B.G.Smart Meters.

robt7893

British_Gas_company_representative wrote: »

To Rob7893:

Hello, I checked with our field team: unfortunately we cannot move the gas meter outside as this would be a job for National Grid due to the alteration of the service pipes. Sorry L!

If you want you can arrange this with National Grid and this is normally chargeable. National Grid will quote for the work to be carried out and once the service pipes have been altered then we can attend to the exchange of the meters.

Hope this helps.

Dana

Thanks for getting back to me "Diana" at least I know where I stand now will give it a bit of thought before decideing what to do next.

British_Gas

Hello Terrylw1,

We made a call to install smart meters early, but as with all technologies, smart meters are evolving and we are investing in our new generation of smart meters that will be installed later on in 2012, this covers an advanced HAN system.

thanks,
Dana

British_Gas

Hello,

The smart metering market actually depends on many players but suppliers are the only ones who have a relationship with customers. We work with many agencies to deliver a service to customers: first and foremost the Legislators and Regulators, meter and technology manufactures and other service providers enabling the communications network. The smart meters we have installed so far are to be considered “smart” now and in a few years time, as they do deliver smart functionality and benefits to customers as required by DECC:
· Peace of mind: meter readings are recorded for every half hour and sent to British Gas securely and automatically once every 24 hours
· Accuracy: bills are actual, based on these meter readings and therefore on actual energy consumption. This means an end to estimated bills
· Control & choice: the smart energy monitor customers receive at installation shows how much energy they’re using, in pounds and pence, kWh and CO2 – as well as historical usage. This means our customers can make choices to become more energy efficient and save money
With regard to your other questions, they require a more structured technical explanation, and I think they might not be related to the core money saving topics of the forum, however if you want to talk about these in more detail you can DM me your details through Twitter @BritishGas or #AskBGSmart?

utility_csa

British_Gas_company_representative wrote: »

Hello,

The smart metering market actually depends on many players but suppliers are the only ones who have a relationship with customers. We work with many agencies to deliver a service to customers: first and foremost the Legislators and Regulators, meter and technology manufactures and other service providers enabling the communications network. The smart meters we have installed so far are to be considered “smart” now and in a few years time, as they do deliver smart functionality and benefits to customers as required by DECC:
· Peace of mind: meter readings are recorded for every half hour and sent to British Gas securely and automatically once every 24 hours
· Accuracy: bills are actual, based on these meter readings and therefore on actual energy consumption. This means an end to estimated bills
· Control & choice: the smart energy monitor customers receive at installation shows how much energy they’re using, in pounds and pence, kWh and CO2 – as well as historical usage. This means our customers can make choices to become more energy efficient and save money
With regard to your other questions, they require a more structured technical explanation, and I think they might not be related to the core money saving topics of the forum, however if you want to talk about these in more detail you can DM me your details through Twitter @BritishGas or #AskBGSmart?

You have no clue about smart meters.

The meters don't sent the data to BG. Its remotely retrieved by your preferred DC who is Accuread who then process the read and send it to you. :rotfl:

British_Gas

Thank you for your post utility_csa.

I do appreciate that you might be from within the utility industry and therefore used to technical jargon.

I believe we are trying to maintain the conversation on smart meters as accessible and open as possible to all members of the Money Saving Expert forum without narrowing the debate by explaining the minutiae of the communication process.

torbrex

utility_csa wrote: »

You have no clue about smart meters.

The meters don't sent the data to BG. Its remotely retrieved by your preferred DC who is Accuread who then process the read and send it to you. :rotfl:

You should be aware that Accuread as a company/trading name, no longer exist and has not done so for a couple of years at least.

Terrylw1

British_Gas_company_representative wrote: »

Hello,

The smart metering market actually depends on many players but suppliers are the only ones who have a relationship with customers. We work with many agencies to deliver a service to customers: first and foremost the Legislators and Regulators, meter and technology manufactures and other service providers enabling the communications network. The smart meters we have installed so far are to be considered “smart” now and in a few years time, as they do deliver smart functionality and benefits to customers as required by DECC:
· Peace of mind: meter readings are recorded for every half hour and sent to British Gas securely and automatically once every 24 hours
· Accuracy: bills are actual, based on these meter readings and therefore on actual energy consumption. This means an end to estimated bills
· Control & choice: the smart energy monitor customers receive at installation shows how much energy they’re using, in pounds and pence, kWh and CO2 – as well as historical usage. This means our customers can make choices to become more energy efficient and save money
With regard to your other questions, they require a more structured technical explanation, and I think they might not be related to the core money saving topics of the forum, however if you want to talk about these in more detail you can DM me your details through Twitter @BritishGas or #AskBGSmart?

Thanks, but I think this board is the right place rather than Twitter.

My questions were simply whether current installations were guaranteed to provide the service provided via the DCC. Without checking the above to those standards, I'm not sure right now.

My other point was that there is still no published standard which is due soon.

I don't see those points as technical and requiring a more structured approach as they are simple questions frequently raised on this board relating to all suppliers.

Its whether you choose to make such a statement on MSE.

Many of the threads on here relate to customer problems, not just money saving hence these types of issues will be raised. Not all suppliers reps choose to answer with detail, as you have here, but it does give a supplier another channel to boost their service reputation.

rizal23

I knew her feet would never stop if we switch to another supplier.

utility_csa

torbrex wrote: »

You should be aware that Accuread as a company/trading name, no longer exist and has not done so for a couple of years at least.

Well g4s use the Market participant ID of ACCU. force of habit ;p!

British_Gas

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Thanks, but I think this board is the right place rather than Twitter.

My questions were simply whether current installations were guaranteed to provide the service provided via the DCC. Without checking the above to those standards, I'm not sure right now.

My other point was that there is still no published standard which is due soon.

I don't see those points as technical and requiring a more structured approach as they are simple questions frequently raised on this board relating to all suppliers.

Its whether you choose to make such a statement on MSE.

Many of the threads on here relate to customer problems, not just money saving hence these types of issues will be raised. Not all suppliers reps choose to answer with detail, as you have here, but it does give a supplier another channel to boost their service reputation.

Thank you utility_csa, with regard to your first point the DCC Procurement process is still in progress and will include some service level agreements for the reliability and speed of data communications to and from the metering system. Until those contracts are awarded and the infrastructure is established suppliers who have chosen to be active in smart metering are building or procuring an equivalent service themselves, based on their needs to deliver a high quality service to their customers. The standards may be marginally higher or lower than those ultimately provided by the DCC, but that doesn’t matter: it is our view that any differences will be immaterial to customers as key benefits are still delivered.
The major benefit that the DCC will bring is to the industry, rather than directly to customers, by simplifying change of supplier processes for smart metering.
With regard to your second point on published standards: it was a conscious decision by the UK Government to allow installations of smart meters to proceed ahead of further research into the optimal technical solutions (there will be more than one!) for the Home Area Network. This will be published soon as part of the Government’s specification for smart metering (‘SMETS2’). British Gas has started to install smart meters that align with the ‘SMETS1’ specification published by the Government and will be installing more of these this year. These will be counted by DECC as fully compliant meters that contribute to the completion of the smart metering rollout programme.
We’re happy to engage in a constructive debate to raise the understanding of the smart meter programme. It might take a bit longer if we have to check with our technical teams but we will come back to you with an answer!