Power ICP and Meter S/N mismatch

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baabits

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#312585 29-Apr-2024 16:07

We moved in to a new property a few months ago and have found our power bills have cut in half since moving- from ~$400 a month to ~$180. Was really confused over it as we have moved our turtles outside in to a heated pond and should be using a lot more power now.

We're with Genesis on their EVerywhere plan. In order to participate they are supposed to come and convert our meter to day and night. The guy has been out here three times and today finally discovered that the ICP and Meter Serials don't match the information with the Electricity Authority. He got me to show him one of my bills, and showed that while the ICP Number was correct, the Meter Serial on the bill didn't match the one that is in the box. Bill one ends in 5478 where as the one in our power box ends in 3564.

Where we live is a bunch of 21 town houses in Christchurch. So we went to a couple of neighbours homes and checked their meter serials against the website and they were all wrong too.

I'm worried that we are paying for someone else's cheaper bill while they are paying for our more expensive one. Is this what could be happening? Power company has been a bit hush hush about it, they called back and said it would need to be investigated but didn't go in to too much detail. Any experts here?

Cheers

wellygary

8315 posts

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#3224222 29-Apr-2024 16:18

"I'm worried that we are paying for someone else's cheaper bill while they are paying for our more expensive one."

This is highly likely exactly what is happening...

Given its a bunch of similar townhouses its possible that no one really noticed as they have the same floor space and identical construction, so its likely the number of occupants and power use is relatively similar.

This could get quite messy of they need to rematch a bunch of meters and customers.

PolicyGuy

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#3224251 29-Apr-2024 17:44

I'm a long time out of the industry, but I wonder how the meter installer managed to make such a major cockup. It will be a nightmare to clear this up. Almost certainly different residents will have chosen different retailers, so there will be multiple retailers and multiple customers who have all been billed for each others consumption since the first day.

I think the easiest way would be to remove all the existing meters and replace them with new ones, so that at least from that time onward each ICP will have the right meter number. What a shambles!

baabits

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#3224255 29-Apr-2024 18:08

From what we've been able to find out, the Unit numbers were changed after consent, but no one seems to have been updated.

So on the consent plan the unit layout is:

11 - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5

21 - 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12

But somewhere along the way they changed the unit layout to:

20 - 18 - 16 - 14 - 12 - 10

21 - 19 - 17 - 15 - 13 - 11 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5

My partner pulled the current consent documents at her work and found they were still the old layout.

We had a similar issue when we moved our internet here- the fibre box in the database for our address was wrong and didn't get internet activated until I sent them a picture of the correct serial.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3224262 29-Apr-2024 18:47

Classic renumbering issues. Happens for everything you can imagine. School classrooms get it too; I think my record is four different numbers still mounted on one classroom.

insane

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#3224349 29-Apr-2024 21:44

PolicyGuy:
...I think the easiest way would be to remove all the existing meters and replace them with new ones, so that at least from that time onward each ICP will have the right meter number. What a shambles!

Or force all residents to move into their correct numbered house :P

To the OP, good on you for thinking about someone else potentially paying your larger than average power bill!

Hsagha

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#3224362 29-Apr-2024 23:55

Hi,

I’ve recently moved into a new townhouse as well and we’re still with Contact and on the same plan as before. Our bills have doubled since moving in. Thats strange since none of our usage patterns have changed and even on days in which we’re out of home all day, the usage shows as 30+kwh per day.

I talked to contact about it and they confused me with ‘This meter was registered with unit 7 however we have corrected this at our end and the bill you see now will be for your meter’

However the bill still hasn’t gone down. How do I confirm from my ICP number in my bill that the right meter is being billed? Can I extract any meter information from my ICP number? Will appreciate the help guys

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3224364 30-Apr-2024 00:07

There should be a sticker in your meterbox with an ICP number. This should match the number on the bill.

The bill may or may not have a meter serial, start reading, and final reading. If it does, you should be able to compare those with the actual values. If not, ask for them.

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Hsagha

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#3224365 30-Apr-2024 00:13

Yup I just checked. There was a sticker and it matches the one on the bill. Thank you for the help. Well that voids my theory.

Could there be a possibility that the meter serial number which I am guessing is tied to the physical meter itself (gives me more confidence that this is the actual meter I am paying for) would be tied to a different ICP number?

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3224368 30-Apr-2024 00:36

I'm not going to say it's impossible, but it's pretty unlikely.

You can note down the number on billing day, then note it down the next billing day and calculate the difference. That's the amount of power you should be billed for that month.

baabits

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#3224376 30-Apr-2024 04:21

Hsagha: Hi,

I’ve recently moved into a new townhouse as well and we’re still with Contact and on the same plan as before. Our bills have doubled since moving in. Thats strange since none of our usage patterns have changed and even on days in which we’re out of home all day, the usage shows as 30+kwh per day.

I talked to contact about it and they confused me with ‘This meter was registered with unit 7 however we have corrected this at our end and the bill you see now will be for your meter’

However the bill still hasn’t gone down. How do I confirm from my ICP number in my bill that the right meter is being billed? Can I extract any meter information from my ICP number? Will appreciate the help guys

You can type in the ICP number on https://www.ea.govt.nz/your-power/your-meter/address/ and then when it brings up the info, click the Show All Details button or something similar and compare the meter serials there.

Good luck!

cddt

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#3224462 30-Apr-2024 08:41

Hsagha: Hi,

Thats strange since none of our usage patterns have changed and even on days in which we’re out of home all day, the usage shows as 30+kwh per day.

Check for a leak from your hot water cylinder?

30 kWh / day is high even if you're at home all day, especially in a townhouse. It's nuts if you're out most of the day.

I would be getting an electrician to take a look.

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

PolicyGuy

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#3224479 30-Apr-2024 09:00

cddt:

Hsagha: Hi,

Thats strange since none of our usage patterns have changed and even on days in which we’re out of home all day, the usage shows as 30+kwh per day.

Check for a leak from your hot water cylinder?

This.
When I worked for an electricity company, a hot water leak was the #1 explanation for unexpectedly high power bills