Excessive usage

Witchy.ie

Hi, I moved into an apartment at the beginning of July this year and received my first bill last Tuesday. The bill was estimated and a little higher then I'd expected so I took a meter reading when I got home from work. The meter reading was 5000 units higher than the estimate.

I live alone and I'm either asleep or out at work 20 hours a day 5 days a week and nothing is running except my small fridge during this time. Instead of a 200 euro bill that I thought was a little high I now have a 2 month bill for 975.90 euro.

In a 24 hour period (Tuesday to Wednesday) despite being asleep or at work for 20 hours, the meter has registered usage of 77 units. Before seperating from my wife, as a family of 6 (with 3 teenagers) the highest usage we ever registered was 30 units over 24 hours.

EI: Aoife

Hi Witchy.ie,

Thank you for getting in touch.

Please send us the following information via private message:

• The name as it appears on your Electric Ireland account
• The first line of your address
• The date of birth or contact number on file
• Your account number
• Confirmation you are the account holder (Yes/No)

We can then look into your account.

Thanks,
Aoife

Witchy.ie

Thanks Aoife, PM just sent

Witchy.ie

When I first reported the issue on Tuesday night the customer service rep asked me to switch off the power at the main circuit breaker for 30 mins and check if the meter stopped moving. It did after about 45 seconds but I noticed that communal lighting on the stairs and hall outside my apartment went out when I flipped the switch. This suggests that, the external lights at least are connected to my meter but that wouldn't on its own explain the massive usage.

The next evening I left the mains switch on but turned off and unplugged everything including the fridge in my apartment and the meter kept moving quite rapidly throughout the 30 minutes I tried it. I have contacted my landlord and he is getting an electrician to come and check what is actually connected to my meter. My fear is that you guys will try and take this money from my account on the due date which will cause me serious financial problems.

EI: Aoife

Hi Witchy.ie,

We understand your concern and we have responded to your private message.

Thanks,
Aoife

Witchy.ie

I just pm'd you a photo of my meter taken when I got home from work last night. I took another reading this morning at 6am and in 12 hours the meter has increased by 130 units

EI: Aoife

Hi Witchie,

We received your private message and have responded to you.

Thanks,
Aoife

Witchy.ie

To recap:
I moved into my apartment at the beginning of July. I live alone and I am either at work or asleep for around 20 hours a day, 5 days a week. Apart from the small under counter fridge, I use my TV, laptop and other appliances for only 4 hours on average a day. All my lights are low wattage LED bulbs and I'm very careful to always switch of lights and unplug appliances that I'm not using.

Last week I received my first 2 month bill for the property.The bill was estimated and I thought it was a little high @ 223 Euro given the above. so I went  to get an actual meter reading hoping to be able to reduce my bill by 30 euro or so. The bill estimated that I had used 1066 units over 2 months but the meter reading was 4600 units higher than the estimate.

Estimated Reading: 11480
Actual Reading:       16086

I rang your customer service immediately and the response I've received so far has been a revised bill for 975 euro, an offer of an easy payment plan and advice to chase up my landlord so that he can get an electrician to check whats going on.

So despite being away for most of the weekend and given my average active use above . My meter has registered usage of 500kw in the last 5 days. As a "Valued Customer" I feel disappointed, let down and angry that the only real response I've gotten is a massive bill for electricity I haven't used.

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Witchy.ie,

We wish to advise that we do understand your concern regarding this spike in electricity units.

We are only able to advise regarding the number of units that appears on a bill - we do not have the information regarding what has led to these units clocking up on a meter. Therefore, we recommend having the internal wiring (and perhaps other wiring in the building) checked by an electrician in order to establish what has caused this spike.

We can certainly send a service order to ESB Networks (who look after the meters for customers of all electricity providers) to carry out a test on the meter. However, if it turns out that there is no fault with the meter, an ESB Networks call-out charge applies.

If it turns out that there is an issue with the meter, the call-out charge does not apply. However, all other possibilities need to be eliminated first, in order to ensure that you will not be charged the fee, should it turn out that there is no issue with the meter.

You mentioned you have carried out the check that involves powering everything off, waiting a matter of minutes and then checking whether the meter is still moving. If the meter is not still moving, this indicates that there is unlikely to be an issue with the meter.

Let us know if there is anything else we can assist with.

Regards,
Una

Witchy.ie

Thanks Una,

I do appreciate that there are limitations on what you can do. It's just very distressing to come home from work night after night to an empty apartment and find that up to 40Kw have registered while I was out.

Electric Ireland: Una

Witchy.ie wrote: »

Thanks Una,

I do appreciate that there are limitations on what you can do. It's just very distressing to come home from work night after night to an empty apartment and find that up to 40Kw have registered while I was out.

Hi Witchy.ie,

We can certainly understand this.

If you were to switch everything off, then switch every item on individually (checking the meter for each item as you go) you may be able to gauge an idea of what specifically is causing the increase in units consumption.

We also wish to advise that this seems like a matter of urgency for an electrician if an appointment is pending arrangement.

I will private message you now also.

Best regards,
Una

Witchy.ie

Hi, I just wanted to post another update. Its is just over a week since I discovered a massive unexplained usage on my meter. In just over 7 days the meter has registered usage of 596 units. As I said before I live alone, I am at work or asleep for roughly 20 hours per day (5 days a week). In the evenings I use the TV, laptop, have a shower and do laundry once a week. I cook one meal per day and constantly switch off lights and appliances I am not using. I have been in touch with the landlord several times and he says he has left messages for his electrician but as yet has not heard back from him. Between 8pm last night and 6.14am this morning the meter registered 51Kw units usage. From today I am switching off as many of the circuit switches as I can when I leave for work.


