Finally Got My Proof On Utility Meters.

K2

For a number of reasons I keep about 8 residential property utility bills in my name. Over the years I would often shake my head when the bills came in and think " this meter or that meter is up". But I never really investigated anything.

So now I have a unit running 1 or 2 kw a day since January. Same 3 guys living there for over 8 years, no one has been out of town. Up untill January the average daily use was 20 to 30 kw. The unit is part of a 4-plex. Each of the other units have and are still running 20 to 30 kw a day.

I have to think the meter is not spinning right and I thought the Utility dept would have figured it out by now. I don't feel any need to tell them because it is not money into my pocket and figure it is just part of some meters spin fast and some slow. I don't think the guys that live there even notice that the bill is lower than last year.

Any thoughts or experiences with fast or slow meters.

Rich Turley

I'd be a little worried about it as my experience is that if the utility co. discovers a problem they will present you with a fat bill, even if they screwed up! They will argue that the electicity was delivered and used, so you must pay up. It's your name on the bill so they will come after you, not the tennents. Good luck getting money out of them.

Had a friend go through the same thing on a house rental over a couble of years. They didn't even see the bills, but when it came time to pay the piper it was over two thousand dollars. The tennants said adios when asked to pay.

You know who got stuck.

Rich

Big E

Agreed that you will probably get a very large bill. In the DC area, I was for a while getting my natural gas generated by Pepco and distributed by Washington Gas, all of it on a bill from Washington Gas. At the same time, I was also doing the budget-billing thing, where your bill is roughly the same every month, usually about $70.

Then, when the agreement or whatever w/ Pepco ended , I got a bill for $1100. Turns out Wash. Gas did "a poor job" of estimating the yearly bill, so they underbilled me for something like 3-4 years. Yes, they got a lot of irate calls during that time. Even made it on the local news one night (which is quite a bit harder in DC than in just about any town outside the Beltway). What was bizarre is that, when I saw the news report, the Gas spokesman said it only affected a small number of customers. WTF?? Aren't you using computers to do this? I don't know how they screwed that up. Woman on the news report got a bill of like $3500.

Their only concession was to give you like 4 months to pay it w/o any fees. Gee, thanks.

Teetorbilt

I used to work for Duke Power. Major discrepencies in readings were always reported to the HO.

Meters are notoriously accurate. Not to say that you can't get a bad one, everything fails. Have they converted one room into a 'grow room'? It's really popular here, now.

I used to be a property manager (sideline) and one of my brothers was a light slumlord. You need to discover the problem.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

K2

I'm not too worried about about being backcharged if they were willing to sit down and explain how this could have happened and how they can come up with a reasonable estimate of what the charges could be. All our utilities are city owned and I think they would rather eat a couple of hundred kilowatts than embarrass themselves.

I'm still working with them on a gas meter reading on a commercial property. The meter has been off for four years but changed out two years ago so the new meter reads all zero's. Two months ago I got a bill with a reading of 40 cubic ft. The meter still reads zero. I know the readers have a little contest to see who can back to the office first so they get a little creative in their readings. So it is fun to hear the supervisors explaination of this 40 cu. ft.


But my point was the possibility that a meter could run slow of fast. I've always suspected that the electric meter on my own house is fast. I think I'm going to just request a changeout.

Teetorbilt

Rob, I have been through the testing facilities for everything except gas. Nobody wants to get raked over the coals for screwing a cust. more than the entity that is suppling the meter. They have to go out tested and perfect.

Do you have any idea of what the costs would be for an inaccurate measurement? I have seen it once,

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

K2

Well Teetor the meter reads what if reads and there are 3 people living there with an electric range and dryer that I know are getting used. 1 to 2 kw can't be. I have to think it is the meter. The possibility that the guys are bootlegging off another unit is not a possibility at all.

I'll probably know soon enough. The little graph that come with the bill actually shows zero for 6 months. I would have to think their computer would through that out with a red flag. I'll call them if it goes on for another month or two. RT

Teetorbilt

Rob, I'd jump on it tomorrow, before it gets out of hand. One seldom knows what is going on until they get the $3K bill. THEN they investigate. Guess who pays?

Recourse, very little if you're under $12K.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

Sparky Joe

My dad's a meter engineer for the local utility, and this sort of thing happens all the time, and trust me you will be backcharged. I imagine you have one of the old analog meters, which falls under the old addage of 'if it moves, it breaks'. Even the new digital ones will become faulty.

My advice, get them out there right away, it's free for you and besides what do you care if your tenents are getting free power?

mdshunk

If it were my meter at my house reading way low like that....

I'd unplug the meter, smash that S.O.B on the cement, and call in a vandalism report. This is actually a common type of vandalism that would be completely believable.

No way to prove that a meter that is smashed to bits was ever reading low.

CE1

They own the meter and it’s their problem if it's wrong, not yours.

K2

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K2

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Eric K

Could be growing ganja like teeter said

72chevy4x4

I don't think they are growing anything if I understand correctly, they are using a very small amount of energy versus a very large amount.

I remember hearing a story of a guy who would put a magnet around the meter and the meter wouldn't move or move backwards...no way of knowing if this were true or not.

mdshunk

Well, I've torn apart a great many styles of meters, and I can tell that a magnet would do nothing to effect a modern kilowatt hour meter. For one thing, they are constructed with all nonferrous metals (aluminium, brass, and copper). There are other things you can do, but magnets are unhelpful in that cause. I'm thinking of writing a short manual and selling it on eBay. I bet they'd sell like hotcakes.

d.janvrin

True Story ( Good friend of mine Electrican His customer)
Ele Co. Came To Check Meter out side of Mobil home. Everything ck OK Until Service tech dropped screwdriver. Screw driver stuck to side of Meter feed pipe (Gal Steel) Could not PRY it off.
Tennant was away (Florida on vac) Took a court order and local firedept to enter MH . Tech Found a Monster electro Mgnet hook in insde ele panel . also took a court order to get power back to MH .
power co. disconnected at street. fire dept was later sued for entrance. as all pipes, food, water heater, etc were busted from freezing water.

Sound Possible ????? Happened apx 7 years ago NH..
Did make front Page local news

Bkessler

I once did a service change about 12 years ago in michigan where i used the meter from the interuptable a.c. to replace an old stlyle meter that would'nt fit in the new meter can, It was fall so I told them (friend of the family) to call edison and get a new meter. ANd they did and put it in the ac meter can. You can probably guess that the numbers did'nt exactly add up. It took them almost a year to straighten out there 1800 dollar bill. OOps. go wings and tigers!