Weekly electricity consumption has been fairly constant over the year and a bit that I've lived in my house in Blackpool [say 30KwH per week], so imagine my surprise and consternation when in September it quadrupled for no obvious reason - my pattern of usage had not changed.
I contacted The Mighty Provider and said I thought my meter was malfunctioning. I was told this hardly ever happens, but for a fee of £90 I could have a check-meter fitted. After assuring myself that the neighbours weren't tapping into my mains supply (!) I acquired an over-the-counter proprietary clip-on meter to monitor the usage myself. I had hours of fun firing up one appliance at a time, searching for what the rogue consumer of all those extra kilowatt hours could be.
This exercise yielded nothing unusual, so when I went away for a long week-end I turned off all power at the main fuse-box. Imagine my surprise on returning to find I'd consumed 30KwH in my absence with absolutely nothing switched on! The Mighty Provider conceded I might have a problem and asked me to file an official complaint, which I was happy to do, whereupon he agreed to install a correctly calibrated check-meter free of charge to run in parallel with my own meter for two weeks.
The results? Firstly, my own meter is incrementing at over three times the check-meter rate [320% of actual usage]. Secondly, according to the check-meter my weekly electricity usage is closer to 20KwH per week - so I may have been over-metered by 50% for over a year! The Mighty Provider is arranging for a replacement meter to be fitted.
You can be sure I'll attach the proprietary clip-on meter to double-check its accuracy. It might take ae-ons to negotiate a refund from The Mighty Provider. I guess it depends if he cares whether I switch to another supplier or not.
This week's poem has absolutely nothing to do with my sorry tale of electrickery...
Kind Words For The Clueless
Enjoy the crosslights,
but don't worry
overmuch
about the blanks -
for it is a mistake
to try and force
inelegant solutions
out of
this indecipherable anagram
of life!
Thanks for reading ;-) Have a good week. S
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