Updated on 27/03/26 by Ben_OVO
This topic covers the ways in which traditional meters can be faulty.
Clocking too fast
If you feel you’re using more energy than you expected, It’s possible (but very unlikely) that your meter is clocking your energy use too fast.
It’s very unusual for meters to clock too fast. In fact, over 90% of supposedly faulty meters that are tested are found to be clocking accurately.
If you’d like us to carry out a Meter Accuracy Test (MAT), we can send an engineer round to do this for you. It will cost £157.00 for a gas meter, and £149.00 for an electricity meter, and we’ll ask you to pay the charge up front.
If a meter accuracy test has determined that a meter is clocking too fast by at least 2.5% or slow by at least 3.5% we will need to complete a faulty meter exchange.
Before booking a MAT test, we’d always recommend getting an electrician to test your appliances, as its more likely that the high usage will be caused by an appliance, rather than the meter overclocking. You can find out more about this subject here:
Blank or frozen display
If you’re due to take a reading and you notice your display has gone blank, cannot be read and cannot be turned back on by pushing buttons, this would indicate a faulty meter. Another common type of fault is when the meter will stay on the same reading and not register any usage.
If your meter is blank or frozen, we’ll replace it free of charge. The removal reading would be recalculated using either reads prior to the fault, or readings from the meter.
What to do if your electricity meter is leaking
It’s rare, but sometimes electricity meters can leak. If the leaking substance is hot, looks like black tar and has a strange smell, please contact the local network operator straight away on 105.
If the leaking substance is cold and has no smell, you should still contact your local network operator. Your local network operator owns the cables which run up to your meter where this issue normally occurs, even if they don't supply your electricity, so they'll be responsible for any issues with it.
You can find out contact and emergency information here:
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