update on excessive electricity usage

[Jackie]

Hi all to all who thought my friend and I did not know how to find out how much electricity he was using and were convinced that his electricity usage could more than double without him noticing and all those who could not believe nor notice that I had written that he did not have an immersion heater, electric fire, outdoor heated swimming pool etc. Also the fact that we were too stupid to work out how to turn off electrical appliances and read an electric meter. Also those who were convinced that we could not just have a 120 watt light burning which showed 120 watts on a power monitor and the power monitor was wrong etc and there was no way that his meter was faulty and those who could not understand the concept of a meter that had recorded 77725 units over 30 years that gave an average over that 30 years of 2590 yet in 205 days his consumption was 4150 KW that his meter could not be faulty.

WELL IT IS. When he finally got someone at EDF energy who knew what was going on, unlike the majority of posters in the thread, he was told that his average reading should be 10.4 KW per day not varying from 25 to 28 KW per day and that his meter will be changed and he will be given a refund.

And another thing, all I originally wanted was advice on who to complain to if the matter was not resolved, not a load of cobblers as to how he could be using all that electricity without him using any additional electrical appliances. And yes in Scotland we do have fridges, freezers, radio alarm clocks, central heating, TVs, satellite systems, video recorders, DVD players, gas cookers with electronic clocks, even showers that work with the hot water heated by gas not electric and again it was posted that these were all switched of for one night and his meter still recorded 8 units of electricity

"He has been checking his meter every day and is even using 8 units during the night when nothing is switched on except clocks and a 15watt low energy lamp"

So after all the rubbish that most posters posted that we did not know what we were doing I shall never ask for advice on this newsgroup again

Jackie.

[.]

hahahah, is that a flounce ?

[Geronimo W. Christ Esq]

Please go and play a game of "hide and go f*ck yourself". This newsgroup is not a public service.

[mogga]

Looks like one to me :)

[Paul Andrews]

snip

You will be sorely missed, as will your attitude. The range of people who post here asking for advice range from the clueless to the experts looking for other peoples views. In this case the most likely case was that your friend had missed something - something us mere mortals sometimes do and you were given pretty good advice that was perfectly sound, even if you found it basic and patronising.

I'm glad that you have solved the mystery, but now you have left us with a mystery: why did someone who seems to know how to do everything even bother asking mere mortals for advice in the first place?

I'll ponder over that for a while and wonder why you've taken peoples help as some kind of personal insult, when all it was was people being as helpful as they could given the information that you gave.

Oh well..

[Mary Fisher]

This is the most restrained of the replies, if it were taken to the extreme it would be thought that at least 75% of posters here were offensive chauvinists with a small vocabulary and a large ego.

Mary

[Andy Cap]

Why on earth would you ask such a question on a DIY group if you didn't want a range of opinions.

Couldn't such a competent pair even bother to read the back of the Electricity bill, most of which explain in easily understood English where to make complaints.

Andy

[John]

*Excellent* reply, Paul!

I was flabbergasted by Jackie's bitter and twisted response to what was a standard, very helpful, mix of good advice. It wasn't a stupid question that was asked in the first place, and it didn't receive stupid answers. Never mind: as always, *we* all learned a little bit from all those answers, even if Jackie did not.

We even learned that a meter can be accepted as faulty by an electricity supply company, which was the biggest surprise. (The biggest, after Jackie's summing up, that is.)

John

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"Jackie" typed

I can't blame you, but not some men patronise women almost *everywhere* about anything technical.

I remember requesting a 2.4v, 0.83A bulb (for a bicycle light) at Halfords. Salesdroid did not have one but told me that the 2.4v, 0.7A bulb was EXACTLY THE SAME.

Yeah, right!

[Mary Fisher]

I once called RAC and told the chap that the petrol pump wasn't working. He began testing other circuits first. I repeated that it was the petrol pump. He told me it could be anything and not to interrupt.

Of course it was the petrol pump.

I felt a bit sorry for him but since he preferred me not to say anything I didn't even thank him.

:-)

Mary

[Grunff]

Erm, well...

It's not *exactly* the same, but in this context, in this application, for all intents and purposes it is. By that I mean you just wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two.

What surprises me is that a Halfords employee knew this in the first place.

[Mary Fisher]

Why? Because he was a man?

Mary

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

"Mary Fisher" typed

I wouldn't call that spotty yoof a MAN...

[David Hansen]

On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:52:06 GMT someone who may be Helen Deborah Vecht wrote this:-

I might blame the original poster, if I could be bothered. The word "flounce" was a good one I think.

I assume "note" rather then "not".

Of course some men patronise women, just as some women patronise men and some women patronise women and some men patronise men. A few years ago there were many adverts about how stupid men are and can't relied on to do simple things. Anyone who complained about these was told they didn't have a sense of humour, but had the same adverts been produced with the sexes reversed there would have been a real storm of indignation.

After the meter is replaced I will be interested in a followup.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Hah! you found the telephone number on the back of a billing.

Pity he didn't have the nouse to check his readings once a month in the first place.

Bye!

[Mark]

Ive often wondered why this should be.

Oh now I see........ :)

-

[Michael Chare]

Trouble was you asked the question in uk.d-i-y, an ng such as uk.legal would have been more relevant.

As a consequence you got advice about how to make sure that you were using the energy that you thought you were rather than that recorded by the meter.

I get the impression that it had nor occured to you that you could ask the electricity supplier how to progress a complaint.

[Guy King]

The message from Andy Cap contains these words:

She may be one of these people who think there's one answer to everything and that someone must provide them with it. They're usually in either middle management or media relations.

[Grunff]

It scares me that a) I know exactly what you mean, and b) I can name 6 people exactly like that, without even thinking about it.

[Zoinks]

I want to know exactly how he is going to get a refund. A refund on what exactly? How the hell can anyone know how much he has been overcharged? Sure we have a top limit (i.e all of the electricity ever metered by that meter) but no lower limit (i.e it may have stopped working properly on Thursday).

Z