Could my meter be wired up wrong?

[sanasanasana]

Hello everyone

In September 2023 I rented a beautiful 3 bedroom apartment, with all electric supply, no gas powered appliances.
I noted down the initial meter reading which was 81677. This was on the 23rd of September.
On the EPC rating certificate I was given by the lettings agency, the estimated energy cost was stated as £3,405 per 3 years.

I had already supplied the readings to my energy supplier (Octopus). I was shocked to see that with each passing day, my consumption of electricity in kWh was disproportionately high. For example, from 21st October to 11th November , I have "used" 1753kWh for which the energy company billed me £448. This was just 20 days.

My usage is only 4 hours of heating per day, washing machine and dryer twice on weekends, hardly or no ironing. Cooking on electric stove OR oven 30 minutes per day max.

I read that an average house in the UK consumes 3000kWh annually, I am baffled that my consumption shows so high, I have no explanation for it and I an extremely worried.
I have now switched off all heating completely even though the kids are freezing and it is mid November, yet I see the meter clocking at least 15kWh for 24 hours. Right now my meter reads 84654.

I am on E7 meter so I should be billed differently at night. I do have 2 meters in the property, but the second one doesn't work at all. Octopus says my day rate is 26p/kWh and the night rate is 7p/kWh but the numbers just don't add up!

I have performed all sorts of load and creep tests but in my layman language... the numbers just go up too fast!

I have contacted my agency who contacted the landlord and they said everything is wired up fine. I have asked Octopus to check as well, which they've said they will but after 10 days. And they'll also install a smart meter, I have the old fashioned spinning disc ones right now but I'm unsure if the'll spot the actual problem. Once they install a smart meter without diagnosing the actual problem I'm afraid I'll still be billed very high and they wont return to check again.

What could the problem be? Is it possible my meters might be wired up wrong? At this rate I'm looking to pay upwards of £650 a month in just electricity bills which I absolutely cannot afford. Please advise. I am attaching photos of my central heating unit (the long thin "Potterton" brand), my meters (the one on 91444 is stuck) and the EPC rating.

 

[James]

ok 15kwh in a 24H period is 625W average.
that is not difficult to achieve with some lights, fridge freezer and a tv

the unit kWh is based on a 1Kw load running for one hour, therefore a 2Kw load running for 1 hour will use 2kWh etc.

the heating unit (long thin white thing) is possibly a 12Kw unit, assuming it is then 4 hours use will create 48kWh of usage on its own.
running 20 Litres of hot water will use 1kWh of electricity (approximately)
keeping the hot water tank hot and ready to draw from once it is up at temperature is likely to use 1kWh every 3 hours or so (around 8kWh per day if left hot 24h)

unless your lifestyle means you are nocturnal then an economy 7 tariff may not be the best for you as you have no storage heaters and a fairly small water tank so cant heat it at night and use in the day without it running out quickly.

I am sorry to say that your usage figures may well be an accurate reflection of your usage without going into massive detail about the precise usage of different devices around the house it would be difficult to make a more accurate calculation

 

[James]

also worth noting that the epc certificate was from feb 2020 so nearly 4 years old.
energy costs in general have gone up considerably since then.
I also wonder if the property had storage heaters at the time of survey and the new electric boiler has been fitted since then?

 

[James]

the epc certificate suggests the running costs are as follows

building size = 107 sq m
primary energy indicator 359kWh per sq m per year.

i see that as 359 x 107 =38413kWh per year

38413 / 365 = 105kWh average per day

assuming 75% is day and 25% is night usage
this works out to

day 78.75kWh at 26p per kWh = £20.47
night 26.25kWh at 7p per kWh = £1.84
Total £22.31 per day

20 days at the estimated usage on epc would mean a total of £446
Incredibly this is only £2 different from the bill you have received.

 

[sanasanasana]

the epc certificate suggests the running costs are as follows

building size = 107 sq m
primary energy indicator 359kWh per sq m per year.

i see that as 359 x 107 =38413kWh per year

38413 / 365 = 105kWh average per day

assuming 75% is day and 25% is night usage
this works out to

day 78.75kWh at 26p per kWh = £20.47
night 26.25kWh at 7p per kWh = £1.84
Total £22.31 per day

20 days at the estimated usage on epc would mean a total of £446
Incredibly this is only £2 different from the bill you have received.

Thank you for that breakdown. However, my dishwasher, washing machine and dryer are only ever used during the night at which the night rate applies.
The night meter, whise serial number appears on my Octopus account does not work at all. The metal disc in the old style induction meter does not spin so I'm constantly on the day tariff.

 

[MJPD29]

Your bill doesn’t sound unrealistic at all for an all electric apartment. Sadly your epc from 2020 is more or less irrelevant at this stage

 

[James]

If you are using power at night (we all do to some degree) then the night rate's meter reading should be going up.
if it is not then there is a fault with it.
if you report a faulty meter, it may well take your supplier some time to fix / replace it.

it is probably advantageous for you to have a smart meter fitted. amongst other things you get a readout that gives you Realtime usage figures so you can understand how much you are spending at any time.

 

[DefyG]

It does sound as if the E7 meter is faulty if no increase in readings overnight and should be checked.

Was asked to look at a not too dissimilar situation where the owner was using the electric boiler to heat the hot water tank when directly heating by the immersion heater was a cheaper option for them , maybe for you too?

