All You Need to Know About a Meter Tamper Mode

Electricity Bills Dec 07, 2020

While using your meter, either prepaid or postpaid, you have to always be extra careful. Like every other gadget, they require care and maintenance. Lack of both can cause your meter to break down or show an error.

Today, we’ll be elaborating on one of these probable errors called a Tamper Mode. At the end of this post, you’ll know what a meter tamper means, reasons why a meter can enter the tamper mode, and how you can resolve it.

What is a Meter Tamper Mode?

A meter tamper mode is a trigger mode a meter switches to when it automatically detects any form of meter tampering. Now I know, you’re probably thinking I’m speaking a lot of gibberish. Let me break it down.

Meter tampering isn’t just electricity theft alone as a lot of people assume. While it’s one of the probable causes, meter tampering covers any sort of external influence on meters and metering circuits.

We’ll still go on to further look into the causes of meter tampering or meter tamper mode. However, at this point, you should understand that a meter tamper mode is a setup trigger mode, created by meter manufacturers to help the meter protect itself from external interference or influence.

What Happens When a Meter Goes into Tamper Mode?

Usually, when a meter is in tamper mode, it stops dispensing electrical current to a house or facility. What this means is that, whenever you purchase electricity or pay your bills, you won’t be able to enjoy electricity because it won’t flow from the meter to your house/shop/building.

What Causes a Meter to go into Tamper Mode?

A number of reasons can trigger your meter to go into tamper mode. However, here are some of the most common causes of meter tampering;

1. An open meter cover

When a meter terminal cover is left open for any reason, it can trigger a meter to go into tamper mode. What you can do to prevent it, in this case, is to always leave your meter cover untouched and if ever opened, leave it closed.

2. Meter interference

In a bid to bypass paying for electricity bills, some meter users ground the neutral wire in hopes of cutting the electricity circuit. While many think this is a great way to avoid paying for electricity, it only causes your meter to go into tamper mode. This is because it’s an unauthorized external interference on your meter. At the end of the day, you’ll end up not getting any form of electricity at all.

3. Poor meter wiring or meter faults

When a meter isn’t properly installed, it's subject to wear and tear over time. Subsequently, your meter starts developing problems or sparks even. All of this can be avoided by getting an authorized meter engineer during installation. Else, in a few months, your meter will keep getting into this tamper mode regardless of how many times you try to resolve the problem.

How Can I Resolve a Meter Tamper?

The only way to remove a tamper mode on your meter is by requesting for a tamper reset token from your distribution company.

A tamper reset token is a code that configures your meter by clearing it from a tamper mode and restoring it to its default state. This reset token is a 20 digit code.

You can get your tamper rest code by visiting the nearest distribution company or contacting them online. We created an online directory for all distribution companies in Nigeria here.

We hope this article has been helpful to you. Have you ever experienced a meter tamper mode? How did you resolve it? Do share this post with your friends and let us know if you have any further questions in the comment section below.


P.S: To share your thoughts with us, sign up for a free Disqus account. We'd love to hear from you in the comments section.

Did you find this post helpful? Sign up here and we'll let you know whenever we publish a new one.

Tags

Simbi

Hi. My name is Simbi. Follow me to get tips on how to improve your electricity, upscale your business and solve all utility challenges today.

Great! You've successfully subscribed.
Great! Next, complete checkout for full access.
Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.
Success! Your account is fully activated, you now have access to all content.