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Electricity meter keeps running when main switch is off.

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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 23:27 - 21 Mar 2022    Post subject: Electricity meter keeps running when main switch is off. Reply with quote

This all-electric terraced house seems to consume almost 140% of the predicted energy consumption based on number of bedrooms, etc. It used to have Economy 7 but the meter was converted so the ‘Night’ dial never moves. I’m wondering if the conversion was botched. If I turn the main fuse off, the meter keeps whirring. I’ve read that this is because you’re still powering the meter and it’s one reason you pay a standing charge. Is that right? My energy consumption at the last house was below the average.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 00:40 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

They have a standing charge because they are greedy bastards who don't want to lose out on profits if you decide to be frugal with your energy use.

The meter is whirring when the main switch is off but is the reading going up? If it is then something is wired in and running between the meter and the main fuse which would be a worry in itself. The meter itself will draw a negligeable amount of power.

You can buy energy monitors fairly inexpensively which have a sensor that clips round the meter output wire or the fuse box input wire. They have a display telling you how much power you are using at a particular time and your weekly total. Be interesting to see what's being drawn with the main fuse off. Also be interesting to see if the KW/h matches the meter. It won't be as exact as a meter ought to be but it should be somewhere close.

EDIT: I still have my old electromechanical meter and I will resist it being changed for as long as possible. They are reliable, accurate and don't draw any power when none is going through them. They also can't be set to overread without physically altering the meter itself.
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doggone
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PostPosted: 10:32 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

It could be the family of immigrants in the attic have hotwired the house
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A100man
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PostPosted: 11:30 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

If the big black 'board fuse' is out you'll see no movement if you do then crikey...

.. Assuming therefore you are saying that with the consumer unit/fuseboard main switch off you are still seeing movement in which case you probably have an auxiliary (hopefully) fused circuit somewhere.

Post a picture of the set-up including the meter and the fuse board so we can see.
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Islander
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PostPosted: 14:51 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

A100man wrote:

Post a picture of the set-up including the meter and the fuse board so we can see.


^^That
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 15:14 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Surely the clock for the economy 7 would use some leccy.
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A100man
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PostPosted: 15:30 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Re: Electricity meter keeps running when main switch is off. Reply with quote

Kawasaki Jimbo wrote:
This all-electric terraced house seems to consume almost 140% of the predicted energy consumption based on number of bedrooms, etc. It used to have Economy 7 but the meter was converted so the ‘Night’ dial never moves. I’m wondering if the conversion was botched. .


All electric probably means storage heaters - yuck. Got them at work and they cost a fortune to run., this might well explain why your bills are high (compared with Gas CH)
So your night Economy 7 was converted.. but to what? A single meter with two dials a) Day and b) Night? or, heaven forbid, the storage heaters are running on premium rate leccy.
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Ste
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PostPosted: 16:01 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your neighbour has taped into your electricity and is using it to grow weed and mine bitcoins. Thumbs Up
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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 19:06 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess the house had storage heaters originally but now it has Dimplex panel heaters with an individual controller on each one. They’re not great.

The original meter is still there with its two displays for day and night, but the night reading which would have been Economy 7 never changes.

https://i.postimg.cc/pXzW1mSm/762-BB02-E-7342-4-D62-9264-FB38-C0-AC7-B70.jpg

The one on the right looks like the Economy 7 timer setting.

https://i.postimg.cc/y8K1qVqv/FAE9-B329-CDA6-4733-8846-6-C41-D2738-C8-E.jpg

With the fridge, freezer and standby appliances in the house the horizontal disk spins like the clappers but the numbers thankfully don’t.

https://i.postimg.cc/sftfcYTF/C67-FDAD3-FA68-43-C6-9656-00-A35-AFD2-A98.jpg[/url]

Here’s the switchboard inside the house, and if I flick the mains to off the meter dial slows to a crawl (watch it for 10 seconds and you can see it move) but doesn’t stop, and I think it should.

https://i.postimg.cc/K85ZxdxF/4-B7-F0-B04-272-F-4-A2-C-978-C-867-A5-BE39398.jpg

I had almost convinced the supplier to send an engineer out but then lockdown 1 happened.

I did suspect that my neighbour was running a cannabis farm at my expense but she’s elderly and that smell’s not weed. Nearly.
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 19:13 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just get your local electrician in to strip out the economy 7 wiring from that fuse box of the heating doesn't use the wiring for it any more.
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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 19:47 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

They probably think they’ve already done all that’s required. I’m renting anyway. Maybe I’ll just punt this evidence back to the landlord via the letting agent. I just wanted confirmation that the dial shouldn’t be turning at all when the mains switch is off.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 20:57 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kawasaki Jimbo wrote:

Here’s the switchboard inside the house, and if I flick the mains to off the meter dial slows to a crawl (watch it for 10 seconds and you can see it move) but doesn’t stop, and I think it should.


