Electric meter has been broken the last week

[Hobby_Man22]

The power company called this morning and they said my fancy electric meter has been broken the last week or so and they were trying to find my house to replace it. Makes me wonder how they will calculate the bill. I left the heater on in the shop the whole week to see what the bill would do not knowing the meter broke. Lol

Do they usually just guess what it would normally be in a case like this?

 

[The Cobbler]

maybe the extra usage has triggered the "meter broken" message

 

[mike93lx]

They will either not charge you or they'll estimate it based on normal usage. For a few days, my guess is no bill for that time period

 

[nadogail]

They will do as they please and if you don’t like it you can protest, for all the good that it will do you.

 

[FredWanaker]

it is possible that the heater being left on made the meter spin so fast that they think it is broken. A 1500 watt hairdryer is what the electric company here uses to simulate a load on a home electrical system.

 

[FredWanaker]

In fact 1500 watts x 24 hours x 7 days is like 250 kilowatt hours I think, or 1000 a month. On an average winter month we use about 480 kWh here a month so I can see where the electric company might think a 100% increase would be a fluke.

 

[Showkey]

Broken might not mean its unable to measure the power used…….it can mean it’s unable to transmit the data to the home base.

 

[Viper98912]

Yup, could be that it's just not transmitting but still recording

Or if it is broken, they will either not charge you and just set you to the last known number (or stop it there and start at zero), or they will use an average of your last few months, or average of a few months during the same time period a year ago.

I once moved into a house that had a broken gas meter. I didn't know the difference (I was a first time homeowner), but the gas bill would always come in at usage of 0, 1, or -1. It was strange. So I never got charged for gas, I would just pay the monthly service fee.

About 18 months later, I got a notice that they'd be coming out to change the meter and would need to check the appliances inside the house. They had finally figured out that the meter was broken after so many months, and I had finally now realized that I had a broken meter (because I didn't know any better on the subject as a new homeowner).

They didn't backcharge me anything (probably because I had no history so they had no idea what to charge me?). Or maybe it was just their standard policy?

 

[robin1731]

I'm trying to figure out, they have your phone number, they know your meter is "broken", so they must have your address. How can they not find your house?

 

[gmcgeo]

Probably a new technician that moved to the area and just started working for them. plus many places can be hard to locate if you live out in the boonies

 

[Viper98912]

Probably a new technician that moved to the area and just started working for them. plus many places can be hard to locate if you live out in the boonies

It's fairly simple.

You go down about 1 and half miles, make a right at the Johnson's house, then make two lefts and the next right, then you go past Billy's farm, make two more rights, go down about another 3 blocks, make a left at Bobby's old smoke shack, then you're almost there, you just need to make two more rights and once you pass Sal's, you're there.

 

[gmcgeo]

It's fairly simple.

You go down about 1 and half miles, make a right at the Johnson's house, then make two lefts and the next right, then you go past Billy's farm, make two more rights, go down about another 3 blocks, make a left at Bobby's old smoke shack, then you're almost there, you just need to make two more rights and once you pass Sal's, you're there.

you may have forgotten the red barn after making the U turn just past the oak tree

 

[bbbarracuda]

The power company called this morning and they said my fancy electric meter has been broken the last week or so and they were trying to find my house to replace it. Makes me wonder how they will calculate the bill. I left the heater on in the shop the whole week to see what the bill would do not knowing the meter broke. Lol

Do they usually just guess what it would normally be in a case like this?

If it's truly "broken" they usually will estimate off of past usage.
But if there has been a sudden spike in use because of your having the heat on 24/7 that they flagged as "broken" they will figure that out.
Before they get there, turn off the heat, and play dumb when they ask if you were doing anything unusual.

 

[41plym]

Why not just tell them where it's located so they can repair it.
Life's not free.
No criticism intended, just my opinion.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

I'm trying to figure out, they have your phone number, they know your meter is "broken", so they must have your address. How can they not find your house?

The road is confusing and the address isn't really out front. Somehow I like that nobody can ever find me. Lol

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Why not just tell them where it's located so they can repair it.
Life's not free.
No criticism intended, just my opinion.

Who said I never told the tech where the house and meter was? They indeed replaced the meter. The tech said these digital meters can die in a month or they last 10 years. Usually they just change it out without saying anything. Only reason I got a call was because he wasn't sure which house it was.

 

[rustrunner]

Are you sure it's the power company that wants your address and not someone else?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Are you sure it's the power company that wants your address and not someone else?

Where do you guys come up with this stuff? The tech called me when he was on my street looking for the house.

 

[gmcgeo]

Where do you guys come up with this stuff? The tech called me when he was on my street looking for the house.

i hear the amish are looking to tap into the electrical feeds... you sure he wasn't amish? amish mafia is a thing you know

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Are you sure it's the power company that wants your address and not someone else?

I swear I've seen the grinch on my street a time or two. You can't mistake the little brown dog.

 

[PoorUB]

you may have forgotten the red barn after making the U turn just past the oak tree

Where the red barn used to be.

 

[gmcgeo]

speaking about Amish, i live in the boonies Amish all around..... there is a p1 McLaren green, limo tinted that every Saturday flys by my house..... im telling you its the Amish. no one around for 40 miles.... i know most of everyone here and i have yet to find out who owns this thing
sorry didn't mean to jack the thread

 

[TractorJeff]

Not to derail a thread BUT!
For many years the road went straight towards the front door of a ********* colored barn, at 50 feet, the road curved around it. This was also a Tee intersection where you turned left to go up the valley. Most directions were "drive 8 miles or so out of town, go past the General store, past the Church, then make a left turn at the Tee in the road at the big Barn,"
LOL!
Anyways as far as the meter, I too would turn off the Heater and play dumb. Sorry, but that's the way I am!

