Meter reading request emails when we have a smart meter

[Deleted User]

Npower are new to the smart meter game. British Gas are in their 8th or 9 th year installing smart meters.(OK they will have to install them all over again to later SMETS2 ). When they installed a new smart meter they not only used to still send emails they still had us meter readers knocking on the door for quite a few quarters, taking a fair amount of suspicious looks and questions and even abuse before letting us see the meters.
Now after a smart install we may come for a couple of visits only to make sure of a back up that the meter is working ok. Then they will probably only see us every 5 years to fulfil OFGEM obligations.They still will send an automatic email after the quarterly billing period with the comment "smart meter reading " under the meter readings heading, and in my case as a BG customer they never say what the reading is.

[Deleted User]

simonwhu wrote: »

We had a smart meter fitted when with Ovo. We are now with Green Star energy who apparently can't access it. So what's the point. They want a reading but I don't know how to get one. Have emailed them asking for someone to call or come round but not heard anything. Useless.

press button "9 " for the reading

donnajunkie

thor wrote: »

Is this the remote meter you are talking about here? If that is the case then don't worry about them messing up your bills because they are not used to give npower the readings they require to generate a bill. They are there for your information and not 100% accurate.


Is this the meter that is actually connected to your elec/gas supply? These are the readings you would have to send to npower if you were going to give your own readings.

I had a problem with my npower smart meter which was fitted 3 months ago where I too was getting reminders to send readings. I ignored them, reasoning I have smart meters so all that stuff will be done automatically now but when I checked they just used estimates. I had to call npower a few times before their smart meter team managed to get it fixed. I await the fruits of their labour when my next bill comes through.
I think you are suffering the same problems I had so hopefully npower will be able to fix it(eventually)

when i talked about one meter having nothing displayed and another having nonesense i was talking about the actual meters.
the inhouse display i mentioned is just a gadget that has all the info about usage etc. this is the only place i can access actual readings.
when i contacted them via facebook they accepted my own readings and also said that according to the smart team the meters are working as they should.

donnajunkie

simonwhu wrote: »

We had a smart meter fitted when with Ovo. We are now with Green Star energy who apparently can't access it. So what's the point. They want a reading but I don't know how to get one. Have emailed them asking for someone to call or come round but not heard anything. Useless.

i think if a new company wants someones business enough they should be willing to replace the meters if they need to.

Chordeiles

SallyG wrote: »

Why don't "smart" meters display their readings like the better "manual" type of meter?

I'm expecting that most smart electricity meters always display a reading. This because there is electricity in the box to drive the display.

Your smart gas meter also has circuitry in it (including a display) but because it's not connected to the electricity supply they are powered by a battery. So that the battery will last for (we hope) at least ten years, the display is normally off, need to press a button to take a "manual" reading. Not too arduous !

"Automatic" gas readings are passed wirelessly to the electricity meter which gets the job of sending them back to the supplier (or to your consumer display).

That's the idea, anyway, BG installed my smart meters nearly 5 weeks ago, but were unable to commission them (no idea why, plenty 'phone signal, but think they may be relying on similar technology that doesn't actually use your local 'phone mast). So I guess I'll still be sending manual readings for now, but no big deal.

Likewise (even if BG eventually get them working) if I switch to another supplier who can't remotely read these meters then I'll be reading them manually. But I think in 2016 the meters they are now installing are eventually of a type that all suppliers have agreed upon.

Wolf3

None of the current smart meters being fitted by any supplier have any functionality to work as a smart meter with a different supplier and revert to a "dumb" meter after the transfer date. The functionality will be available in the future, and i believe that is currently due to come for meters fitted after Spring 2017. This date has been delayed on numerous occasions previously and is referred to as SMETS 2.0 functionality.

With regards to reading the smart meters themselves the reads can be accessed on the in house display, or if you have changed suppliers and the in house display wont work, they can be accessed from the meters themselves. If you press 9 on the keypad it should display 8 numbers in kWh.

[Deleted User]

Wolf3 wrote: »

None of the current smart meters being fitted by any supplier have any functionality to work as a smart meter with a different supplier and revert to a "dumb" meter after the transfer date. The functionality will be available in the future, and i believe that is currently due to come for meters fitted after Spring 2017. This date has been delayed on numerous occasions previously and is referred to as SMETS 2.0 functionality.

With regards to reading the smart meters themselves the reads can be accessed on the in house display, or if you have changed suppliers and the in house display wont work, they can be accessed from the meters themselves. If you press 9 on the keypad it should display 8 numbers in kWh.

Pressing button 9 on the keypad for the reading is for Liberty Secure smart Keypad meters as fitted by Ovo and Utilita only .These meters may find their way to other suppliers for credit meters if they accept the meter as an exchange. They won t be accepted for prepayment customers and they will need to change the meter to one they can support. It seems that some fitters are not leaving a In house Display monitor when switching to a smart meter. That is no big loss , most customers don`t bother with it at all in my experience. Its a bit of a gimmick really to sweet talk a smart meter onto customers.
Pressing the red button on the smart gas meters a couple of times will show the reading. The Landys and Gyr E470 smart electric meter in credit mode if scrolled through will show tariff price, and defaults to show the total kwhr all the time. Its now being used by BG for smart prepayment use and will show lots of info such as how much credit is on the meter, total credit paid,emergency credit, tariff, etc
Edit: update..Had a chat with my boss today who says he has heard of an app which can be downloaded which can make the smart meter reading run backwards !
If its true,and this "app " exists it will be a con , and even if it was true the supplier could also see this in action and a charge of extracting energy for free could be used.