How to convince my landlord there is something wrong with the electricity meter

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Zellephant

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We recently moved in to a new place, which unfortunately doesn’t have pre-paid electricity. There are multiple units on the property and the landlord reads meters monthly and sends out invoices.

Our previous place was similar in size, and but had an electric stove, where now we thankfully have gas again. Everything else is otherwise basically the same. We used to average around 250-300 units a month.

Last month (first month in the new place) we were a bit shocked when our usage was just over 500units - especially since we are back on a gas stove now. Granted we do use the oven a lot, but we did that at the previous place too - we are foodies.

But I just recieved the bill for October (26sep-26 Oct) and now our usage has jumped to 1051 units per month. I just went and checked the meter, and they definitely didn’t make a typo when doing the reading. That usage is accurate according to the meter. But it’s seriously impossible that two of us can use that much power a month, even if we were being extremely wasteful.

Our fridge, dishwasher and washing machine are all A++ rated power saving appliances. All the lights in the house are LEDs.

Obviously my landlord is expecting me to pay this bill, but R4000 electric a month was not exactly something I budgeted for, and surely this can’t be right….
 
Last edited:
You'll probably need to pay for an electrician to come and check what all is wired to the db board and get him to write a report. If you are not at fault your landlord should then refund the cost.
 
Sensorei said:
You'll probably need to pay for an electrician to come and check what all is wired to the db board and get him to write a report. If you are not at fault your landlord should then refund the cost.
Click to expand...
Should being the operative word.
 
Sensorei said:
You'll probably need to pay for an electrician to come and check what all is wired to the db board and get him to write a report. If you are not at fault your landlord should then refund the cost.
Click to expand...
He needs to check what all is wired to the meter, not just the db board, especially considering there being multiple units on the property.
 
Goodluck. One of the main reason we moved out of the previous place was because it didn't have prepaid and they sent us shock bills like that. I refuse to rent now where there are no prepaid meters.
 
I would guess that the meter is probably okay and you're being charged for the complex lighting or something to that effect.

As mentioned, loadshed yourself and see if the meter still moves or solve by process of elimination if need be.
 
killerbyte said:
turn off everything at the DB and then go to the meter and check electricity is being used.
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Best way to start.

If it’s still trickling at a high rate the answer is right there.

Otherwise my next question would be how hot is the water, if it’s scalding hot then the geyser is turned up too high.
 
Meters tend to not over or under read when broken, they tend to just stop reading. Hence far more likely that you are paying for someone else's power. An energy meter would help in figuring out where the power is going to. Sometimes there is something non obvious like under floor heating somewhere that accidentally got turned on as that can chew serious power.
 
My neighbour does pottery on a semi-commercial scale, and has an electric kiln. My suspicion is I am somehow paying for that. Have electrician coming out later today to investigate.
 
Zellephant said:
We recently moved in to a new place, which unfortunately doesn’t have pre-paid electricity. There are multiple units on the property and the landlord reads meters monthly and sends out invoices.

Our previous place was similar in size, and but had an electric stove, where now we thankfully have gas again. Everything else is otherwise basically the same. We used to average around 250-300 units a month.

Last month (first month in the new place) we were a bit shocked when our usage was just over 500units - especially since we are back on a gas stove now. Granted we do use the oven a lot, but we did that at the previous place too - we are foodies.

But I just recieved the bill for October (26sep-26 Oct) and now our usage has jumped to 1051 units per month. I just went and checked the meter, and they definitely didn’t make a typo when doing the reading. That usage is accurate according to the meter. But it’s seriously impossible that two of us can use that much power a month, even if we were being extremely wasteful.

Our fridge, dishwasher and washing machine are all A++ rated power saving appliances. All the lights in the house are LEDs.

Obviously my landlord is expecting me to pay this bill, but R4000 electric a month was not exactly something I budgeted for, and surely this can’t be right….
Click to expand...
Did you note the meter reading the day when you moved in ?
 
Zellephant said:
My neighbour does pottery on a semi-commercial scale, and has an electric kiln. My suspicion is I am somehow paying for that. Have electrician coming out later today to investigate.
Click to expand...

What was the outcome?
 
Other than someone being tapped into your electrical feed, the most likely reason is the temperature of your new place's geyser (higher).
 
Zellephant said:
My neighbour does pottery on a semi-commercial scale, and has an electric kiln. My suspicion is I am somehow paying for that. Have electrician coming out later today to investigate.
Click to expand...
Did you not turn off your DB and just check if electricity was being used?
 
Zellephant said:
We recently moved in to a new place, which unfortunately doesn’t have pre-paid electricity. There are multiple units on the property and the landlord reads meters monthly and sends out invoices.

Our previous place was similar in size, and but had an electric stove, where now we thankfully have gas again. Everything else is otherwise basically the same. We used to average around 250-300 units a month.

Last month (first month in the new place) we were a bit shocked when our usage was just over 500units - especially since we are back on a gas stove now. Granted we do use the oven a lot, but we did that at the previous place too - we are foodies.

But I just recieved the bill for October (26sep-26 Oct) and now our usage has jumped to 1051 units per month. I just went and checked the meter, and they definitely didn’t make a typo when doing the reading. That usage is accurate according to the meter. But it’s seriously impossible that two of us can use that much power a month, even if we were being extremely wasteful.

Our fridge, dishwasher and washing machine are all A++ rated power saving appliances. All the lights in the house are LEDs.

Obviously my landlord is expecting me to pay this bill, but R4000 electric a month was not exactly something I budgeted for, and surely this can’t be right….
Click to expand...

as said before about the DB:

turn the mains off when you go to work, write down the meter number (house obviously empty unless you're using it as a brothel) so no one is at home. Then when you come back from work at 5-6pm see what the meter numbers are. Don't worry your food in the fridge will be fine.

second to that, there is no way you're using 250 units a month for 2 people showering daily etc, a geyser is around 60% of your electricity usage. Sorry but that's impossible.

other people on this post should say what their electricity usage is and how many people are in the house..
 
Wrath of Khan MD said:
as said before about the DB:

turn the mains off when you go to work, write down the meter number (house obviously empty unless you're using it as a brothel) so no one is at home. Then when you come back from work at 5-6pm see what the meter numbers are. Don't worry your food in the fridge will be fine.

second to that, there is no way you're using 250 units a month for 2 people showering daily etc, a geyser is around 60% of your electricity usage. Sorry but that's impossible.

other people on this post should say what their electricity usage is and how many people are in the house..
Click to expand...
That's like R300 to R350 worth of electricity, it is indeed highly unlikely. And that's using the cheapest unit of power, it will be way less in the larneys.
 
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