Smart Meters

starlitegaize

A warning to you all if you’re thinking of having Smart Meters installed.

My tenants requested if I minded them installing Smart meters. I said fine.

So, installer turns up the Saturday before Christmas and claims that the boiler is defective and he will have to cap off the gas supply.

Strange as the Landlord’s gas safety certificate 3 months earlier hadn’t brought up any problems.

I told him
He did not have my permission - so he tells me he’ll have to call National Grid.

5pm, NG are there and cut off the gas leaving my tenants with no hot water or central heating or stove top cooking.

Monday 9 am my gas fitted is there reconnects the supply and obviously has to bill me for it.

I have made a goodwill gesture of 2 days reduction in the rent.

I have also raided a complaint with SSE.

Has anyone else experienced this?

zeupater

Hi

Not smart meter related, but someone I know had something similar on a regular meter exchange about 10 years ago.

Network contracted fitter with correct I'd & information turns up at the door to exchange the gas meter & asks MrsX whether she's cooking or has the heating on before taking her to the meter & showing that there must be a leak & offering to trace/fix whilst there for £x and if there was an issue with the cooker/boiler arrange for an immediate visit by a local company, the alternative being disconnection of supply ...... fortunately her husband was a shift worker & being at hand was able to ensure that the installer was fully aware that the boiler had a manual button operated pilot light (as if he wasn't already!) and that it was more than coincidence that when the boiler was switched off fully before checking properly, there was apparently no leak at all .... the meter was exchanged, the fitter left & the issue was reported - some time later it came to light that a number of subcontractors had been operating a commission based scam with a local gas installer for a while and had been particularly targeting women & elderly .... unfortunately for them, MrX is a maintenance engineer specialising in gas based processes & systems

This incident was just one of many which eventually made a couple of column inches in the local free newspaper when justice was served! .. maybe the same kind of scam or there is an issue with your installation, but as your situation (as in recently checked!) sounded familiar it jolted a dusty memory from a cobwebbed shelf somewhere at the back of my mind that may be of interest!

HTH
Z

MeterMan

starlitegaize wrote: »

A warning to you all if you’re thinking of having Smart Meters installed.

My tenants requested if I minded them installing Smart meters. I said fine.

So, installer turns up the Saturday before Christmas and claims that the boiler is defective and he will have to cap off the gas supply.

Strange as the Landlord’s gas safety certificate 3 months earlier hadn’t brought up any problems.

I told him
He did not have my permission - so he tells me he’ll have to call National Grid.

5pm, NG are there and cut off the gas leaving my tenants with no hot water or central heating or stove top cooking.

Monday 9 am my gas fitted is there reconnects the supply and obviously has to bill me for it.

I have made a goodwill gesture of 2 days reduction in the rent.

I have also raided a complaint with SSE.

Has anyone else experienced this?

You haven't listed what the fitter wanted to turn the gas off for. During the visual inspection of your tenants boiler, the fitter has obviously seen something which he deems dangerous OR his employer has told him to deem it as dangerous.

I have experienced as I have done it many times as we are told to look for certain things and follow business protocol.

In your case, I imagine there are discolouration marks around the boiler which are 99.99% likely to just be heat, but theres a tiny chance that its products of combustion coming back into the room rather than being evacuated by the flue. No meter fitting company is going to change their mind on this because of that tiny chance. We have requested a better way to deal with this particular situation, but it falls on deaf ears.

Dont blame the fitter, or the smart meter. Blame the company and their processes.

zeupater

MeterMan wrote: »

You haven't listed what the fitter wanted to turn the gas off for. During the visual inspection of your tenants boiler, the fitter has obviously seen something which he deems dangerous OR his employer has told him to deem it as dangerous.

I have experienced as I have done it many times as we are told to look for certain things and follow business protocol.

In your case, I imagine there are discolouration marks around the boiler which are 99.99% likely to just be heat, but theres a tiny chance that its products of combustion coming back into the room rather than being evacuated by the flue. No meter fitting company is going to change their mind on this because of that tiny chance. We have requested a better way to deal with this particular situation, but it falls on deaf ears.

Dont blame the fitter, or the smart meter. Blame the company and their processes.

