Smart Meters: Who is responsible for them?

Quaffa

Hi.

Last year we joined the CEC Collective Fix with British Gas, and during the year they offered us free 'Smart' Meters for gas and electricity. This meant that we no longer needed to submit meter readings of course, so that was good.

At the end of the collective fix CEC's cheapest deal in our area was Iresa, and so we switched to them from 6th April. Iresa, however, do not support Smart Meters. No problem, I thought, I will simply take the readings from the remote display unit they gave me and submit them manually to Iresa.

That worked for a couple of weeks, but now the remote display no longer connects to the smart meters, and so I assume British gas have turned off the service somehow.

This means that I am forced to read the displays on the meters themselves, which is far from straightforward because of the situation they're placed in. (On the side wall at the far end of an under-stairs pantry.) It was easy enough to read the old mechanical analogue meter displays, but it is really difficult to read the LCD displays on these smart meters, and it takes ages to read the electricity one as well, because it is constantly scrolling through different values.

I would therefore like to go back to the old easy-to-read analogue meters we had before. So my question is: Who do I contact to change the meters? Will it be British Gas, who fitted the smart ones, or will it be our new supplier, Iresa?

macman

You can't take the gas meter readings off the remote display anyway, as it will only display kWh, not cu ft or cu m, which is what the kWh total is calculated from, using a variable CV.
I don't think it's possible to switch back to analogue (all modern meters, smart or dumb, are digital now), but even if it was, you are looking at c. £65 per meter. The meter asset company own the meters.
Why not use the camera app on your phone to take a pic of the meter?
PS: Unless you are one of the fortunate few with Iresa whose meter readings actually get logged without a 3 month delay, I wouldn't worry about monthly readings. As for trusting them to organise a meter change, you cannot be serious?

spiro

Your current supplier, they are likely to charge for this as it would be deemed a non essential meter exchange.

MeterMan

Press the green button 6 times on the electric meter for the meter import read, and press the red button twice on the gas meter.

System

OP , it sounds like you have BG s Landys and Gyr smart meters installed..Good advice from meter fitter Meterman .Think yourself lucky that they have`nt installed Secure Liberty smart meters..now they are truly awful and rule out anyone with poor eyesight..including meter readers from making much sense of them .Many suppliers ( including Eon ) are inflicting these things on the public showing what contempt they have for their customers.
I also was on that terrific tariff from CEC with BG..Keep an eye out for anything good coming from Sainsburys Energy as BG smart meters work ok with them, at least for transmitting readings remotely.. I think OFGEM have stopped suppliers using "white label " suppliers to offer cheaper tariffs but it may change in the future hopefully.

C_Mababejive

Oh yes, dont let anyone fit a Liberty Secure meter in your home. They are not industry standard and are a pain in the backside,especially if you change suppliers.