentally reversing into it at some speed in an old Peugeot 309 often does the trick.
Indoors in a cupboard under the stairs, I found that my ex-wife beating it firmly with an ironing board can sometimes kill a meter.
For all other cases, application of a bit of impact engineering (I.e. A club hammer) will often do the job.
Nothing I would condone, of course...physical meter damage is usually obvious and user-payable.
And if anyone were to try the trick of donning a pair of rubber gloves, knocking a four inch nail through the Live In and Live Out meter tails and shorting them with a car jump lead, I will not be responsible for their electrocution, arc-eye, skin burns or prison sentence.Last edited by retrotecchie; 22-11-22 at 19:00.
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Level 1009-12-22Hi all,
Updated graphs below:
e.on are suggesting an engineer attends to remove the check meter, see what the engineer notes say - and take it from there.
- RedBeard89 -
Level 1003-02-23So I've finally had a decision from the Energy Ombudsman:
They have basically said that while they agree there was a period of heightened usage before the check meter was installed - they can only insist on a refund if the check meter is removed and the problem re-establishes itself:
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Level 9103-02-23@RedBeard89
You have my sympathy. It seems the ombudsman hasn't heard of probability.
Neither have they attempted to explain the nature of the near constant consumption recorded before the check meter went in.Current Eon Next customer, ex EDF, Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless. -
Level 9203-02-23@RedBeard89
It will be interesting to see what transpires when the check meter is removed. If it goes back to recording 2kWh every hour regardless with the check meter out of circuit, then it really is a very bizarre fault. If not, and it remains as it has been since the intervention, then I'm at a complete loss to understand what the original problem could possibly have been.
I've come across some 'funnies' in my 40 plus years in electrical engineering, but this one has me flummoxed.
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Level 1009-02-23Had a lengthly call with the ombudsman yesterday to discuss their decision and add some additional commentary and context.
Unfortunately their conclusion was that while this was an extremely unusual case (they advised me they had to consult several senior colleagues) - they would not be able to conclude that the meter is at fault as the check meter readings are exactly in line with the standard meter.
They can therefore only conclude that we did consume the heightened usage between moving into the property and the check meter being installed (what a conincidence that this is the exact point in time when the original meter started reporting 'normal' readings).
I tried to explain to them at length that we couldn't possibly consume that much electricity, and the rate didn't change regardless of which devices / how many devices were running - but they told me that unfortunately in this case their 'hands were tied' and there was nothing else they could do.
So it would seem I now have no option but to accept their decision - have them instruct eon.next to remove the check meter - and hope there's a slim chance that the original problem reappears - otherwise we'll be liable for the period of excessive usage between 24th August - 15th Novemeber 2022 - which by my calculations is 4021kWh of usage - resulting in a charge of £1,454.23 + the £100.93 we paid for the check meter appointment.
The £1,454.23 charge accounts for roughly £1,145.69 additional charge over what our now average consumption would have been during that period...
As you can imagine we're very disappointed and don't feel that the nature of our issue has been fully investigated by the Ombudsman...Last edited by RedBeard89; 09-02-23 at 12:28.
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Level 9109-02-23@RedBeard89
could you take legal action through the small claim track of the courts, as I presume you will have to pay the sums quoted. I don’t know what legal test the ombudsman uses but civil cases are decided on probability and given we were all convinced the meter was faulty, perhaps some error in installation corrected when the check meter was installed with it, you could well win. The other side might well be willing to negotiate rather than go through the court process.
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