 

[sanasanasana]

It does sound as if the E7 meter is faulty if no increase in readings overnight and should be checked.

Was asked to look at a not too dissimilar situation where the owner was using the electric boiler to heat the hot water tank when directly heating by the immersion heater was a cheaper option for them , maybe for you too?

Thank you for your response, how can I tell whether my electric boiler is being used to heat up water? I don't know what water heating system is in place at this property, whether it is immersion or not. There is a switch with a timer thing which i have set to specific times and that's only when the water gets heated.

 

[DefyG]

The time clock is a typical immersion heater time clock (3kW) and wouldn't/shouldn't be used to switch on a 15kW boiler so if that is the only way to heat the hot water cylinder it sounds like you are already using the immersion heater and not the boiler.
The time clock ideally should be set to the hours of the E7 supply switching in. Just make sure of the on/off position of the red tabs. It looks like you have it 'on' for 2hrs a day but could also be 'off' for 2hrs and 'on' for 22hrs per day (£££££)!

 

[sanasanasana]

Thanks all for your helpful responses, I'm glad i came to the right place because I did not get concise, correct answers from other places you've all been very helpful.

I've done the maths(inspired by James) and it turns out that indeed without using any additional appliances (besides those like fridge/freezer, chargers, bulbs & lamps running), my "standby" consumption is about 14kWh per day. With the Potterton 12kW running even for one hour, this makes my consumption go upto a total of 26kWh and with the 27p/hr charge I'm looking at £7.62 including standing charge.
The electric boiler is the horrendous deal breaker here; i think I'd be better off using my 2kW fan blowers for longer durations instead. Lesson learnt the hard way.
The outstanding problem now is the night meter which needs fixing as it hasn't budged since I've moved and I do have the night charge meter on my account. Then I can program my washing machine/dryers to run at that time. Hopefully the energy suppliers will fix this.

 

[baldelectrician]

You don't seem to have true E7 as the second meter is not moving

The set up looks like a seperate meter for storage heaters

Normal E7 has one meter with 2 rates, you need to contact Octopus and tell them your meter is not working.
They are as slow as a week in jail to come out to standard meter issues, you should tell them you have no power for your off peak.

 

[marconi]

I am with baldelectrician on this. The installation is not configured for economy 7 and as a result you are paying more than you might albeit the supplier is at the moment accurately charging you for the electricity you use at the prevailing peak rate per kWh.

I reckon the flat once had electric storage heaters controlled by an off peak tariff timeswitch and using the top left pale yellow MEM fusebox. The supply for these heaters was via the meter which now reads 91444 and does not now clock up.

What I think has happened it the landlord has removed the storage heaters - true? - and replaced by wet radiators, and electric potterton boiler and timeswitch controlled circulation pump. What is causing you high bills is - I think - that this is all powered now from the day rate meter and thus charged at day rates all the time.

Furthermore, even though you may have signed up to an E7 tariff - check your bill - you cannot benefit from it for space and water heating nor any other off peak electrical consumption such overnight washing and drying because there is no way to measure the off-peak usage because all your electricity is passing through the one single rate meter - the one that is actually turning. This meter does not 'know' the time of day nor have a way to separately record peak and off peak consumption.

Could you do some trials for me please? Have a torch because the electricity will be turned off briefly.

1. Observe the meter which turns. Then turn the room thermostat up to maximum and ensure the Potterton is turned on so it will heat the water for the radiators. Does the meter start to spin very quickly? Wait 5 minutes to allow the Potterton to respond to the flow of cold water. Just check the other meter does not turn.

2. Turn a light on. Now turn the white Wylex switch with the brown and blue levers off by pushing downwards - might be hard to do. Does this light go off and the Potterton too at the same time? Has the meter stop spinning? Now turn the wylex on again. The light should come on and the meter should be spinning quickly.

3. Turn the thermostat to minimum. Wait for the meter to stop spinning quickly. Now fill up the kettle with water. Ask someone to observe both meters as you turn the kettle on for 20 seconds and then off. I expect you will see the one meter spin up while the kettle is on - the one which spins for para 1 above.

I hope this makes sense.

We will also need to find out the sizes of the main fuse and cabling to the meter to confirm they can handle the potterton and other loads which are on at the same time.

I have sent you a Private Message with my mobile number if you want to call me. If I do not answer send me a text and I will respond.

PS: The solution by the way is to scrap both meters and have a smart meter fitted. And then to research electricity tariffs which have off peak periods. Apart from overnight economy 7, there are other suppliers/tariffs which give cheaper rate electricity for everything during defined time slots during the week day and weekends. eg Economy 10.

See:

Economy 10 tariff and meters explained | UK Energy Support - https://ukenergysupport.co.uk/economy-10-tariff/#:~:text=If%20you%20live%20a%20busy,evening%20or%20during%20the%20night.&text=It%20is%20also%20the%20best,rather%20than%20gas%20heating%20systems.

 

[marconi]

Please take close up pictures of the potterton as I have circled in yellow in the attachment.

 

[sanasanasana]

There you go, thank you.
Taken photos

 

[marconi]

There you go, thank you.
Taken photos

I wanted to confirm the power of the Potterton because there are some models with lower power than 12kW.

 

[marconi]

Have I confused you or worse frightened you away? The tests I described may quickly decide your question.