Need advice Plz

[Holly Ashford]

Hi
I'm not an electrician so would value any advice.
I live in road where they are blocks of 4 terrace houses, every 4th house has a main electric box by the front door, each house still has an individual meter, but all 4 ultimately go into this one box. Now my electric bill is high i'm paying £120 a month which is almost double most people I have asked, so I rang my supplier who said they didn't have a clue what this box was outside my neighbours they agree my bill is very high usage but said its upto me to find out what this box is????? Now heres the thing could this neighbour be running his electric through mine via this box, I have never seen inside it but was told by another neighbour that each contain 4 individual boxes for each house, I also no that a friend of his works for a well known electric company and that this person did gain access to the box for some unknown reason.
Any help would be appreciated

 

[malcolmsanford]

Holly the only thing I can really advise is have an electrician come in and look around for you.

If you post your location Not your actual address) one of the lads off here maybe able to help you.

 

[trev]

Welcome aboard first off.
Do you have any idea what this "box" is? I doubt you would but it's worth asking. I'd advise against going poking around in there even if you could gain access as I'd hope if it's a junction box, it would be locked to prevent the uninitiated getting in there. £120 a month does seem excessive.
It would probably be a good idea to consult an electrician in your area, post up your rough location and one of us will be near you.

 

[Holly Ashford]

cheers, I'm in Birmingham, trouble is this neighbour has built a porch now so the box is housed in there so would need to gain access some how, do you have any idea what this box is, these houses were orginally council houses i dont no why they choose to put one box per 4 i suppose money saving

 

[Sparky Ninja]

If your electricity supply is diverted through a property under someone else's control, and particularly if there are protective devices at this location then it is very plausible that someone could have tampered with your supply.

The fact that your supplier shows no interest and places the responsibility upon yourself to investigate is pure negligence in my opinion.

Are you on good speaking terms with this neighbour where the box is housed? I would advise, as others, that you get an electrician over to investigate for you.

 

[Holly Ashford]

Well I believed we were friends, he did tell me that his electric mate had done something to keep his bills low he's actually in prison at the minute not sure what for so its just his son there and yes i suppose we are on speaking terms

 

[trev]

His mate had done something to keep his bills low??? sounds like a meter bypass job to me or maybe you're paying for his usage, no bloody wonder he's in the big house

 

[malcolmsanford]

As Tev said it is likely to be some kind of junction box/distribution Panel

Only hazzarding a guess here if you say that there is just one electric supply for 4 houses but then 4 individual meters, then the supply company will bring that supply into theirs box, and I guess there would be 4 individual fuses one for each house that goes to your meter.

This is guess work,

What you can do is .............take a meter reading at say 9am and turn your electric box off in your house at the main switch. Unplug everything, and turn your lights off, and go out for say 3 hours.

Come back and then take another meter reading, it should be the same as you when you turned everything off. If it is then fine, if it has gone up then call your supplier tell them what you did and tell them how much it went up, and ask them for a check meter

After you Switch your box back on, plug everything in and use everything as normal. In 5/6 hours again take a reading and see what you have used.

Then over the next week take a 24 hour reading at the same time each day and you will start to get an idea what is being used

 

[Holly Ashford]

no the electrician isn't in the big house my neighbour is, do you think he has got his running from mine then..a meter bypass

 

[trev]

It's possible Holly but impossible for me to confirm from my settee in Geordieland, I know we have guys in Brum but I'm struggling to remember who. I think Imago is

 

[Sparky Ninja]

I would have a go at the experiment that malcolm has suggested - and see if someone here is available to assist you.

 

[trev]

I was right, Imago is in Brum. I've taken the liberty of sending him a PM alerting him to your thread, I'm sure he'll be in touch

 

[malcolmsanford]

Honestly Trev your a bit of an old smoothie mate .......................good man

 

[trev]

I blame me parents mate, I was dragged up to believe if you can help someone you should

 

[Holly Ashford]

thanx guys