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ESB to replace 27,000 meters that may be overcharging customers

It estimates that around 10% of these could be faulty.

AROUND 27,000 ESB customers have received letters informing them that faulty meters may have caused them to be overcharged.

ESB says these meters will be replaced and tested and anyone who was overcharged will be refunded.

In a statement the company said:

ESB Networks advises all customers that they do not have to take any action with their meters. ESB Networks will contact all affected customers and test the meters.

Speaking on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 Bernadette Maloney from ESB Networks said:

“It’s a particular kind of meter, it’s an electronic meter. The power supply to the meter causes the cover on the capacitor to degrade and it becomes more porous and allows moisture into the capacitor.

“The effect is the power is reduced to the meter and then the meter overreads.

It’s a specific batch of meters, they were installed  between 2007 and 2008 … they were installed predominantly in apartment buildings, but not just.

“These meters were perfectly fine when they were put in, it’s over time they degraded.

“We expect that 10% of these meters will have failed so they are the only ones that will be getting a refund.”

She said the process could take up to several months. However she added that there is no safety issue and customers won’t lose their supply – the meter just stops reading.

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30 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Girl
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    Dec 20th 2016, 8:51 AM

    Waiting for a letter. Fingers crossed

    128
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    Mute The Viking
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    Dec 20th 2016, 8:59 AM

    ” The meter just stops reading” Lets hope it’s not the other way round and you actually owe them money…

    74
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    Mute meltyface
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:07 AM

    @The Viking: My mind is at ease in that respect….

    22
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    Mute Tom Collins
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:31 AM

    Fair play to their honesty

    59
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    Mute Keith Doyle
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    Dec 20th 2016, 8:58 AM

    Thats great but what about all the people that rented the last few years and have moved on to a different house.Are they gonna track them down and refund them? Usual crap of people getting robbed with no consequences

    55
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    Mute Ger Buckley
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:11 AM

    Robbed? Stuff goes faulty

    76
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    Mute Keith Doyle
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    Dec 20th 2016, 12:37 PM

    Yeh funny how it always seems to go faulty to the customers loss isnt it..take your head out of the sand will you

    12
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    Mute Rodger 5
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    Dec 20th 2016, 10:10 AM

    It’s not the meters that have been overcharging for decades,

    48
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    Mute Keith Wizzy
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    Dec 20th 2016, 8:56 AM

    I wasn’t one of them it appears. Must have put magnet on right side….

    47
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    Mute Mícheál de Burca
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    Dec 20th 2016, 7:51 PM

    Old wives tale, and would only conceivably have worked on old electromechanical meters if ever

    4
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    Mute Quiet Goer
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    Dec 20th 2016, 10:42 AM

    Ya can’t bate the good old Ferranti meters from the 1960′s. Mighty yokes, still spinning away mad after all these years

    40
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    Mute Mercurial One
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:47 AM

    Some ESB meters may well prove to be faulty but what about the dodgy builders who wired up storage heaters incorrectly? Where are those guys; long gone since, I’d say?

    29
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    Mute John Moylan
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:32 AM

    I built a new house a few years ago, and I’ve had this notice before, and I’ve had two meters changed in 9 years. I have never got a satisfactory answer as to why. The first one they ‘guessed’ the over-read and I got……..€30 credit. I subsequently changed provider, and after an initial drop in prices, my bills went gaga and…………….got the meter changed again.
    I actually don’t trust the new electronic meter at all, and think a conventional analog one is the only way.
    So, I’m about to get on to them and have a go about meter #3…………

    27
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    Mute Mr Snuffleupagus
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    Dec 20th 2016, 10:28 AM

    @John Moylan: Off-topic on my behalf, but out of curiosity, is building a house cost effective? I’m weighing up options at the moment between buying a site and building, buying an old house on land and renovating, or buying a home ready for immediate habitation. The only one I’ve yet to research is the self-build option.

    8
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    Mute meltyface
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:06 AM

    @The Journal – What about people on Bord Gais, energia etc. Will they be re-imbursed, will they have their meter replaced? All meters were installed by ESB networks right?

    24
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    Mute Paul Keenan
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:44 AM

    @meltyface:@meltyface:ESB Networks and Electric Ireland (What a lot of people would call ESB) are too seperate companies. ESB Networks is responsible for all meters in Ireland, regardless of supplier. You will be refunded (If you are due one) when ESB Networks supplies your supplier with new readings.

    33
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    Mute Jim Boland
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    Dec 20th 2016, 2:04 PM

    I use to be scared of the dark. Now I’m scared of my electric bill!.

    23
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    Mute mickmc
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:46 AM

    I’ve a dual meter which means in theory you pay a cheaper rate for the electricity you use at night. In practice the clock on the meter has a mind of it’s own and you could be charged the cheaper rate at any time of the day. I’ve contacted ESB networks numerous but you might as well be talking to a brick wall. They’re just not interested.

    18
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    Mute Qwerty
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:44 AM

    Bunch of moaners.

    “I’m too thick to remember my Eircode”.

    “I’m livid because I may have paid a couple of euro extra on my electricity over the past decade.”

    You were charged extra. GOOD! Serves you right.

    16
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    Mute Cormac Laffan
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    Dec 20th 2016, 11:12 AM

    @Qwerty: We’re not your parents, go be angry somewhere else.

    28
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    Mute Eyepopper
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    Dec 20th 2016, 10:32 AM

    I wonder if these meters were undercharging would it still take them 6 months to sort it out.

    14
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    Mute Lazlo Saint Pierre
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    Dec 20th 2016, 6:08 PM

    What is the make and model of the meter so people can check for themselves?

    What is the official word from the manufacturer on the problem with the meter?

    And is the suspected meter being inspected by ESB or by an honest independent assessor?

    9
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    Mute Rosa Parks
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    Dec 20th 2016, 11:16 AM

    I got an unusually low Bill recently and it turned out it was because they had deducted past overcharging of 245 from Bill.

    8
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    Mute Ciarán B.
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:44 AM

    Hey Journal, dig a bit beeper..,..Legal Metrology Act 1996 etc….

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    Mute xor
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    Dec 20th 2016, 12:57 PM

    Shocking!

    3
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    Mute Jeni Moriarty
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    Dec 20th 2016, 2:53 PM

    I have no meter, lol nobody knows were it went, esb rang us to say that we were over charged because of faulty meter n i said yeah its so faulty it disappeared

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    Mute Gerard Doherty
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    Dec 20th 2016, 8:57 AM

    Hope in effected

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    Mute Barton Hill
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    Dec 20th 2016, 9:43 AM

    @Gerard Doherty: Must have been a power cut in your house when you were learning to read and write. What point are you trying to make?

    25
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    Mute Dick Durkin
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    Dec 20th 2016, 10:20 AM

    Probably predictive text on his phone, so give it a rest you moany git.

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    Mute Type17
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    Dec 20th 2016, 10:33 AM

    Autocorrect can’t help if you don’t know the difference between effected and affected.

    9
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