How can I ascertain if I am paying for someone else's electricity? Help!

[OnlQQker]

 

[Electrics]

My heart bleeds for British Gas.

 

[stevethesparks]

What does the other meter supply (sorry if I have missed something)
Its not just a case of you paying for the wrong meter?

 

[Danielle]

If one of those supplies did everything on that site in the past and is still connected up then yes.

They may not know it, but it is a definite possibility.

is there any way you can think of thast i could unravel this to prove it to be the case, if it was the case

 

[SJD]

is there any way you can think of thast i could unravel this to prove it to be the case, if it was the case

Turn off the expensive supply for a long period, and wait to see if contractors turn up at the adjacent property. You just have to make sure you can power your fridges/freezers and anything else you can't do without while you wait (from the other supply) ... !

 

[Danielle]

What does the other meter supply (sorry if I have missed something)
Its not just a case of you paying for the wrong meter?

no i have 2 meters, one for an annex area that used to be a separate dwelling, a small 2 room area of the house, then another meter, which is for the main part of the house.
i had thought my electric bills were crazy high because when we built we had wanted to pout in air source or ground source straight away. we ran out of money, had to stop the build and our heating and hot water was left on electric (as we'd already taken out the oil provision), our view was to put in air source or groud source asap. i have now finally done this. and the bills have not changed at all, if anything higher...

 

[snowhead]

From one of your earlier posts then, the meter and supply in the Utility, the newer looking one, does all the heating.

The meter and supply in the garage does the rest of the house except heating and is the one causing the high bills?
Can you take a photo or photos of all of the electrical switches and cables around that, including any cables that go into the ground or disappear into the roof space/ ceiling of the garage.

 

[stevethesparks]

Does the Farm shop have its own meter?

 

[Danielle]

Does the farm shop know you have these problems? I'm just thinking about all their freezers going off when the issue is found.

i wish, i tried turning everything off in the house today, and had

From one of your earlier posts then, the meter and supply in the Utility, the newer looking one, does all the heating.

The meter and supply in the garage does the rest of the house except heating and is the one causing the high bills?
Can you take a photo or photos of all of the electrical switches and cables around that, including any cables that go into the ground or disappear into the roof space/ ceiling of the garage.

no, it's the other way round the newer meter is recording £1900 per month bills, but is not doing any heating or hot water, the older meter is much less (£300 p.m) but is now powering all my hot water and heating... it doesn't make sense. i feel like it must still be connected to the farm, or the whole village!

 

[Danielle]

Does the Farm shop have its own meter?

yes, i will ask them what their bills are like...

 

[hasel5]

Utility warehouse rings alarm bells tbh
Change supplier ASAP

 

[hasel5]

Prob got sold a deal buy a rep that was a load of pie in sky

 

[Dannyboybl00]

Where in East Sussex are you? I'm near the Kent/Surrey/East and West Sussex borders. Happy to help.

 

[Danielle]

Utility warehouse rings alarm bells tbh
Change supplier ASAP

what do you mean? if my meter is showing these amounts, wont any company charge me the same or are UW known for this (and i didn't realise)? thanks

 

[Danielle]

Where in East Sussex are you? I'm near the Kent/Surrey/East and West Sussex borders. Happy to help.

Broad oak near heathfield, is this too far?

Did you turn all the power off at both meters at the main switch, or did you turn off everything consuming electricity?

Their lights staying on isn't an indicator that it's not them - if i was going to steal leccy i would do it for the high powered stuff, not the lights.

If they have a loft full of weed or even Bitcoin mining modules it could just be running those.

If you've turned the supply off then anything being stolen which is out of sight such as a drugs farm won't register on the meter. You need to turn off everything you're using and not the actual supply to see if someone is stealing from you supply-side. Turning off the mains is only going to be useful if you can physically see something go off everytime you turn your mains off. To see if it's being nicked from your energised supply you need to disconnect every last piece of electrical equipment and turn off anything like lights etc, all sockets, fans etc and then see if there is still power being used via the meter. You need the line being potentially stolen off to be energised to check if there's something being drawn from it but at the same time need to be certain you're not drawing it yourself.

If nothing is registering it's likely your meter is dodgy and i'd get it replaced asap.

Either way, now is the time to call in a professional. Just google someone in your area, make the call, ask them if they are fully qualified and if they have the Testing and Inspection qualification. If they check out, get them in.

I really appreciate this and you explaining it so thoroughly, thank you .

 

[hasel5]

what do you mean? if my meter is showing these amounts, wont any company charge me the same or are UW known for this (and i didn't realise)? thanks

Have they actually read the meter or are they my estimated bills

 

[7029 dave]

Have they actually read the meter or are they my estimated bills

That is a good point, are you being billed on estimated reads or actual reads.

 

[brianmoooore]

Have they actually read the meter or are they my estimated bills

I once went for a period of around five years on estimated bills on one of my supplies. It turned out that the meter had been replaced without my knowledge, or apparently, the billing departments knowledge, since they rejected all submitted readings because the figures bore no resemblance to what they estimated they should have been. I finally worked out what was happening, at which point they sent me an actual reading - taken from a meter that hadn't been there for years. At this point I stopped being polite.

 

[Danielle]

Have they actually read the meter or are they my estimated bills

read the meter

 

[brianmoooore]

My meter was read, every three months, for years, but I still got estimated bills.
Does it say 'actual' or 'estimated' on the bills?