Update: 11.34am. Just got a call from landlords electrician. He's coming tonight to check out the wiring.

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Witchy.ie,

We have sent you a private message.

Thank you for the update - a thorough check by an electrician of the building's wiring is highly recommended for investigation as to why this many units are being clocked up on the meter.

Regards,
Una

Witchy.ie

Hi another update.

The electrician spent nearly 2 and a half hours checking the meter and wiring in my apartment last night. He said he'd never seen a domestic meter move that fast. He checked my apartment and didn't find anything that could explain the usage. He said  he believes that my circuit has been compromised and that someone else in the building has connected to my supply. He is going to talk to the landlord today to see if he can arrange access to the other apartment and if necessary the commercial premises below.
40Kw usage registered overnight

Witchy.ie

PM sent

Witchy.ie

I have never experienced anything like this before so I was wondering. With regard to situations like mine where there is apparantly an illegal connection to my electricity supply. How is the outstanding amount resolved. I thought the original estimated bill was a little high @ 223 euro which is why I took the original meter reading and discovered the massive anomaly. How do I now figure what to pay. How do you decide how much I owe with the meter readings so compromised. I want to put this behind me and be able to trust that I am actually using what the meter says I need to pay for.

Witchy.ie

PM sent

Gooser14

Maybe somebody is running grow house off your power supply. What's your water consumption like?

Witchy.ie

Gooser14 wrote: »

Maybe somebody is running grow house off your power supply. What's your water consumption like?

Well that was my original suspicion, because @ 80 - 100Kw per day what else could be causing that much draw.

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi Witchy.ie,

Thank you for getting in touch.

While the source of the consumption is being investigated by the electrician, we recommend paying every second month what you would have paid on average for a bill at your previous property. The estimated bill would have related to the previous occupant's usage.

We will respond to your private message ASAP.

Regards,
Una

Witchy.ie

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi Witchy.ie,

Thank you for getting in touch.

While the source of the consumption is being investigated by the electrician, we recommend paying every second month what you would have paid on average for a bill at your previous property. The estimated bill would have related to the previous occupant's usage.

We will respond to your private message ASAP.

Regards,
Una

Thanks Una, that would be difficult as I was previously paying bills for a family of six and I now live alone.

Electric Ireland: Una

Witchy.ie wrote: »

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi Witchy.ie,

Thank you for getting in touch.

While the source of the consumption is being investigated by the electrician, we recommend paying every second month what you would have paid on average for a bill at your previous property. The estimated bill would have related to the previous occupant's usage.

We will respond to your private message ASAP.

Regards,
Una

Thanks Una, that would be difficult as I was previously paying bills for a family of six and I now live alone.

Sorry Witchy.ie. We suggest maybe paying in small amounts whenever you can, just to keep your account effectively "topped up" while the matter is being investigated.

The Electric Ireland My Energy Pal app gives a gauge of what various appliances/devices consume.

Regards,
Una

elperello

I knew an electrician who went to do some work in a shop premises where the owner had flats rented overhead. He switched off at the mains to do the work and a big display fridge kept working. He said to the owner that there was something wrong and was told to go ahead that what he was working on was isolated. Turned out the owner had a bit of electrical knowledge and had connected the fridge to one of the flats.

Witchy.ie

Hi just another update. The landlords electrician was here on Saturday and checked the 2 commercial premises in the building> He didn't find anything amiss. He tried to gain access to the other apartment but there was no one there. He was supposed to try again last night but didn't show up. The landlord has yet to respond to my last attempt to contact him. The meter has registered just over 2000kw usage since September 14th.

Witchy.ie

@ ;elperello My suspicion is that whoever did this was trying to connect to the commercial properties electricity in the hope that the additional usage wouldn't be noticed. 

crossmolinalad

Witchy.ie wrote: »

@ ;elperello My suspicion is that whoever did this was trying to connect to the commercial properties electricity in the hope that the additional usage wouldn't be noticed. 

do you still have the problems???
Take the things out of your freezer and ask someone to put it in theirs 
switch of your supply for a 24 hours and the one who is connected to your meter will call your landlord/ a spark to solve his "problem"

Witchy.ie

crossmolinalad wrote: »

Witchy.ie wrote: »

@ ;elperello My suspicion is that whoever did this was trying to connect to the commercial properties electricity in the hope that the additional usage wouldn't be noticed. 

do you still have the problems???
Take the things out of your freezer and ask someone to put it in theirs 
switch of your supply for a 24 hours and the one who is connected to your meter will call your landlord/ a spark to solve his "problem"

Hi Yes I'm still having problems. The electrician has now checked the remaining apartment and the attic and found nothing suspicious. I don't have a freezer, just a small undercounter fridge with an ice box. The landlords electrician has fitted a meter to my Fuse/ELCB box so I'm monitoring any differences with the main meter downstairs which aren't much so far. Strangely when fitting the meter he obviously had to cut the power at the mains and when he turned it back on after maybe 30 mins it took off, turning so fast you couldn't see the markings on the wheel and took 3-4 mins to slow down. Again at the time there was nothing running except my fridge. I have requested the meter be checked by ESB Networks as it is the oldest meter in the building dating from 1976.

defib

What happened?

Witchy.ie

The second meter has been running for just over a week now and the usage reading are now what I would have expected them to be all along. Averaging 5-7KW per 24 hours during the week and a bit more on the weekends. I'm no expert but this strongly suggests to me that the meter is not the problem and yet again it looks like someone was connecting illegally and the electrician activity scared them off and they disconnected. Its a frustrating bloody mess.

dennissheehan

Hi witchy.ie

Did you every find out what caused the high meter readings? We have a similar problem with high bills and low usage for years with the exact same time of meter RM032

Dennis