 

[FordTruckWench]

You go down about 1 and half miles, make a right at the Johnson's house, then make two lefts and the next right, then you go past Billy's farm, make two more rights, go down about another 3 blocks, make a left at Bobby's old smoke shack, then you're almost there, you just need to make two more rights and once you pass Sal's, you're there.

But doesn't that gets you to the house? To get to the meter, you have to go back to Bobby's and go the other way, i.e. turn right. When you get to the old railroad roadbed, unload your ATV, and take the trail to the left. Just before the rusting steel through truss bridge, there's a power pole with a service feed coming off of it. That wire leads to the meter in middle of a blackberry patch.

(Back to the real world - there's a house on my street for which the gas meter is a 3/4 mile drive away on a different street, though it is only 200 feet away as the gopher digs. You can't see the house from the meter and vice versa.)

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Not to derail a thread BUT!
For many years the road went straight towards the front door of a ********* colored barn, at 50 feet, the road curved around it. This was also a Tee intersection where you turned left to go up the valley. Most directions were "drive 8 miles or so out of town, go past the General store, past the Church, then make a left turn at the Tee in the road at the big Barn,"
LOL!
Anyways as far as the meter, I too would turn off the Heater and play dumb. Sorry, but that's the way I am!

The heater is off. It's supposed to be 80 for the next couple weeks. So you're saying keep it off so usage goes to normal and they think it fixed the problem, it's just a heat pump, so i don't doubt it added much to the bill. 20 bucks?

 

[FMB4]

Who said I never told the tech where the house and meter was? They indeed replaced the meter. The tech said these digital meters can die in a month or they last 10 years. Usually they just change it out without saying anything. Only reason I got a call was because he wasn't sure which house it was.

So why are you posting this?

 

[Innovate1]

I lived in an old house many years ago and the mechanical meter stopped turning - think it was just worn out. The usage was zero for a couple months before they replaced the meter. Not sure but as I recall they didn't go back and estimate usage.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

So why are you posting this?

If you would read the question it was about whether or not I would be charged for the week the meter wasn't working, not about if the tech found my house.

 

[Git]

Electricity is so expensive in California - I have a $30 device that reads the meter in real time using wifi and an app on my phone so I can see where we stand each month!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084T6HGNR/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Dave Carney]

Same thing happened to me. I called and reported that it was suddenly working only here and there, they told me not to worry about it for a few days, that they would watch it on their end. It did not heal itself of course, so it took them another week to get out there. They wasted about 11 days. It was in the heat of summer. They put about 100 kilowatt hours on the new meter and called it good on the billing. I think I saved about $100 between the 11 days and the days that it did not work prior to that.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

If you would read the question it was about whether or not I would be charged for the week the meter wasn't working, not about if the tech found my house.

In Indiana you would be charged. Assuming Texas is similar, the state writes up an administrative code that guides utilities on what they must do, what they can do, and what they can't do. Then, the utility files a tariff with the state, which they must sign off on, that describes in more detail what charges will apply to customers and how certain issues will be handled.

So, specifically to meter failures, under Indiana Code, a utility can go back up to one year to correct for a misreading or stopped meter. Regardless, a customer can always complain to the state utility commission if they feel the issue was not handled properly or unprofessionally. In some cases the estimated bill will be reduced by the PUC.

In the OP's case, it may well be that the meter is still working it just won't communicate back to the utility. In other words, the guy in the truck may be able to read it just fine, but the remote read back at the billing office may have quit.

I agree with the previous poster that suggests a new load on the meter may have caused a high-bill warning to trip in the electric company's system that has flagged your meter for a manual read and check. That happens all the time.

What we notice regarding customer meter locations is that the old guys that used to read meters by hand still know where every customer is....but the new guys that have come on since automated reading began (12 years ago where I work) don't have a clue.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

It looks new so they suspected something was wrong. The entire box looks new too, so not sure if they just put a new meter in or replaced the entire box and meter.

 

[Showkey]

It looks new so they suspected something was wrong. The entire box looks new too, so not sure if they just put a new meter in or replaced the entire box and meter.

The meter box is often owned and maintained by the home owner. It depends on location( of the home) , style of the box and location of the breaker box.

 

[malibu101]

The facility I work at has residential properties that are totally vacant for 3 months a year.
We often get correspondence from the electric utility that they are coming to replace the meter as it is defective.
There is no stopping them and when the guy gets here he is told and sees why there was no usage. He says yeah not uncommon and replaces the meter. We laugh and say see ya next year.

 

[csp]

If you would read the question it was about whether or not I would be charged for the week the meter wasn't working, not about if the tech found my house.

Because every random person you don't know in this site is aware of how your power company charges?

Have you ever considered asking the actual source?

 

[gmcgeo]

Because every random person you don't know in this site is aware of how your power company charges?

Have you ever considered asking the actual source?

i really doubt the source knows, it is 2021.... they can blame it on covid i enjoyed this thread

 

[Hot shot]

Yal missed 1 turn
After u turn at the big red barn go about a 1/4 mile and turn left right where the 2 crows are sitting on the power line!! Lol. For some reason I miss that turn a lot!!

 

[gmcgeo]

Yal missed 1 turn
After u turn at the big red barn go about a 1/4 mile and turn left right where the 2 crows are sitting on the power line!! Lol. For some reason I miss that turn a lot!!

there is only one crow there now, ill let you figure out why

 

[nadogail]

Did you add the turn “Where the yellow house used to be”?

 

[Hot shot]

He flew away to chase after a hawk lol