Moving supplier - in-home display stops working

Legacy_user

After confidently telling others that if they move supplier the smart meter connection with the new supplier will no longer work, but the connection to the in-home display will carry on, I now have a red face.

I moved away from British Gas and now my new supply is live the in-home display unit is useless. It shows a connection insofar as it can tell me my meter number etc., but gives me no information about my meter reading or consumption. The main display simply says 'Connecting to smart meter'. Is it really necessary for British Gas to switch off this functionality?

I am now at a disadvantage as the smart reader is very difficult to read manually. My meters are outside, high up in an entry of my terraced house. To read I need to climb a small ladder and perch there to gather the readings. The original meters were far easier to read - I didn't have to press anything and could see from ground level.

Is there anything I can do? Can I have the smart meters removed and dumb meters installed? In terms of health and safety I'm really not happy with the current situation.

Thanks for any useful comments!

System

I emailed my gas and electricity suppliers and so far Better Energy has got back to me to arrange a meter swap. They will install a standard non-smart gas meter next week. Hopefully People for Places will offer a similar exchange of my electricity meter.

System

scgf wrote: »

After confidently telling others that if they move supplier the smart meter connection with the new supplier will no longer work, but the connection to the in-home display will carry on, I now have a red face.

I moved away from British Gas and now my new supply is live the in-home display unit is useless. It shows a connection insofar as it can tell me my meter number etc., but gives me no information about my meter reading or consumption. The main display simply says 'Connecting to smart meter'. Is it really necessary for British Gas to switch off this functionality?

I am now at a disadvantage as the smart reader is very difficult to read manually. My meters are outside, high up in an entry of my terraced house. To read I need to climb a small ladder and perch there to gather the readings. The original meters were far easier to read - I didn't have to press anything and could see from ground level.

Is there anything I can do? Can I have the smart meters removed and dumb meters installed? In terms of health and safety I'm really not happy with the current situation.

Thanks for any useful comments!

The first generation of smart meters are supplier dependent. The second generation of smart meters will be rolled out from late 2017 onwards. These will 'talk' to The Data Communications Company - not individual suppliers - and you will be able to switch suppliers and retain a smart connection.

System

I got a reply from Places for People and they are charging me £78 to replace my smart meter with a non-smart version. Shame they wouldn't do it for free like Better Energy is doing for my gas meter