Electric meter faulty

[Bodgedbuild]

My electric meter has a day & night rate but they are working at incorrect times with rate 2 working for quite a lot of the daytime, is there an internal clock that can be adjusted or is it faulty?
I should add, the board was knocked off the wall during building work as it was loose anyway and it has been screwed back on but on it's side. Would that cause the internal clock to fail?
I need to get this sorted as it is under charging me as I am currently using a lot of day rate electricity that is being charged as night rate

 

[ericmark]

I seem to remember it gets time from BBC radio 4, so if aerial is wrong polarity maybe it will not pick up BBC 4 long wave?

 

[Bodgedbuild]

Nothing ever got disconnected, the board was just a small board with self tapping screws into plaster and it got knocked and was just hanging but it's (short) cables. If it is a radio signal issue do you think that it might have poor signal by being on it's side, is BBC still transmitted on long wave?

 

[JohnD]

It's the Long Wave transmitter in Droitwitch

Now obsolete and expected to close down at some unspecified date in the near future

smartmeters are likely to mean the radio switch signal is no longer needed

But the meter you show does not look like a Teleswitch type so it might not be radio controlled.

You ought to notify your electricity supplier (address on the bill) that the meter timer is malfunctioning. I recommend you do it by letter if the call centre does not know what to do.

 

[flameport]

the board was knocked off the wall during building work as it was loose anyway and it has been screwed back on but on it's side.

If it's just the meter on that board, you need to contact your electricity supplier and have it reinstalled properly.

If other equipment is on that board, there will be other more serious problems that need to be resolved.

 

[Bodgedbuild]

It's the Long Wave transmitter in Droitwitch

Now obsolete and expected to close down at some unspecified date in the near future

smartmeters are likely to mean the radio switch signal is no longer needed

But the meter you show does not look like a Teleswitch type so it might not be radio controlled.

You ought to notify your electricity supplier (address on the bill) that the meter timer is malfunctioning. I recommend you do it by letter if the call centre does not know what to do.

I'll admit I'm concerned they might not be happy with the board being re-positioned but I can't help that and I don't want to unscrew it and put it right way up even though it is just 4 screws.
I am concerned that my usage is now fraudulent now that I know about it

 

[Bodgedbuild]

If it's just the meter on that board, you need to contact your electricity supplier and have it reinstalled properly.

If other equipment is on that board, there will be other more serious problems that need to be resolved.

It was only the meter, everything else was on various bits of board and the main fuse, still on it's bit, has had that bit screwed onto the same new board. The sparky did say it was a mess but UK power have attended since (to change from a 60amp fuse to an 80 amp) and they did not show any concern?

 

[flameport]

UK Power don't deal with metering or sell electricity so they won't care how a meter it's installed.

Contact the electricity supplier, outcome is probably for them to fit a new meter, particularly as that one is 20+ years old.

 

[Bodgedbuild]

UK Power don't deal with metering or sell electricity so they won't care how a meter it's installed.

Contact the electricity supplier, outcome is probably for them to fit a new meter, particularly as that one is 20+ years old.

Yes, that's what I will do, thanks Flameport/John

 

[JohnW2]

I need to get this sorted as it is under charging me as I am currently using a lot of day rate electricity that is being charged as night rate

You must be a man with a conscience

Kind Regards, John

 

[Bodgedbuild]

You must be a man with a conscience

Kind Regards, John

In part I feel it would be fraudulent to be paying a lower rate but also I just know it would come back and bite me in the end and probably after it had accrued a large debt!

 

[JohnW2]

In part I feel it would be fraudulent to be paying a lower rate but also I just know it would come back and bite me in the end and probably after it had accrued a large debt!

You only feel that it might be fraudulent because you were vigilant enough to notice the issue. Many people would not have noticed, and I don't think they could sensibly be accused of any sort of 'fraud' for failing to monitor the performance of the supplier's equipment and reporting to the supplier when it seemed to be malfunctioning.

If you didn't tell them, their systems would probably eventually notice the 'unusual' day/night usage pattern at which point they would investigate/rectify - but I don't know if they would then have the nerve/cheek to try to recover from you an estimated underpayment that had resulted solely from the malfunction of their equipment!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Bodgedbuild]

You only feel that it might be fraudulent because you were vigilant enough to notice the issue. Many people would not have noticed, and I don't think they could sensibly be accused of any sort of 'fraud' for failing to monitor the performance of the supplier's equipment and reporting to the supplier when it seemed to be malfunctioning.

If you didn't tell them, their systems would probably eventually notice the 'unusual' day/night usage pattern at which point they would investigate/rectify - but I don't know if they would then have the nerve/cheek to try to recover from you an estimated underpayment that had resulted solely from the malfunction of their equipment!

Kind Regards, John

We only noticed because our old supplier went bust (think it was green energy or something?) but it appears from old bills that they had chosen to use our night rate as a day rate. Now that EDF have taken over as our supplier they told us our rate 2 was night rate. This seemed odd as it now meant that the bulk of our usage has suddenly become night usage. I check the last two digits on Rate 2 twice during the afternoon and it had increased but Rate 1 had not.
Daft thing is we have been arguing with EDF on live chat and they have insisted that it is correct!
I think to be safe we will email them and tell them we believe there may be an error with the way the meter operates its rates so that we have something we can keep to show we have told them.
I'm just worried that their system notices unusual usage, say, five years from now and we then get a huge demand!

 

[JohnW2]

Daft thing is we have been arguing with EDF on live chat and they have insisted that it is correct! ... I think to be safe we will email them and tell them we believe there may be an error with the way the meter operates its rates so that we have something we can keep to show we have told them.

Indeed, and it might be even 'safer' to also send them a copy by signed-for postal mail!

I'm just worried that their system notices unusual usage, say, five years from now and we then get a huge demand!

Particularly if you do as above, and therefore can demonstrate that you 'took all reasonable steps' to bring the error to their attention (yet they insisted it was not erroneous), as I implied before, I think they'd probably be on fairly thin ice trying to recover an estimated amount underpayment from you, no matter how huge the amount!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Bodgedbuild]

That's not bad advice, reassuring too, thank you