Hi

However, it seems that a recent safety certificate was issued for the property and a (Gas Safe?) installer was happy to reconnect the supply effectively on the next working day .... strange really, but if there was nothing found to be wrong when inspected on the Monday there's only two possibilities - either the disconnection was unwarranted, leaving the supplier responsible for compensation etc, or the (Gas Safe?) installer who reconnected did so on an unsafe system, totally placing his(?) accreditation at risk!

As you say, there's a good chance that the disconnection resulted from an inappropriate policy decision or agressively applying poorly constructed procedures, however, if the installation was subsequently found to be totally safe by an appropriately qualified person, then there's no reason to not hold the supplier responsible for both costs incurred (including the reimbursement of the goodwill payment!) as well as a reasonable level of compensation for the error they made ....

HTH
Z

MeterMan

The safety certificate issued is only a snapshot of how that boiler is operating at the time of the check. There is no telling if the cover of the boiler was put on correctly during that check which could have lead to the issue being identified a few weeks after.

It is of course all what ifs, but the supplier deems the issue a cause for concern and instructs their engineer to act on it in accordance with the suppliers procedures.

I have personally done where i'm 99% certain its fine but I am told to treat it as dangerous. I don't like it, have even received complaints about it. I am just glad that I no longer have to check cooker lids.

Juney_looney

Hi I just wanted to flag up an issue about Smart meters that I have found out today. I do not want a smart meter and robustly ignore any letters fron EON stating they will be coming to my home to fit one. EON are aware of my views however I have had notification that my current deal is coming to an end so I have gone online to check my options. All the cheapest tariffs have a proviso that states I can only get the best offer if I agree to having a smart meter fitted. I have spoken to a woman at EON who has advised me this move is legal and EON has done this a a "business decision". Surely this is consumer blackmail and it stops me from finding the best tariff available to me as a consumer. Just as a footnote been on comparison site and they are all doing the same, only get best tariff if you agree to a smart meter. In the middle of searching on my smart phone got a call from Dan @ Daily Mail price comparison site; said he could see me checking out deals and could do it for me. Shocked anyone could see what I was doing online......Big Brother is definitley watching you. Wasn't happy when I told him I wanted to do my own search. How the hell could he see me online????? :mad:

[Deleted User]

How the hell could he see me online????

Because you gave the switching sites your phone number and the sites allow businesses access to the information for a cost in real time as you ask for prices.

If you just want to look for energy prices, go to the Citizens Advice Bureau site as it will not track you nor store your information.
You only need to tell it your address, current tariff and annual energy used to get accurate results. But again, they will not save that information nor use it against you.

https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Juney_looney

Thsnk you for your reply. I did put on my phone number but I took off sgain when I saw it was optional however when I went back over details to correct some details original answers were in pull down. :money:

wakeupalarm

I couldn't see it in the guide but is there a list anywhere which shows which model of smart meter is fitted by each energy company?

Inigo_Montoya

starlitegaize wrote: »

A warning to you all if you’re thinking of having Smart Meters installed.

My tenants requested if I minded them installing Smart meters. I said fine.

So, installer turns up the Saturday before Christmas and claims that the boiler is defective and he will have to cap off the gas supply.

Strange as the Landlord’s gas safety certificate 3 months earlier hadn’t brought up any problems.

I told him
He did not have my permission - so he tells me he’ll have to call National Grid.

5pm, NG are there and cut off the gas leaving my tenants with no hot water or central heating or stove top cooking.

Monday 9 am my gas fitted is there reconnects the supply and obviously has to bill me for it.

I have made a goodwill gesture of 2 days reduction in the rent.

I have also raided a complaint with SSE.

Has anyone else experienced this?

that doesnt sound right at all - if the boiler was defective then he should just have cut the supply to the boiler not the whole property

I had smart meters installed with a "defective" boiler without having my gas supply cut off - the engineer was fine that the supply to the boiler had already been cut off by a plumber in a previous visit at the screw valve in the gas pipe supplying the boiler (which I could easily turn back on but Im not stupid enough to try)

The only additional thing he did was plaster a warning - do not use sticker on the boiler & told me I could take it off after he left

AFAIAA the only time they are allowed to completely cut you off is if there is a gas leak that they cannot isolate (which I assume they could if there was an isolation valve for your boiler which there should be)