Increased energy useage

[meternerd]

Those that were non-functional; was it because the board connector came loose? Possibly from movement in transit?

No...connectors were rarely the problem. Most often, the communication module quit transmitting, causing a missed read. We did have a bunch of GE meters that would fail by a blank display and no transmission. Turned out to be a defective capacitor installed at manufacture. Repaired at factory expense.

 

[meternerd]

At my personal house we took a lightning strike that knocked out my dishwasher, microwave and numerous other circuit boards. From that point on my meter read about 30% high. It was a mechanical meter. Poco came out and did not want to believe it but after some persuasion agreed to test meter and found it reading high. They credited me $900 for 3 months of high readings.

Good for you and good that the POCO was willing to credit your account. I suppose anything could happen, but I can only go by my experience. None that I tested for "high bill complaint" ever tested fast. Usually tested right on or slightly slow. We always put in a new meter anyway, just to make the customer happy (didn't always work, though). Kept the test records on file and kept the questionable meter in the warehouse in case the customer wanted to see the test results. Nobody did in the years I was the lead tech. The new meter showed similar usage as the old one.

If we had a "dead meter" we estimated the bill for the month, based on previous history. Almost all of our high bill issues were a misread or a billing error, and not the meter. The rest were a problem with the customer load, such as a water heater, well pump, etc. Verified by a current reading on each panel breaker or a Kwh recorder.

Funny thing, though. I only had a couple of customers call in and complain about too small of a bill. Those that did call were afraid they'd be back-billed for more money. We had one guy who tried to refuse to pay his bill after we discovered a billing error because the meter was a CT service and the billing dept. failed to apply the X40 multiplier for the CT's. He knew his bill was a fraction of what his neighbor paid, but he never "complained".......funny thing! He did have to pay for three months, but that was all we were allowed to back charge. Most folks here are honest, though. I had very few "irate customers".

 

[strawburner]

Good for you and good that the POCO was honest enough to credit your account. I suppose anything could happen, but I can only go by my experience. None that I tested for "high bill complaint" ever tested fast. Usually tested right on or slightly slow. We always put in a new meter anyway, just to make the customer happy (didn't always work, though). Kept the test records on file and kept the questionable meter in the warehouse in case the customer wanted to see the test results. Nobody did in the years I was the lead tech. The new meter showed the same usage as the old one.

If we had a "dead meter" we estimated the bill for the month, based on previous history. Almost all of our high bill issues were a misread or a billing error, and not the meter. The rest were a problem with the customer load, such as a water heater, well pump, etc. Verified by a current reading on each panel breaker or a Kwh recorder.

Ya I realize unusual, the lighting strike also ruined the service disconnect breaker under the meter.

 

[strawburner]

Good for you and good that the POCO was honest enough to credit your account. I suppose anything could happen, but I can only go by my experience. None that I tested for "high bill complaint" ever tested fast. Usually tested right on or slightly slow. We always put in a new meter anyway, just to make the customer happy (didn't always work, though). Kept the test records on file and kept the questionable meter in the warehouse in case the customer wanted to see the test results. Nobody did in the years I was the lead tech. The new meter showed the same usage as the old one.

If we had a "dead meter" we estimated the bill for the month, based on previous history. Almost all of our high bill issues were a misread or a billing error, and not the meter. The rest were a problem with the customer load, such as a water heater, well pump, etc. Verified by a current reading on each panel breaker or a Kwh recorder.

Yes I realize unusual, the lighting strike also ruined the service disconnect breaker under the meter.