This is the same process the electric suppliers use. The "plaque" on the appliance is either a maximum rating or the maximum draw of the equipment not usually the actual power drawn.

I have analysed a large number of home appliances and find that they can be from 5 -20% off the information on the equipment. As far as the suppliers engineers go they can be rather expensive and normally they tow the company line and will convince you their is nothing wrong.

Check with your local electricians to see if they have the capability of coming out with a fixed load to test the accuracy of the meter.

I can do this but am in Wales

John

Do it yourself first.

Turn everything in the house off at the consumer unit/fuse box and check that the meter stops moving (it's harder but not impossible to see this with newer digital meters - you can perhaps do it while you are out at work). Then turn on one single appliance and check that the meter records the consumption properly (all apliances should have a plaque saying how much power they use - a 1kw (=1000w) heater will use 1 unit (=1 kwh) of electricity in an hour, if there's no thermostat - but it's not a good idea to leave any high usage appliance on for any long period when there is no one in the house).

If you have economy 7, you should hear a cluck as it switches over about 12:30 - 1:30 at night and back again 7 hours later. It is relatively common for the economy 7 timers to go wrong.

A phone call to your supplier saying simply that your bills are higher than you expected so the meter must be wrong will not be taken seriously unless you have something more to say. If it is necessary, the supplier will arrange an engineer's visit. The last time I had such a visit, it was established that "my" meter was supplying 3 other business premises.

I am convinced there is something wrong with my meter - who should I contact to get it tested in this way? Would an electrician have the equipment, or is it more specialist?

---

I recently challenged my electrical supplier on the accuracy of their meter readings. I must admit they tried everything to make me feel the fool and when that did not work advised me of the cost of having someone come out and test my meter if I was wrong.

I went to Energy Watch and they got their customer complaints section involved and they then sent EON to do a Meter Accuracy Test instead of installing a check meter.

The upshot was my meter was 24.95% reading too high. I have received an apology letter and then a rebate of the overpaid amounts.

I have been doing power measurements on RF Systems for over 30 years so therefore I have both the equipment and the ability to test my meters.

One of the "tricks" the suppliers like to try is to have you list the equipment that you have in your home and then they will inform you based on the current ratings of the equipment that their readings are accurate.

The current ratings of the equipment in your homes is not the current draw of the individual equipment but rather a nominal indication of the current rating or maximum draw of the equiipment.

For example many 1KW heater only draw 800 watts of power and if you were using this for a test of your utilisation you would not be accurate.

The best test is to have a fixed resistive load placed on your system for a set period of time to see if the meter is really accurate. In my case I used a 52.5ohm load capable of handling 2500 watts.

This load would reach 1kw in 54.7 minutes. So if I had set the meter to where it just clicked over in a unit that did not have a tenths reading. It would click over again in 54.7 minutes

Since finding the defective meter and receiving my refund I have checked an additional 10 meters in my area and have found, not the 2% as told to me by my supplier but that 100% of the meters have been from 10 - 27% reading high.

I can not reccomend enough to anyone with a question about their readings being high to get them independently tested.

The reason I say independent is that the replacement meter arrived from my supplier and it is also 10% high.

So I begin the procedure once again with my supplier. I will update as the Saga continues.

John

Hi missinnocent

You're definitely doing the right thing talking to us. Particularly to our consumption team.

These are the people best placed to advise on your particular circumstances and issues.

If they are unable to help you directly they can involve people who will. They can also escalate your case should this be necessary.

Malc

I have spoken to Eon twice now and am now waiting on a call from the consumption team. The point I am trying to get accross to Eon is the point made by Jalexa that I don't think I should pay for the fault on the timer switch which lead to my storage and water being constantly on during the day. There is no way the heating switched off after reaching 8 hours as one heater burnt out 2 internal fuses and 1 managed to blow a fuse in the fuse box, not something that I hope usually happens on a regular basis!! I have given Eon my latest reading and will give them another next week. At the moment I am using approx 50kwh a week on day rate and the same on night rate. The amended bill works out at approx 76kwh on day rate and 510 on night rate.....quite a difference me thinks!

Hi again Jalexa

As I said to our customer, my knowledge of the technicalities of storage heaters is very limited.

I took advice from more experienced people and gave a general response based on this.

Maybe I have mis-interpreted their advice. If I am wrong I will gladly hold my hands up.

This is why I have recommended in all three of my previous posts that missinnocent call us.

The matter can then be properly investigated by people who have a much greater understanding of the issues. They will be able to look at her account and give much clearer advice based on the specific circumstances.

Malc

malc - eon:

You and your more experienced colleagues are completely wrong. Normally the items on the off-peak circuit are under the control of the time-clock except the time clock was faulty and stuck permanently on low rate.

You (and your more experienced colleagues) say the heaters "would still have cut off automatically after the 7-8 hour period of off-peak heating" but that is at best disingenuous. Only the heater input charge control would have acted to limit the input charge. The off-peak circuits would still be live. Just as soon as the temperature had declined below the charge controller threshold the heater would begin to consume electricity again until the safety temperature was reached.

