Massive rise in units on an old style meter

[MrNoo]

Has anyone had this happen? Meter was read on the 7th March 2024 @168135 units, I just this morning had a bill so checked re the meter and it has in the space of three months risen to 209456 units, so it says it has used 41,322 units in a quarter. There is an office and small workshop that draws off the meter that's all. quarterly use is normally circa £1000.
By my reckoning that's well over £20k worth of electric, ideas??

 

[Fendt516profi]

A grow

 

[davidroberts30]

Flick all your known consumers off and see if it still runs

 

[NFI]

Our meter did this several years ago. Ring your supplier and they will change it. Will probably persuade you to have a smart meter.
You'll need to explain that you haven't used all that energy.

 

[Netherfield]

Wire rubbed through down to earth.

Back in the 70s where sister lives there was a small stable in a field corner, brother in law ran a wire from the nearest build suspended from a steel cable, ran it through a vent in the wall, said vent was steel, some few years later they got a hell of a shock when the electric bill, the meter was spinning fit to take off, I went had a look and kept pulling fuses until it stopped, it had rubbed through and the live was touching the metal vent.

 

[Wisconsonian]

That's on the high end of possible electric use, but don't tell the supplier that. Was the dial spinning like mad when you read the meter? If it's the same tenants, you should have no trouble getting them to replace the meter and admit the failure, unless they run up another 40,000KWH the next three months.

 

[MrNoo]

A grow

I wish, I’d be smoking it

 

[MrNoo]

Wire rubbed through down to earth.

Back in the 70s where sister lives there was a small stable in a field corner, brother in law ran a wire from the nearest build suspended from a steel cable, ran it through a vent in the wall, said vent was steel, some few years later they got a hell of a shock when the electric bill, the meter was spinning fit to take off, I went had a look and kept pulling fuses until it stopped, it had rubbed through and the live was touching the metal vent.

No, fairly steady today although not at work.

 

[Lincs Lass]

Our meter did this several years ago. Ring your supplier and they will change it. Will probably persuade you to have a smart meter.
You'll need to explain that you haven't used all that energy.

It wont be persuade ,itll be fitted without choice , cant get analogue meters now

 

[renewablejohn]

Is there an immersion water heater on the circuit if so is the thermostat stuck so that it is switched on all the time.

If you have an immersion then if not replaced recently I would suggest replacing as there cheap as chips anyway and its one less possibility to worry about.

 

[MrNoo]

Is there an immersion water heater on the circuit if so is the thermostat stuck so that it is switched on all the time.

No, we have kept an eye on it since and they are using 10kw every 24hrs which is what it would normally be, normally around 1000kw/quarter. Am at a loss as to the sudden rise, we suspect that when one of the digit wheels turns it takes the next one along over with it. There realistically cannot be any other explanation or it would be spinning like a top, which it clearly isn't.
The meter bods are due out to check it, charging £80+vat for it too, fingers crossed they find something wrong with it or it's going to be a right carry on as according to the meter it'll be close to £20k worth of elec......

 

[5020man]

Has anyone had this happen? Meter was read on the 7th March 2024 @168135 units, I just this morning had a bill so checked re the meter and it has in the space of three months risen to 209456 units, so it says it has used 41,322 units in a quarter. There is an office and small workshop that draws off the meter that's all. quarterly use is normally circa £1000.
By my reckoning that's well over £20k worth of electric, ideas??

Has anyone had this happen? Meter was read on the 7th March 2024 @168135 units, I just this morning had a bill so checked re the meter and it has in the space of three months risen to 209456 units, so it says it has used 41,322 units in a quarter. There is an office and small workshop that draws off the meter that's all. quarterly use is normally circa £1000.
By my reckoning that's well over £20k worth of electric, ideas??

The meter reads 20945.6 not 209456.0 . You have used 4232.2 units

 

[e3120]

The meter reads 20945.6 not 209456.0 . You have used 4232.2 units

Don't think so. The 1, 10 etc below the wheel indicate the multiplication factor. If it was .......5.6, there would be a 1 below the 5 and a 0.1 below the 6. (and the OP would have noticed long before now, as it would only have taken 5 quarters to get there)

 

[5020man]

Don't think so. The 1, 10 etc below the wheel indicate the multiplication factor. If it was .......5.6, there would be a 1 below the 5 and a 0.1 below the 6. (and the OP would have noticed long before now, as it would only have taken 5 quarters to get there)

You are correct. I stand corrected.

 

[Cvxv660]

Had a similar problem with our meter a few years ago. It was traced to a dry soldered joint where the cables go into the meter. Didn’t affect it all the time just occasionally caused the meter to clock up units like crazy! Eventually it nearly caught fire as it got that hot and burnt the cable sheathing off. Emergency electric board team came out and replaced the cables. Never been a problem since.

 

[66Longhorns]

Many years ago we moved house and my wife took the final meter reading and phoned it in. A few weeks later we were exploring our new local town and went to draw some cash out of the machine and our card was refused as there were insufficient funds in the account. Turns out she had read the meter incorrectly (had included the tenths column) making an electric bill of a few pounds turn into one of many thousands. It caused us a bit of a panic but we managed to get it sorted in the end

 

[Exfarmer]

your tenant has not started growing Cannabis have they

 

[MrNoo]

your tenant has not started growing Cannabis have they

I did wonder...! No, he runs a screeding Co out of the building, one secretary (full time) and an occasional power washer and lights/AC/heating but they tend traditionally to use circa 1000kw/qrt. They've also been there prob 12 years or more now.

 

[5020man]

Has anyone had this happen? Meter was read on the 7th March 2024 @168135 units, I just this morning had a bill so checked re the meter and it has in the space of three months risen to 209456 units, so it says it has used 41,322 units in a quarter. There is an office and small workshop that draws off the meter that's all. quarterly use is normally circa £1000.
By my reckoning that's well over £20k worth of electric, ideas??

Was the meter actually read or estimated ?

 

[Nearly]

Many years ago we moved house and my wife took the final meter reading and phoned it in. A few weeks later we were exploring our new local town and went to draw some cash out of the machine and our card was refused as there were insufficient funds in the account. Turns out she had read the meter incorrectly (had included the tenths column) making an electric bill of a few pounds turn into one of many thousands. It caused us a bit of a panic but we managed to get it sorted in the end

Bet it would take more sorting out now.