If everything is off, those meters shouldn't move, they work by induction so the disc only moves when current is flowing.

If it's barely perceptible movement, like less than 1 turn a minute, I suspect it'll be the timer which will be a tiny draw, probably costing you pennies a month. Almost certainly not worth bothering about..
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 21:25 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Surely the clock for the economy 7 would use some leccy.

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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 21:31 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Surely the clock for the economy 7 would use some leccy.

Supposed to have been deactivated.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 22:54 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kawasaki Jimbo wrote:
Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Surely the clock for the economy 7 would use some leccy.

Supposed to have been deactivated.


Well, is it telling the time?
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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 23:10 - 22 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

The night rate numbers never move.
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 08:52 - 23 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kawasaki Jimbo wrote:
The night rate numbers never move.


Does the time on the clock change?
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Ste
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PostPosted: 16:52 - 23 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Phone energy supplier, describe what it's doing and not doing, see what they say and let them come to test the meter.
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MCN
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PostPosted: 18:38 - 23 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

stinkwheel wrote:
They have a standing charge because they are greedy bastards who don't want to lose out on profits if you decide to be frugal with your energy use.

The meter is whirring when the main switch is off but is the reading going up? If it is then something is wired in and running between the meter and the main fuse which would be a worry in itself. The meter itself will draw a negligeable amount of power.

You can buy energy monitors fairly inexpensively which have a sensor that clips round the meter output wire or the fuse box input wire. They have a display telling you how much power you are using at a particular time and your weekly total. Be interesting to see what's being drawn with the main fuse off. Also be interesting to see if the KW/h matches the meter. It won't be as exact as a meter ought to be but it should be somewhere close.

EDIT: I still have my old electromechanical meter and I will resist it being changed for as long as possible. They are reliable, accurate and don't draw any power when none is going through them. They also can't be set to overread without physically altering the meter itself.


I know a person who might have had solar panels fitted and then may have noticed that the electric meter was running in reverse, sometimes, on sunny days, it might have been spinning at quiet a clip too.

It was a year later the board fitted a digital meter.

Fun Suckers.
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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 18:43 - 23 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Kawasaki Jimbo wrote:
The night rate numbers never move.


Does the time on the clock change?

No.
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drzsta
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PostPosted: 20:53 - 23 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

So there is a second set of tails leading off from the old horstmann economy 7 meter to a presumably now defunct storage heater consumer unit

Can you confirm there is still a second old fuse box?
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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 23:40 - 23 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

There’s nothing below Pic 1 except the cables going into the wall, and there’s a single fuse box on the other side, inside the house. No old fuse box remaining.
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MCN
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PostPosted: 11:52 - 24 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kawasaki Jimbo wrote:
There’s nothing below Pic 1 except the cables going into the wall, and there’s a single fuse box on the other side, inside the house. No old fuse box remaining.


Are you of eastern block ethnicity?

They often bypass meters. Very Happy
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Islander
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PostPosted: 12:22 - 24 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

MCN wrote:

I know a person who might have had solar panels fitted and then may have noticed that the electric meter was running in reverse, sometimes, on sunny days, it might have been spinning at quiet a clip too.

It was a year later the board fitted a digital meter.

Fun Suckers.


I'm thinking about self installing a small ground mounted PV plug in system to offset some of our costs - nothing grand just 4 panels to start with and we'll look at expanding things if it works well. We've got open horizons to the south so in theory it should generate a reasonable amount of energy.

Apparently when you send the G98 paperwork to the DNO to let them know you've installed it, they're supposed to notify your energy supplier but rarely do which is why 'someone' got away with it for a year. I still have an old fashioned spinning wheel meter so I'm hoping to see it go backwards from time to time or at least stop dead. Very Happy
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MCN
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PostPosted: 12:44 - 24 Mar 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Islander wrote:
MCN wrote:

I know a person who might have had solar panels fitted and then may have noticed that the electric meter was running in reverse, sometimes, on sunny days, it might have been spinning at quiet a clip too.

It was a year later the board fitted a digital meter.

Fun Suckers.


I'm thinking about self installing a small ground mounted PV plug in system to offset some of our costs - nothing grand just 4 panels to start with and we'll look at expanding things if it works well. We've got open horizons to the south so in theory it should generate a reasonable amount of energy.

Apparently when you send the G98 paperwork to the DNO to let them know you've installed it, they're supposed to notify your energy supplier but rarely do which is why 'someone' got away with it for a year. I still have an old fashioned spinning wheel meter so I'm hoping to see it go backwards from time to time or at least stop dead. Very Happy


The person is on feed in tariff.
£0.15/KWh. Since install.

The supplier knowed about the installation coz they were sending the feed in tariff to the person.

The crux of the issue was/is, Scottish Power are whanchors and between over charging, not being able to get a bill from them and other stuff, they dropped the ball.
Spansh Diego Bastirts.
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