Smart meter help.

[Milzy]

On 3 occasions the EDF lot can’t get a signal from my electric box. All the neighbours have a signal.
Now my bills are £100 over & they just keep saying there is no signal.
Shouldn’t they just replace the whole reading equipment which will cost them time & money that they won’t want to do?
Or do we put up with manual readings until we move?

 

[fossyant]

Good luck. Resisted going smart meters for this exact reason. If they fail, the supplier can't be bothered to reply. Just send in manual readings monthly to get your payments on track.

 

[ianrauk]

It took me over a year of complaining to EDF to get my non reading smart meter changed.
Good luck

 

[Milzy]

F.F saaaaaaake.
Thanks.

 

[a.twiddler]

We were with Scottish Power when we had first generation smart meters fitted years ago, and started getting erratic readings. We didn't get it resolved with Scottish Power, and ended up changing suppliers to a smaller company. They didn't support smart metering, so we went back to sending in the readings monthly. Strangely enough, the bills were OK after that. We continued to send in monthly readings with several suppliers until with our last one, they started taking smart meter readings part way through our contract. Still, the bills were OK. We'd had communications regarding "new generation" smart meters on and off but frankly weren't convinced of the benefits. We're with British Gas now and they take smart meter readings with no trouble but we aren't really convinced that newer smart meters will do anything more than the current ones do. Next time we change supplier it's no big deal to go back to monthly readings if that's what's needed.

 

[ColinJ]

British Gas have tried 3 times to sort mine out but failed each time. They keep sending me reminders that they want to have another go but I don't have much faith in them now so I haven't bothered to arrange it!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Mine work fine with Octopus, but should they fail I'll just revert to sending in manual readings.
It wasn't a great monthly chore anyhow, taking out the bins weekly annoys me much more

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

I have found meters and energy providers to be a constant annoyance over the years. The worst was when I moved into the property in Edinburgh. Electricity was a standard meter but gas was PAYG. I contacted the provider to get set up whilst they worked on getting the meter swapped out. In the meantime they would send out an engineer to reset the meter to wipe out the emergency credit balance and but a bit extra on to get us going l

To get me set up on pre pay they asked for the meter number. I gave them that and was told it was wrong, could I repeat it. It was still wrong so they wanted a photo of the meter. Long story short the meter in my property was registered against a house in Bradford and that meant I be unable to top it up. They scheduled a meter replacement for four weeks hence which meant three engineer visits in that period to reset the meter.

New meter was fitted but I changed provider shortly after. They fitted new, smart, meters that worked ok for the first year but then lost signal. They put it down to building work in the area blocking signal so sent out an engineer to program it onto a new network. That he had to be repeated again three years later.

Smart meters are good when they work, and essential for the best energy plans, but not without their issues.

 

[sungod]

if it used to work consistently and has now become erratic, it is reasonable to assume it is faulty, but if it's always been like it then it may well be a signal quality problem

sounds like your problem started before the new rules kicked in (23rd feb) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tough-new-rules-force-suppliers-to-fix-faulty-smart-meters

i suggest read up on things, perhaps start a new complaint about the problem and see what happens

if there's no resolution within the required time period, make a formal complaint to ofgem https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/informatio...ouseholds/complain-about-your-energy-supplier

 

[Punkawallah]

My supplier wants to replace my traditional meter with a ‘smart’ meter, as it is ‘past its use by date’. I have too much experience with the wonders of automated systems to believe the adverts. Having spoken to them and arranged continue submitting monthly readings via a smart meter to be installed with the smart features turned off (by a sub-contractor), nothing happened. They keep sending an email telling me my meter needs replacing, possibly to keep their back covered.
My plumber advised me to avoid smart meters for as long as possible.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Ours has never worked - they can't get a signal.

 

[spen666]

My supplier wants to replace my traditional meter with a ‘smart’ meter, as it is ‘past its use by date’. I have too much experience with the wonders of automated systems to believe the adverts. Having spoken to them and arranged continue submitting monthly readings via a smart meter to be installed with the smart features turned off (by a sub-contractor), nothing happened. They keep sending an email telling me my meter needs replacing, possibly to keep their back covered.
My plumber advised me to avoid smart meters for as long as possible.

My electrician advised the same.




A potentially worrying issue with a smart meter is the energy company can disconnect you remotely, whereas with traditional meters, if inside your property they need a warrant of entry from a court, which you can oppose at a court hearing, so you are giving up another layer of protection from the power companies if you have a smart meter fitted

 

[Milzy]

Ours has never worked - they can't get a signal.

The neighbours can though. It’s the meter that’s faulty.

 

[colly]

Smart meters came with the house. We pay the monthly bill as and when it come in. Not much in summer, billions in winter.

I've never checked if the bills match the actual reading though.