The effect of this cycling is to consume more electricity than would be consumed but for the fault for which E.ON is liable. The fact that the landlord had to replace the thermal fuse (a safety feature) proves that was happenning.

The OP is right and should be generously compensated for the evident incompetence of the E.ON response.

Hi missinnocent

Sorry I have been a long time coming back to you on the question of the storage heaters.

I must confess my knowledge of these is limited. Therefore, I have been talking to colleagues more experienced with this type of issue.

Apparently, the meter and storage heaters need to be viewed separately. Although your time switch stopped at 1am your heaters would still have cut off automatically after the 7-8 hour period of off peak heating.

The meter would have continued to record all electricity used, whatever the time of day, on the off peak register. The storage heaters, however, would not have been on all day.

Storage heaters heat up during the off peak periods. Heat is stored in the core of the heater and then released gradually during the next day. This may have given the impression the heaters were still using electricity during the daytime period.

I am sorry if my attempt to explain the technicalities of storage heaters is a bit vague. As I say, this is not my area of expertise.

For more detailed information may I suggest you give us a call and ask for the Time Switch team. They will be able to give a much fuller explanation.

Malc

malc - eon:

Actually I think a 20/80 split appears quite generous but an aspect of the customers concern has been totally avoided.

Yes the total consumption has been recorded but through no fault of the customer the off-peak heating circuits were permanently energised. A likely result of this is that more energy has been consumed than would have been consumed but for the fault. Luckily the heater input control has prevented meltdown but the landlord has picked up the bill for the replacement. Personally I think that E.ON are liable if only the landlord realised.

Even though a 20/80 split and terms may be a good deal, the customer wants to feel that the extra energy use has been recognised.

Jalexa:

malc - eon:

Trust you didn't intend to dupe the customer because that would be the effect of your advice.

Not at all Jalexa.

The electricity has been used but all recorded at the night rate. This needs splitting between the day and night rates.

We appear to have allocated approximately 80 per cent of this usage to the cheaper night rate.

My suggestion is if missinnocent feels more of the electricity used on the old meter should be at the night rate to call us so her account can be reviewed.

Usage recorded on the new meter may be helpful in determining this. As you say, the current day usage is probably fairly indicative of previous day usage. Therefore, this can be factored into the equation.

We are basically flying blind here. Any actual information can only help us arrive at a fair decision. I did not mean to imply our decision would be based solely on this.

Sorry if my original response did not make this clear. Hope this clarifies the point.

Malc

Thx for your reply. I have been trying to work out the sums for the last 5 days and can't get my head round them so I understand how you feel!! :) Since the meter was fitted I have taken 2 readings, the first on 26th March which were 172 @ day rate and 1074 @ night rate. The next were taken on 26th April and were 352 @ day rate and 2102 @ night rate. As I'm not a maths wizard or understand all the workings of electircity I can only work out an approximate sum of how much I think I owe them. The storage heaters were set on low because of the amount of heat belting out of them, the one in the bedroom went through 2 internal fuses and my landlady put that down to age and not the fact it was over heating due to being on 24/7. I'm new to storage heaters and in fact googled the instructions as I thought it strange!! I turned it off in the end and decided on 2 duvets and flannelette sheets. My only complaint with Eon is the fact that because of their faulty meter they are charging me for the electricity used during the day when the heating was belting out and charging when it shouldn't have been. I'm hoping to get it sorted soon as I'm planning on moving back to EDF for the Nectar points :)

malc - eon:

If you feel more units should have been allocated to the night rate I would keep a check on your new meter. See how much you are using at night. If this is more than 80 per cent give us a call. We are always happy to review an account.

Also some good advice but I disagree with your statement above. The worst of the cold weather is over so the night unit proportion will be in decline. The only clue possible is the day usage now is probably fairly representative of the day usage before.

Trust you didn't intend to dupe the customer because that would be the effect of your advice.

Hi missinnocent

Sorry you have had problems with a faulty time switch. Some excellent advice has already been posted. Thought I would just add a couple of points.

Where a time switch records all the usage at one rate, as in your case, we follow a set procedure to determine how to allocate the units used between day and night.

Usage is worked out based on the new meter and then allocated proportionately between the two rates for the time the meter was faulty.

Looking at the figures posted it appears we have allocated approximately 80 per cent to the cheaper night rate and 20 per cent to the day rate.

If you feel more units should have been allocated to the night rate I would keep a check on your new meter. See how much you are using at night. If this is more than 80 per cent give us a call. We are always happy to review an account.

For the five months between 1 November 2008 and the bill dated 26 March 2009 you say we have charged £633.60. This works out at approximately £126 per month.

I have to say this doesn't seem too bad for an all electric property with storage heaters over a cold winter period. However, I do not have your full details so might be wrong.

If it would help, give us a call and ask for a payment arrangement. We will be happy to spread the balance over the time it took to sort out your meter.

Hope this helps.

Malc

missinnocent_25:

I disagree as I only have the storeage heaters on at night.

a quick follow-up. Normally the storage heaters are controlled by the time switch except it was faulty. Are you saying you switched the storage heaters on and off? What about the water heater?