Electric meter problem

Speedy Petey

There is NOTHING you can fix, adjust, alter, change or otherwise physically do with this meter.

Call your power company. Period.
They will most likely replace it with a digital one.

hel1011

thank you for your responses. The main problem is that it was my first month living in my apartment when this "jump" in reading seemed to happen. In 21 days my reading went from 18098 to 19970 which basically means i was using 90 kwh per day for a 990sq ft 2 bedroom apartment (This is a rediculious amount) the problem is trying to explain to customer service the error that caused the problem in reporting. Hopefully if they send out the reader he will understand what I am saying about the calibration. It is difficult because if they simply test if its reading the correct kwh being used then it will say that it is calibrated correctly(the rate at which the disk is spinning is correct for the amount of kwh i am using). However there is clearly something wrong with the overall reading if you look at how the second and third dial are working together.

AllanJ

That meter definitely has a defect that leads to reading interpretation problems and the electric company should not have the privilege of interpreting it low when you move in and interpreting it high when you move out.

So far there appears to be no fast/slow calibration problem and no problem with disk spinning speeds and that subject need not be discussed with the electric company. There is no need to perform tests on the meter. Just the photograph you have or a similar photograph is all the information needed to show the problem with the meter.

Still I think you should be able to go back to the electric company and get the first month's bill re-adjusted. The erroneous position of the meter pointer was the same then as it is now. The huge electrical consumption for just one month as reported then is "more probably due to" (better explained by) a meter misread as opposed to actual consumption or a fast or slow meter.

ONce the meter is replaced, there will be no more evidence that there was a problem, besides the picture you took. I would be tempted to not have the meter replaced for another month or two so that additional photographs could be taken close to meter read dates. What you would like to get is a photograph with the second pointer exactly between numbers.

OT: Another reason for a big first month electric bill is being charged for usage after the previous tenant moved out and before you moved in, which is also a no-no on the part of the electric company.

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a7ecorsair

What date did you move in? Do you know for certain when the meter was actually read?
What day did you take the picture of the meter?
There is definitely a problem reading this because you cannot tell for certain the second digit.
Since the middle dial is on 4 the second dial should be 4/10th past either 9 or 0. In the picture the second dial is on or very near 0 so how would you know if it should be read as a zero or a 9? It is ambiguous.
In reading these style meters, you would look to the right to make a determination. In this case, the second digit is a zero because the third dial is past its zero.

hel1011

1. I moved in the 8.18.10 the meter was read at that time to be 18098. Then the reading for the billing period was done on 9.08.10 and it was read to be 19970.
2. I took the picture of the meter yesterday 9.20.10. And the reading on the picture is either 20428 (which would make more sense based on last billed reading) or 19428 which is LESS than the billed reading from 13 days ago. Problem is the meter is reading 19428 because the second dial is not all the way past 0 yet. However in a few days it will be past the 0 and it will read something around 25000. This is the problem. Even though I called my provider and they corrected the billed reading, if the meter is not replaced than my next bill will also be off the charts.

AllanJ

No I don't think it will go up to 25000 that soon. Maybe 21000.

Here is what I think the meter looked like at the times you described:

Attached Images

 

__________________
The disadvantages of crab apple trees. In summer, the apples are too sour to pick and eat. In winter the birds come and leave dropping all over the place.

hel1011

Sorry I meant 20500 not 25000 but still that will create substantial problems on my bill once again