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Energy readings - strangely strange

BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
in The potting shed
A few weeks back we had a smart meter installed and recently I was checking our day by day consumption on the Scottish Power website. For those who use Scottish Power, bring up your account, click on the page that allows you to compare current usage with past years and on that page there is an option to download your recent daily usage.

Here’s the thing: for multiple days in the past month my electricity costs were the same down to a tenth of a penny. Likewise for gas, on four days my gas consumption was £5.21356034 so that was the same down to a millionth of a penny. Small clusters of other days also had identical readings.

Has anyone had the same experience? Can anyone offer an explanation? I have asked Scottish Power who are on the case, but slowly.
Rutland, England
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    How often does your smart meter send readings? Apparently they can vary depending on how they’re set up.   Perhaps your daily readings are an average of a weekly reading or something  that? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I think the readings are transmitted every 30 minutes. Here is a selection of my electricity consumption in £s. It’s all very odd.


    Rutland, England
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    🤷‍♀️ 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    Life's too short. I just pay my monthly bill. 
    Sunny Dundee
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Is it the background cost of things that run all the time, like freezer, fridge, put the kettle on same number of times a day etc.?
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited November 2023
    Is your meter sending readings every 30 mins or much less frequently?
    Maybe worth checking.
    If it's once a day, then maybe the reading for 15/10 wasn't received, but the reading for 16/10 was so they took the average of the 2 readings form 14/10 and 16/10 and divided by 2.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    The meter readings used to be transmitted every 24 hours, I think, but that was quite recently adjusted to half hourly so your theory about readings on adjacent days makes sense @Pete.8. The problem is there are several identical readings for dates that are not back to back, October 12 and 24 for example.
    Rutland, England
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Best plan is to call Scottish Power and ask them.
    It does seem unusual to say the least.

    I'll resist the bl***y things for as long as I can.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    I wouldn't trust those readings. I would not expect any two days to have exactly the same readings to the level you are seeing, never mind 7 in 2 weeks. I think your gas readings reinforce the idea that somebody/A.I. is making up the readings.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    It seems like these meters are just another worry/anxiety for people ,  I know people who stand over them watching,  and probably inwardly panicking about the changing numbers.
    I read the meter when I feel like it, or when I think about it.  The money is taken out of the bank and I don’t think or worry about what the meter might be saying.
    I know I’m in credit,  I know it could be expensive,  I don’t want the worry of a meter telling me so. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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