Unexpected Meter Reading

Ok. So I am on "Our Power", a startup nonprofit energy company with kinda minimal customer service. (Bare bones, but cheaper than most.)  I've been sending in meter readings every month on the first of the month like clockwork, since my smart meter installed by SSE can't be read by Our Power. (Of course not.) A moment ago someone buzzed the intercom to be let in to read my electric meter. I had no warning anyone was coming, and my first inclination was to say no. But he knew which company I used (which is pretty obscure, really) so I let him in only because the Daughter had not gone out yet. He came in and seemed to take a mobile phone picture of my electric meter showing the numbers, thanked me, and left.

So if the Daughter had not been home I would not have let him in and would have told him he'd have to come back some other time. He was wearing an ID tag, but I couldn't really read it - other than to note that it didn't say anything about "Our Power" obviously on it.  I have no idea if he actually read the meter or if that was just his cover. (The Daughter was standing there in the doorway with me, giving him the stink-eye, so if he was a thief or anything it was pretty obvious he was going to have a hard time of it.) I've sent a kind of stiff note to Our Power about it, but wonder if this kind of thing is common?

That's weird. There are all sorts of schemes here for fraud and casing houses so I hope they get back to you quickly to confirm if it was them. If it wasn't, ring the non emergency number for local police to just notify them. We have things like people pretending to be fish mongers, pretending to sell cleaning products, and just generally a pain walking around and seeing who is home and what's visible. There's an old guy with expensive cars in our lot so I think they get the idea we are all rich when that's pretty far from the truth!

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Until ILR, I was taking a reading every month too but the meter reader still arrives from time to time. They seem to want to see your reading for themselves every so often.

Absolutely normal.  Horribly annoying and off putting - I couldn't agree more.  But it's not sinister and is genuine.

You are well within your right to say it's not a good time and schedule another time for them to return though.

We had our meter read last month, and it was unannounced. At least I only had to let him into the outside garage. They have been pressing us for nearly a year to install a smart meter but I will not let them until they start installing the 2nd generation meters because 1st generation meters are notoriously incompatible with other power companies.

I understand how surprised and angry you must be that they pretended to install a smart meter but actually installed one that is dumb as a post for reasons of sheer incompetence. 

I don't care much about the smart meter - I do like that it tells me how much I'm using at any given time. But it is otherwise pretty dumb, yeah.

Surprisingly, the overhead lights in the kitchen turn the meter light "red", the same as a burner on the hob does. (I think they may be halogen - have to see if I can get LED replacements.) And it tells me at the end of the day how much I've used. So I can plug that into my Excel spreadsheet and calculate what I'm spending per day and per month. Looks like about 1.42 to 1.50 per day, but I've been running the hob several hours every day canning chicken and brisket-in-ale (etc.) for the winter. And it's been too rainy to hang laundry out to dry, so the dryer's been on for stuff like towels and jeans.

I'm just not keen on people showing up unannounced. So yeah, if they show up to read the gas meter and the Daughter isn't home, they're going to have to come back. I'm not letting anyone in the building or my home that I'm not expecting. The next building over had someone get in and try to get into one of the flats. (Apparently they were not able to do so.) The only way you can get in these buildings is if someone leaves the door open, buzzes you in, or you come in when it's opened for someone else. So I'm not going to be the person who lets 'em in.

Did you hear about the guy a few years back who used his spreadsheet to prove that a major electricity supplier was rounding up in a naughty way?  They had to refund all of their customers and it cost them a fortune.

noo, I did not. Tsk Tsk on them!

I work in utilities and annoying as it can be ( we had a guy at our front door at 8 am today asking about our electric meter ) it is 100% normal.

Most meters, water, gas, electricity are read twice a year...maybe quarterly.  The company we contract our goes out in post codes and they will not arrange appointments unless it is a secure facility. I guess it just costs extra money to do so, but you can call and arrange an adhoc read.

Otherwise your just constantly billed on estimates and then have a huge catch up bill when an actual is taken, unless your a good customer like yourself who sends in reads monthly:)




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Interestingly, the same meter reader showed up unannounced last week. But again he only read the electric meter. Nobody has read the gas meter. I do send in the readings on the first of every month, but... eh???

Does anyone know why meters are inside homes instead of outside so it’s accessible for them without having to rely on people being home...is it a weather thing? I found this strange and inconvenient...we keep a strange schedule and seem to miss everything during the day.

Does anyone know why meters are inside homes instead of outside so it’s accessible for them without having to rely on people being home...is it a weather thing? I found this strange and inconvenient...we keep a strange schedule and seem to miss everything during the day.

I had always assumed it was to protect them from frost,  but I have never lived in a very cold climate like northern US States. Are meters outside of homes where very cold temperatures are common?

I had always assumed it was to protect them from frost,  but I have never lived in a very cold climate like northern US States. Are meters outside of homes where very cold temperatures are common?

Yeah they are, my last house in Buffalo both electric and water were outdoor so it's not the frost protection. My gas meter was in the basement but that was due to where the line ran into the house vs weather. I lived many places with both outside.

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