9 April (Part 1) - Phantom power
The
Smart Meter display is very revealing and right now is showing zero consumption;
the solar panels being sufficient to run this computer.
It also reveals phantom gas consumption. Yesterday I said
I had asked Octopus Energy
how they could justify charging me 45 pence for gas over a 24 hour period when
the main valve at the meter was turned off. The standing charge is only 27 pence.
At the time there had been no answer but on Friday evening there was. “You can
see that on the 7th there was gas used during the night, did you have the water
heater or heating on through the night?”
Either Octopus don’t read the questions properly or like to insult customers’
intelligence. I had said that the main valve was turned off. As it happens I
never have the boiler on overnight because the noise it makes disturbs me.
Furthermore the boiler clock broke at least ten years ago and I control the
thing only by its on/off switch and I think I would know if I got up in the night
and gone outside in my pyjamas to restore the gas supply.
The main valve has been off since about 5:30 yesterday evening. Will history repeat itself?