Smart Meter Safety

There has been a lot of media reports recently about the Safety of Smart Meters. It would seem from the reports that some Smart Meters could be un-safe if exposed to an Electrical surge. Other reports suggest that the installation of the Smart Meters could cause Electrical connections to become loose, this can then result in an Electrical fire particularly in older homes with old Switchboards.

A fire was found behind a Meter panel in a house in Epping, this occurred a few weeks after the Smart Meter was installed. In this case the fire was caused by a loose connection, its possible that the movement of the wiring during the Smart Meter installation may have caused the connection to become loose. 

If you have a concern about the safety of your Electrical Switchboard or Meter, call Epping Electrical on 0485 006 456 to book a Safety Inspection or Switchboard Upgrade.

Geoff

Director

Epping Electrical

0485 006 456

 

 

   

High Electricity Bills - Epping Electrical comes to the rescue

June 2011

Epping Electrical was called to a home in a northern suburb of Melbourne March this year to investigate high electricity bills. The owner told us they were receiving bills of over $1000 per month, they had been in discussions with their electricity retailer for over two years who concluded that the situation was simply due to the high use of electricity by the owner. A suggestion was made to the owner to have the home electrical system checked as another possible cause. We did check the installation and found the two-bedroom unit had floor heating install in all the rooms. The floor heating was controlled by a timer within the main switchboard. We did identify the timer had been incorrectly set, this was adjusted to ensure the floor heating elements only came on during the off peak hours.


Whilst the owner was pleased that something was identified at last, the owner was sure something else must be wrong as the electricity bills continued on average to be over $1000 per month even over the summer period. Our attention now focused on the bills and the electricity meter.

The owner explained that the meter had been checked before and was told it was operating correctly. We decided anyway to confirm the meter readings and check these against the electricity bills. What we uncovered would explain everything. We had found that the electricity meter has three registers that tally kilowatt hours. One counts the kilowatt hours used during the peek period, another counts the off-peek period and the third is the total of the two or in other words, total usage over the 24hour period. We found that instead of the first two registers finding their way to the bill, we confirmed that the total kilowatt register was being added to the bill in the peek section. This means that all off peak usage was being correctly billed at off peek rate but it was also being billed at peek rate.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the story. We thought this would be a simple matter of contacting the electricity retailer and explaining the situation. When we called the electricity retailer they would not accept our findings. Instead they would send out their own expert to investigate. Weeks would pass before a report was issued. It explained that the high energy usage was due to the fact that the floor heating requires a timer and the owner should have an electrician install one to resolve the problem!! The electricity retailer now was satisfied everything was correct and it was the owners issue. They demanded the electricity bill now more than $20,000 be paid.

We attempted to contact the retailer a number of times, they refused to listen and said this is now out of their hands and could do nothing. We decided to contact the electricity distributer in the area. We spoke to at least three people who simply did not know enough about metering, after a few days we got put through to someone that had worked with electricity metering equipment for over 20 years. We explained the situation to him, he agreed to look into this. After an hour he called back to confirm we were right and the billing team would be calculating the correct electricity costs over many years.  This would result in a significant refund to the owner.

I personally had the pleasure to inform the owner of the great news.

This experience for me was often frustrating but ultimately rewarding. At Epping Electrical we are driven by doing what is right and assisting our customers however we can. Its our hope that electricity companies will see this as a lesson to improve the service they provide to their customers.

Names of involved parties have been intentionally withheld.


Geoff Connor
Director
0485 006 456

Why does my Safety Switch keep blowing?

Does your Safety Switch keep blowing? The most common reason is a faulty appliance. Give us a call, and we will guide you step-by-step on the phone to help you fix the fault yourself. At no cost to you.



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First pieces of the national broadband network in Brunswick

At last we are seeing some initial work towards the National Broadband Network in Melbourne's north.

See http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/brunswick-gets-some-fibre-20100928-15vvp.html for the full story.

Buying a house? Check this out first

Most people buy a house without knowing the condition and safety of Electrical Wiring.  If the previous owner/s have installed illegal Electrical Wiring, an Electrical fault or Safety hazard may develop that could result in the loss of life and/or property.

Nearly every house over 2 years old we visit is found to have some illegal wiring!  This week we were called to a house in Epping because of power constantly failing.  What we discovered was one of the worst examples of illegal Electrical Wiring we have ever seen.  As Electrical professionals, its normally easy for us to spot illegal and dangerous wiring.

But what can home owners do themselves to try and determine if their own home has any obvious illegal wiring?  

Here are a few hints for the home owner -

(1)  If you find any exposed (normally white) wiring, it is likely to be illegal.
(2)  If you find any Electrical fittings that are not secured, it is likely to be illegal.
(3)  If any wiring looks untidy, twisted, hanging or loose, it is likely to be illegal.
(4)  If you find a join in Electrical Wiring not within a junction box, it is likely to be illegal.
(5)  If you find extension lead installed in a permanent position, it is likely to be illegal.
(6)  If you could reach bare Electrical Wiring while standing on the ground, it is likely to be illegal.
(7)  If your switchboard is loose, missing parts or has exposed Electrical contacts, it is likely to be illegal and unsafe.

Remember - This list is only intended for home owners to identify 'obvious' illegal or un-safe Electrical Wiring.  As most of the Electrical Wiring is located within walls, under floor and in roof spaces, only a trained professional will be able to carry out a complete visual inspection and complete the required electrical tests to ensure the Electrical Wiring is in good order.

If you suspect you have illegal or un-safe Electrical Wiring, call in a Licensed Electrician.  Under no circumstances should you attempt to rectify the situation yourself.  If you are unsure, send a good photo to me via geoff@eppingelectrical.com, I will have a look and provide my advise to you free of charge.

When we work at a home, we get a sense of the extent of the illegal wiring we may encounter.  Normally early visual inspections will indicate to us that illegal wiring may be present.

Here is a photo I took from the house we visited this week.   We found this home had several illegal joins in Electrical Wiring, as you can see, the join is substandard and dangerous.  Lucky for the home owner this fault did not cause a fire.

If you are planning to buy a house in the northern suburbs of Melbourne or simply want to be sure your home is safe, call EPPING ELECTRICAL to provide an Electrical Inspection.

I hope you found this information informative, if you have any questions, please drop me a line or call me on 0485 006 456.  Geoff