A faulty electricity meter could be due to a lack of power, intermittent power, or incorrect usage readings. But what should you do?
In this article, we will cover what to check for to find the possible cause, who to alert, and what you should expect when it is being resolved or fixed.
Checking Your Electricity Meter For A Fault
If you are confident and able, it is handy to try to whittle down the root cause to your fault. You can do this by opening your meter box and looking at the LCD screen on your electricity meter.
Check for signs of power and any fault messages or codes.
If your electricity meter has no sign of life, it could be a faulty unit or may even be in a “sleep mode” following a power outage.
Sleep Mode, Power Cuts, and Supply Faults
In sleep mode, the screen on your electricity meter will look blank and like it is powered down or has no power. You can check this by testing your power supply, ensuring you have a working supply, and then pressing a button on your meter to wake up the screen.
If the screen does not wake up after a button has been pressed, but your electricity supply is powering your home, it could be a faulty unit or screen.
If, when you check your power supply, your lights or plugs do not power on, this suggests either a power cut or a faulty supply. You can check online for updates on local outages, or if you wait a couple of minutes to see if it recovers, it may solve the problem. If there are no outages reported and power doesn’t come back, report this to your energy provider.
A supply fault could be caused by either your circuit breaker, meter box, or your local cable network.
Fault Codes and Messages
Most electricity meters are smart, providing you with simple indications of the problem. These could be ‘battery’, ‘call help’. Or simply ‘error’. If you have any of these messages appear, you should contact your local energy supplier.
Other codes could appear as a jumble of numbers, letters, or both. These are specific to the manufacturer of the meter, and your energy provider will be able to send out an engineer who understands and solves these error codes.
False Readings and Bills
In some cases, an electricity meter can have faults leading to incorrect readings and ultimately resulting in unexpectedly high bills. If you believe this to be the case, you should report this to your energy provider and request an engineer to come out to test or replace the system.
Some meters are able to show you live meter readings. This is helpful in diagnosing the problem, as you can turn off the power to a room using your circuit breaker and see if the reading changes accordingly.
Damage Caused By The Elements
If you have an outside electricity meter and your meter box appears worn and weathered, it could be letting in dirt, debris, and, in worst cases, water, leading to problems with the meter itself.
This is why you should always check the condition of your meter box and carry out any repairs on your own property or request a repair on a rented property. Spares and replacement parts can be found on our website, which are also available from our Amazon, eBay, and B&Q stores.
An electricity meter overbox is an ideal upgrade to any external meter box as it provides reliable protection from the weather, UV, and knocks and bangs.
Feel free to contact our team if you have any questions regarding spares, replacement parts, or overboxes.
Conclusion
To conclude this article, a faulty electricity meter can have various causes, with most being diagnosable by simple power tests and checking button presses or the meter readings. In any case, you should always contact your energy provider about any issues you are experiencing.
Always take into consideration the upkeep of any external meter boxes and explore upgrading their protection with an overbox.