After changing the meter, the resident received a large debt: ESO explained why this happened | Business

The meter was changed from a simple to a smart one in the house in the Vilnius Gardens Association on August 14 of this year, and the bill received soon showed a debt of 4,248.97 euros for the previous periods.

Such a recalculation is not a rare case – we have already written that after switching to a smart meter, more than one household was presented with bills that surprised them. Sometimes because old meter failuresometimes due to the error of the ESO representative by writing down the counter numberas well as for the users themselves data not declared on time.

“Immediately after the change, I had a debt for a year that I didn’t pay for. I immediately incurred a debt of 4300 euros. My house is not even 50 square meters. My introduction is the Soviet electrical installation: it would burn if I used so much electricity,” the man wondered.

However, after replacing the meter, it continues to show high electricity consumption at home, which is extremely surprising to the interviewer. Timur is convinced that a defective meter is to blame.

He called both the electricity supplier Ignitis and ESO regarding the resulting debt, but to no avail. The man stated that he tried to invite ESO representatives to check the meter, but no one has inspected the device so far.

“I call, I say, this is the situation, they tell me – everything is fine with us, we will not go, check your devices. The boiler can eat so much – both the boiler and everything was disconnected, it still burns a lot. They don’t want to listen to me, their device is bad. They tell me, wait another month – and then what will happen? There will be such a story, and where were you before, why didn’t you apply? They tell me we won’t go anywhere, we won’t do anything,” complained the customer.

Until then, the monthly bills of the house in the garden community were very varied – for example, in July a bill of about 30 euros was received, in December – 24.7 euros, sometimes even a fixed overpayment. Consumers are billed by the electricity supplier based on the data provided to them by the ESO. In Timur’s case, it’s Ignitis.

“Everywhere is paid, they send the invoice – we pay. They confirm that we have paid. What kind of industry should be in my house? I have a car repair shop, where I don’t spend even 1000 euros per year on electricity. During the day there is almost nothing at home, at night we sleep. I get 4 kWh per night with everything turned off. The refrigerator can’t be screwed in that much,” the man complained.

ESO: consumption was and remains similar after the change

ESO representatives 15min indicated that before the meter was replaced, the customer did not declare data or provided incorrect data on the electricity consumed. It was established that every month the customer paid on average, and therefore received bills, for the consumption of 84 kWh.

“I note that it is very important to declare accurate (actual) consumption data every month. It is necessary to do this regularly, then neither smaller nor bigger differences occur. More than 900,000 people now receive accurate bills based on actual consumption data every month. of electricity consumers across the country who have smart meters installed. The latter automatically remotely transmit the actual electricity readings to an independent supplier and the bills are issued accurately,” – 15min commented Rasa Juodkienė, ESO Public Relations Project Manager.

Teodoros Biliūnas/BNS photo/Energy distribution operator (ESO) dispatch center in Kaunas

The company indicated that from May 2021 until the replacement of the meter in 2024. in September, 16,303 kWh were used, which are presented in the bill issued in September.

Daily average – 19.3 kWh/day or 580 kWh/month.

“Smart meter data shows that consumption is similar – 18.9 kWh/day or 570 kWh/month. So it can be concluded that the old meter counts the same as the new smart meter,” it is indicated 15min in the response received.

ESO stated that the main consumption at home occurs from around 12:00 p.m. Consumption during the day varies from 0.4 kW to 1.2 kW.

“And these are normal readings considering that a computer, a boiler, a water pump, an oven, and a stove may be running in the house,” the comment reads.

True, ESO confirms that according to the loads, there are no powerful devices (for example, heat pumps, air conditioners) in the building, and the consumption at night is “minimal”. The representative of the company did not speculate on what could lead to relatively high electricity consumption in this case.

Teodoros Biliūnas / BNS photo/Litgrid substation presented the first synchronous compensators for connection to continental European grids in Alytus

ESO states that if the customer suspects that the calculated energy amounts do not correspond to the real amount, he can take action.

“The user can always hire an electrician to check the internal network. ESO engineers or contractors respond to customer requests and complaints about meters and inspect them. Also, the client has the opportunity to order an independent expert examination of the meter, even if the engineer does not see from the outside the assumptions that the meter is not working properly”, R. Juodkienė points out.