Weird electricity usage - what's going on?

I have a unit in a block of units. It's on the market for sale. It's been empty for a while. Recently the old elec meter has been changed to a smart meter.

No one was living in the unit for the vast majority of the period that was covered by the last elec bill. The old meter showed 1 kWh over 40 days of usage. The smart meter was installed and the account details under the new meter showed 526 kWh over 42 days.

When I’ve visited the unit for maintenance, I turn the lights on. Once, I turned the hot water service on. When I lock up the place I make sure the hot water is switched off and that no lights are left on. So, I was surprised usage jumped from 1 kWh to 526 kWh over a similar period of time.

I have data from the smart meter. It shows a huge variation in usage from 32 kWh per day to less than 1 kWh per day.

The most curious thing I noticed was that on one particular day, there was low usage (2 to 7 watts) that to me looked like the behaviour of a fridge switching on and off. There’s no fridge in the unit. There's nothing in the unit plugged into any power point (except a mirror that has a light behind it, but I think it's switched off). I can only think of a fridge. Do you get fidges that use 7 watts?

Attachment 537555


In addition to the new meter, at some point in time, some external electrical work has been done. I don’t know when. I can’t help wondering if some wiring has been connected incorrectly, resulting in usage from other units or external lighting to be registered on my meter.

One of the possibilities put to me by the electrical supplier is that the data I see is normal usage. That seems rubbish to me. Or that there might be an electrical leakage in the wiring. There are no appliances. Nothing at all. Electrical leakage?? Of up to 32 kWh. I find that hard to believe.

What do you think?

There was a story on current affair or one of those shows.
I think I saw it on Nine Msn.
I didn't go into it much but it was where a lady had found out her electricity was going into other unit/s and or body corp areas in the same building.
Took her ages to get it sorted through the supplier because they kept telling her it was correct.

I would be shutting the power down completely to the unit,read the meter then read the meter again next day at the same time.
Then if there is usage, you have something to argue the point with to the supplier and or meter installer.
You will find the agent is turning on every light when open for inspection and then maybe only one light when they take another sales person through, so this could have a bearing on usage but you are saying 12.5 kwh/day which is a lot for something not being used.

FWIW Has someone turned on the water heater ???
What about external/garage lights fed from your unit/meter ???
Clocks timers on dishwasher rangehood stove microwave etc ???
Auto night lights etc ???
Lights in cupboards ???

Yes, shutting the power down is a good check. There are currently new tenants in there. I've contacted the real estate agent about doing some kind of test. This table is my elec usage on each day. The yellow items are the dates when I went to the unit and used power. The other days the power was switched off. No one has turned the hot water on. I checked with the agent. I turned it on for one day (yellow) only. All lights were off. No appliances. No fridge. No pool. No garage lights. And the water heater always went off.

Attachment 537556

I gather another issue is the number on the meter. There might be a mistake between this number and the street address.

Check the NMI on the newly installed meter is the one referenced on your bill / account.

I'm hoping the real estate guy will be helpful enough to send a photo of the meter that shows the number.

If you have a smart meter I advise you to check the ID numbers on your meter to ensure they match those on your bill. I'm being billed for elec usage of my neighbour.

Attachment 537568

Attachment 537569


The only reason I noticed a problem was because every power outlet in my unit had been turned off and yet I was showing usage. The unit was empty. There was no fridge, no hot water service, nothing was plugged in and drawing current. My early enquiries with a customer service rep was that everything was good and my bill was accurate.

My suspicions were confirmed when one of the customer service reps emailed the data collected by the smart meter. The usage was all over the place and nothing like I expected. The statement was showing usage when it should have been zero, or very low.

It wasn’t helpful during my enquiries that one of the company’s reps had lied to me. The photo shows a snippet of the data that was provided. It’s provided as a spreadsheet. I enquired about the zero usage. Note the figures under col H (Value). That’s my usage – 0 kWh. I questioned that. The rep went off to enquire and when he returned said there had been a power outage at that time and it would be expected that zero would be shown. Well, that’s possible. Not convinced I rang Essential Energy (the company that supplies power to the electricity retailers). There were no power outages at that time. Caught red-handed.

My attention was drawn to the numbers on the meter. There is a NMI number and Serial Number. The same numbers are on the statement. And as you can see, there is an inconsistency. The guy who fitted the new meter got my meter and my neighbour's meter mixed up.

If I had not shut all the power down during this billing period the issue would never have been noticed. It's going to be investigated, but I gather that doing so will be a protracted process.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ErrolFlynn

If you have a smart meter I advise you to check the ID numbers on your meter to ensure they match those on your bill. I'm being billed for elec usage of my neighbour.

Attachment 537568

Attachment 537569


The only reason I noticed a problem was because every power outlet in my unit had been turned off and yet I was showing usage. The unit was empty. There was no fridge, no hot water service, nothing was plugged in and drawing current. My early enquiries with a customer service rep was that everything was good and my bill was accurate.

My suspicions were confirmed when one of the customer service reps emailed the data collected by the smart meter. The usage was all over the place and nothing like I expected. The statement was showing usage when it should have been zero, or very low.

It wasn’t helpful during my enquiries that one of the company’s reps had lied to me. The photo shows a snippet of the data that was provided. It’s provided as a spreadsheet. I enquired about the zero usage. Note the figures under col H (Value). That’s my usage – 0 kWh. I questioned that. The rep went off to enquire and when he returned said there had been a power outage at that time and it would be expected that zero would be shown. Well, that’s possible. Not convinced I rang Essential Energy (the company that supplies power to the electricity retailers). There were no power outages at that time. Caught red-handed.

My attention was drawn to the numbers on the meter. There is a NMI number and Serial Number. The same numbers are on the statement. And as you can see, there is an inconsistency. The guy who fitted the new meter got my meter and my neighbour's meter mixed up.

If I had not shut all the power down during this billing period the issue would never have been noticed. It's going to be investigated, but I gather that doing so will be a protracted process.

---

Good to hear you have got it sorted, well sort of sorted.
Shades of the case I saw on current affair or one of them.

Don't give up on them, keep on their case with a weekly or even daily phone call, they did after all lie to you and you have the proof for the energy ombudsman should you wish to go that way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rambunctious

Don't give up on them, keep on their case with a weekly or even daily phone call, they did after all lie to you and you have the proof for the energy ombudsman should you wish to go that way.

---

They said my account was on hold until fixed - no need to pay just yet. Fine.

The main reason for my recent post was to warn everyone else who has a smart meter. If a mistake was made with mine there's no doubt mistakes have been made with other people's meters, all over Australia. My message was to encourage people to take a look at their own meter and confirm the numbers match the statement.

I don't want to badmouth the company because of one lousy bloke. There were some really helpful people there too. And of course, it wasn't the retailer who stuffed up, it was the company they used to fit the meters.

No doubt the chances are higher for this type of mistake to take place on blocks of units where several meters are being installed at the same time, than on individual houses. But who knows? Maybe the sparky replaces meters on different houses in a street, enters the numbers onto a scrap of paper, and at the end of the day can't read his own handwriting and makes a mistake. Bingo - that house gets the wrong bill.