British gas smart meter - changing supplier

factor29 · 25 September 2017 at 8:42PM

Has anyone left british gas whos had one of there smart meters fitted?

Have switched after the mse collective tariff came to an end and on the day my final bill is produced the smart meter display will no longer connect to the meter.

Understand it would just be a standalone unit and wouldnt send my readings etc but i could read the meter from the display saving me the hassle of getting to the meter (hidden behind a cupboard so have to empty to read)

Surely they arent petty enough to disable the non smart functionality which doesnt affect them? Every other smart meter with different suppliers ive had has continued to work as a non smart meter

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd · 26 September 2017 at 7:47AM

I have just left the British Gas collective deal and switched to One Select. The switch only took place yesterday and my displays are still working.

SG27 · 26 September 2017 at 8:34AM

I never used the little display anyway but if you do still use it bear in mimd all the costs if they still shiw will be wrong as they wont take into account new rates from the new supplier

House_Martin · 26 September 2017 at 8:41AM

I have switched many times from BG with smart meters. No problems whatsoever. Went back a few years later to BG and smarts worked fine straightaway.
The In House Display was in the dustbin a few weeks after I had a play with it. I was well aware anyway the amount of power each appliance was using.

Pedro1877 · 26 September 2017 at 10:26AM

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5692120&page=14#topofpage

post# 277 This poster's monitor was switched off after 5 days. Mine is still working 7 days after my switch and I can still get all my billing info from the BG webpage even though it says that my account is closed.

The smartmeter question is mentioned on a few other threads and I just wish that the BG rep. who posts on these forums would explain why they are closing down the communication between the smart meter and the monitor/display. I don't care that the £ info will be incorrect. I just want to have meter readings and Kwh useage data. My Elec. meter is in the next door building which is only open during short office hours and it has been a boon to have a remote reading.

kbfanclub · 26 September 2017 at 11:07AM

When you're transferring away from BG do you have to wait for BG to decide the final meter readings before you can give them to the new supplier? I'm guessing with smart meters you don't tell BG the final readings and they just take them but it could be at any time of day?

footyguy · 26 September 2017 at 11:25AM

kbfanclub wrote: »

When you're transferring away from BG do you have to wait for BG to decide the final meter readings before you can give them to the new supplier? I'm guessing with smart meters you don't tell BG the final readings and they just take them but it could be at any time of day?

Whenever you switch supplier, the new supplier is responsible for the entire switch.

Hence you provide meter readings only to the new supplier
i.e. no difference what type of meter you have

All you need to do is check that the start readings with the new supplier match the final readings used by the old supplier when the respective bills/statements finally arrive

trickytree1963 · 26 September 2017 at 11:25AM

kbfanclub wrote: »

When you're transferring away from BG do you have to wait for BG to decide the final meter readings before you can give them to the new supplier? I'm guessing with smart meters you don't tell BG the final readings and they just take them but it could be at any time of day?

When switching you need to give opening reads to your new (gaining) supplier , they pass them on to the old ( losing) supplier to generate your final bill. As the losing supplier usually dumbs down the meter before the switch they won't "just take" the Smart Meter reads to close your old account down.

factor29 · 26 September 2017 at 11:39AM

Yes costs are all different etc but it had the ability to change these anyway.

Just cant believe they purposely switch it off, the smart meters are a pain to read manually so would have been handy for the readings.

Will just have to wait until new supplier edf offer me a new one. That will make it 4 ive had in as many years. Bonkers!

shiwen55 · 2 October 2018 at 11:04PM

Hi,

Try to unplug then plug in again to restart (Take batteries out, once connected, then put batteries in and unplug, this how I've done)

Regards,

scp941 · 11 February 2019 at 12:34PM

I know this is an oldish thread but this is how the BG IHD works, and this is from British gas following some issues I was having with the IHD not working which turned out to be a problem with the communication hub by the electricity meter.

The meters send their reading via the communication hub to the supplier. The readings are validated and sent back to the hub and forwarded on to the IHD and displayed. Switching suppliers breaks the chain so the readings don't get validated and IHD won't work.

Apparently there is supposed to be a common secure data network using a standard protocol being rolled out that all smart meters will connect to so switching suppliers means that existing smart meters should work regardless of the supplier. The down side is that some existing smart meters will have to be replaced judging by the call I got from BG today asking when it would be convenient to replace my meters which were installed less than two years ago.

It sort of shows how badly the whole smart meter rollout was conceived. The industry should have agreed on either a common supplier or a common comms standard for the meters before anything was rolled out instead of having a bunch of incompatible devices that need replacing a few years down the line when they finally get their act together.

Guess whose going to end up footing the bill for this incompetency?

British gas smart meter - changing supplier

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