Gas Smart Meter Turned Itself Off

dprice1164

My gas smart meter which was installed about 5 years ago by EON, suddenly turned itself off over night.
Initially, the loss of heating and hot water was put down to a faulty boiler. However, after checking that the gas fore was also not functioning, my attention turned to the meter.


After pushing the buttons on the meter, text appeared on the display, announcing that the gas valve was being opened. After a further short period of time an audible noise was heard and the gas supply was returned.


All seems back to normal except the readings on the house meter appear spurious. For instance the cost of the day when the supply was off, registered as over £7? and has continued to be inconsistent.


I phoned EON and was told that I wasn't on my own and this was happening to a significant number of customers. The representative said they would write to me. However, I'm still yet to receive anything.


My point is, you'd have thought they would have warned people with smart meters to avoid unnecessary worry and cost.

[Deleted User]

Eon may be as puzzled about this as you are and no doubt are still looking into it.
Since smart meters are connected to energy companies through the mobile phone network it could be just a rogue signal sent out by the control system that just turned everyone's meters off.
Also it has been predicted that smart meters could become a target of hackers as the system is vulnerable just like any internet connection.
Electricity systems abroad that rely on internet connections (Ukraine and Israel) have recently been targeted by hackers flexing their muscles online. No doubt Eon will let you know the answer soon.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning dprice1164,

I'm sorry that you've had a problem with your smart meter.

We do actually have a dedicated department that look after these types of meters, they book appointments and deal with all the questions and any issues.

So it's great that you've spoken to them and raised the problems that you've had, this is something that sounds like it's being looked in to by them. But if you do need some support, please let me know and I'll happily speak to them again for you.

Thank you

Helena

dprice1164

Helena,


Thanks for that.


My main concern is that the readings displayed on the house ecometer are now inconsistent. For instance, it's reading that in the first 7 days of February, I've used more gas than the individual totals for November and December. Even allowing for seasonal changes in weather, this can't be correct. Again, on one individual day it showed that I'd used almost £8 of gas, again this can't be correct. Having used and monitored the ecometer for almost 5 years, you tend to see a pattern, which, since this incident has changed.


I mentioned this during the call and was told to turn off the ecometer, restart it and it would clear the spurious readings. This didn't happen, as I suspect it just reloads all the information stored in the outside gas meter.


I must admit that I've always been an advocate of smart meters, however, I'm now starting to doubt their usefulness to the end user.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

dprice1164 wrote: »

Helena,


Thanks for that.


My main concern is that the readings displayed on the house ecometer are now inconsistent. For instance, it's reading that in the first 7 days of February, I've used more gas than the individual totals for November and December. Even allowing for seasonal changes in weather, this can't be correct. Again, on one individual day it showed that I'd used almost £8 of gas, again this can't be correct. Having used and monitored the ecometer for almost 5 years, you tend to see a pattern, which, since this incident has changed.


I mentioned this during the call and was told to turn off the ecometer, restart it and it would clear the spurious readings. This didn't happen, as I suspect it just reloads all the information stored in the outside gas meter.


I must admit that I've always been an advocate of smart meters, however, I'm now starting to doubt their usefulness to the end user.

You're welcome.

I'm going to admit that I'm deffo not an expert with smart meters, but from what you're saying there's something not quite right by the sounds of it.

Have you spoken to us again (in the smart) department? I think this all needs raising.

Helena

R34GTT

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

You're welcome.

I'm going to admit that I'm deffo not an expert with smart meters, but from what you're saying there's something not quite right by the sounds of it.

Have you spoken to us again (in the smart) department? I think this all needs raising.

Helena

'deffo' doesn't look professional.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

R34GTT wrote: »

'deffo' doesn't look professional.

Hi R34GTT,

I'm sorry about that.

Malc, Amy and I try to keep a friendly, informal way of 'talking' on the forum and we try to help our customers in the best way we can.

Thank you

Helena

dprice1164

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

You're welcome.

I'm going to admit that I'm deffo not an expert with smart meters, but from what you're saying there's something not quite right by the sounds of it.

Have you spoken to us again (in the smart) department? I think this all needs raising.

Helena

No, not since my original call on the 3rd Feb. They said they would write to me, but as yet, I've heard nothing.


Regards


Dave

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

dprice1164 wrote: »

No, not since my original call on the 3rd Feb. They said they would write to me, but as yet, I've heard nothing.


Regards


Dave

Thanks Dave,

I see, would you like to email your account number and full address to me, I'll have a word with them, It'll be tomorrow now if that's ok, I'm off home soon.

You can email me at WebForumAdvisors@eonenergy.com and I'll ring them first thing. Then I'll pop you an email back.

Helena

dprice1164

Well it would appear that this problem is affecting quite a few accounts, who knows how many, but certainly I've got to wait in a queue.


It still seems to me that EON should be explaining the situation and giving more information.


I'll update when I know more.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

dprice1164 wrote: »

Well it would appear that this problem is affecting quite a few accounts, who knows how many, but certainly I've got to wait in a queue.


It still seems to me that EON should be explaining the situation and giving more information.


I'll update when I know more.

Thank you

I really think you should have been given the information when you called in, as this doesn't appear to have been done for you, it's something I'll be feeding back.

Helena