[theunknowntech]

Yup, should do if it's determined to be more than 10% inaccurate. And not just for the period of the test either! Efforts will be made to try and trace when the meter went inaccurate and recalculate from that point onwards.

My mentor Blastoise186 has seen this thread and he asked me to mention that he's known cases of refunds of over £1,000 at least once. He also wishes for me to mention that the process may take a while to validate exactly how much phantom usage was recorded and figure out the refund to issue but it should happen. It'll either go back to your E.On Next account (you can then refund it if you want), or to your bank account. If you'd rather have it in the other one then you can, of course, transfer it to the other side.

He also believes that this will result in your Estimated Annual Consumption figures being regenerated, which should force any recommended DD back down and update industry databases with the corrections.

[retrotecchie]

@theunknowntech

Fingers crossed for @RedBeard89 then

[RedBeard89]

Just had my check meter installed.

Weirdly the offending meter now seems to be impulsing at a much lower rate (e.g. fewer blinks). I'm now concerned that this will show no discrepancy between the original meter and the check meter and e.on will simply state that the meter is now functional.

Going to check back in in a few hours - but any initial thoughts would be welcomed.

[RedBeard89]

For example see the following readings from today:

Original Meter

12:26 - 14204
15:00 - 14208 (4kWh in under 3 hours)
16:20 - 14208 (less than 1kWh in just over 1 hour)

Check meter installed around 15:00

15:00 - 03037
16:20 - 03037

[retrotecchie]

@RedBeard89

For billing purposes, they don't need the decimals but for this exercise, decimals are essential as we'd need to compare to 100th of a unit.

Your two 03037 readings could be nearly a kWh apart with the decimals, e.g. 03037.03 and, say, 03037.98

[RedBeard89]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@RedBeard89

For billing purposes, they don't need the decimals but for this exercise, decimals are essential as we'd need to compare to 100th of a unit.

Your two 03037 readings could be nearly a kWh apart with the decimals, e.g. 03037.03 and, say, 03037.98

He @retrotecchie - the check meter fitted does not contain decimal points - see the image below:

[RedBeard89]

Also - what's more concerning is that today pre-check meter fitting the original unit was clocking up around 2kWh per hour but since the check meter was installed - it's now only clocking up less than 1kWh per hour. The insertion of the check meter seems to have changed the rate of the original meter - seemingly 'fixing' it from its previous issue...

[retrotecchie]

@RedBeard89

Which is indeed a bit odd. Ok, no decimals just means you'll need a long term comparison, not just a couple of readings a few hours apart. They need to check accuracy to a few percent.

The way a meter 'should' work is that Neutral In and Neutral Out are commoned internally. Live In goes to the 'metering element' and your Live Out comes from the metering element, so it measures current flowing in the Live. The voltage is measured between Live and Neutral, usually on the Input side, i.e. Supply voltage, but sometimes on the Output side I.e Load voltage.

The power (current x voltage) is calculated from this, and then energy (billable units) is the (power x time). Both meters should work in exactly the same way and both should register the same consumption. How adding a check meter would affect the main meter really is a mystery to me. The L-N voltage should be identical, and the same current is flowing through both meters. I'm not saying it's not completely impossible, but I can't see how installing a check meter would make any difference to the original one. It shouldn't start 'working properly' just because...

Keep an eye, perhaps once a day. No point doing it any more frequently than that. See if things do drift between the two meters. The only thing I can possibly think of is that something may have been loose or awry in the original meter, and fiddling with the terminals or the tails has rattled it back into place.

Got me baffled, otherwise...

[RedBeard89]

Again looked at the two readings over the past 12 hours.

The rate of increase of the check meter and the original meter are exactly the same - it honestly looks as though the fitting of the check meter has 'fixed' the original meter.

Additionally - when now running the Tumble Dryer - the impulse rate of the meter is significantly higher than it used to be pre-check meter, so it now seems to be working much more accurately.

I'm concerned that when e.on Next come to review the check meter they will simply see no discrepancy and state that the original meter isn't faulty - however it was quite clearly faulty prior to the engineer's visit.

What would be my route for recourse in this scenario?

[retrotecchie]

Obviously, keep the records as you have already provided to us.

If for some reason your existing meter has suddenly 'fixed itself' due to an engineer rootling around (possible, if unlikely) and stays fixed after removing the check meter, then I think you will need to appeal your consumption figures for the 'faulty' period. That could be a pain, but once they start getting more accurate readings, you can at least argue your case.

On the other hand, if they remove the check meter and your existing meter starts playing silly buggers again, then there is obviously something very strange with your meter which is clearly not playing nicely. Perhaps not a common fault, but a fault nevertheless.

At least if the readings make sense while the check meter is inline, and your impulses going up while the drier is on makes sense (you can do a similar check with the kettle and/or toaster), you should be charged for the correct usage for this period.

Again, a period of really high (2kWh per hour every hour) usage, followed by a few weeks at 10 or so kWh per day, then shooting back up to the old ways again would definitely indicate a problem.

With your permission, I'd like to copy all the figures you have supplied on here into a spreadsheet and run some calculations and do some graphing. Ok with you? Might just be an extra arrow in your quiver if you do need to go into battle.