Smart Meters

MeterMan

Shiralco, The monitor which displays your usage info is not a smart meter, its an energy monitor/in home display (paperweight in your case)

The smart meter is the actual gas and electric meter which does not need your tariff info to be correct, it submits a reading every so often and generates a bill as a result.

As for how EDF do things, maybe that is their way. I know my supplier can update the tariff instantly.

Michaelw

Shiralco wrote: »

I noticed that the tariff data on the smart meter display had not been updated. I contacted EDF customer services who agreed to look into it.

You need to go by the information on the meter itself not the inhome display,sometimes its right but in cases wrong.British Gas told me to keep it connected and appears if I dont the HAN light on the hub begins flashing red but the credit still goes on.I've abandoned the inhome display and check the meters for top up in the cabinet instead.

C_Mababejive

Apologies for jumping in on page 38. Just a few observations,,, Is it allowed for providers to say you can only have this that or the other tariff if you have smarts fitted?

Are people aware that the quality of smart meter installers varies considerably and that some deliberately find excuses to dump your job and not do it if it involves more work than normal?

Remember also that if an installer decides that part or all of your gas equipment is "At Risk" or "immediately dangerous" then they MUST supply you with a statutory notice stating what the defect is.

SnowTiger

Shiralco wrote: »

In other words, for eight weeks the information the display gives regarding the cost of energy I am using is completely wrong, and therefore useless. It appears that the smart meter is not so smart after all! Is this normal? Are all smart meters completely useless for a couple of months (or maybe more) each time you change tariff?

Eight weeks to update the tariff information does seem like a long time.

The dispplay is still useful during that period. It will tell you your meter readings and how much energy you have used.

It's simple to calculate costs your self.

If you change energy supplier there's a good chance your display will become dumb and not provide cost information at all.

IMO the smart meter roll out was very badly thought out.

Michaelw

These meters, can be thrown into disaray after a sevice change/have not been correctly set up for tariff pricing.My hub was exchanged and because I don't use the inhome display I didn't notice I wasn't being charged at all for electicity for around a week,the advice on reconnecting the display was check the meter and I was being charged the correct amount, I wasn't being charged at all.It took another week to have data sent for tariff information recently while the meter shows the correct tariff the inhome display does not for electricity.I think the electricity is still out a penny or so a day on the meter electricity for standing charge but I just gave up with the thing and the display went back in the box.

Going deeper into IND menus' the figures are inacurate for weekly/monthly usage,the inhome display is only guide and its information cannot be guarenteed as correct in all cases.The meter menus are the most important and those are the ones to rely on if correct or not.

Gone are simple dials that was to easy.

mac.d

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Apologies for jumping in on page 38. Just a few observations,,, Is it allowed for providers to say you can only have this that or the other tariff if you have smarts fitted?

Yes it is allowed that they can put in the terms & conditions of a particular tariff that you must have, or agree to have a smart meter installed. Just as it was allowed for the suppliers to offer a discount for direct debit payments, or to offer special tariffs via certain comparison sites, etc, etc.

Are people aware that the quality of smart meter installers varies considerably and that some deliberately find excuses to dump your job and not do it if it involves more work than normal?

Many of the people fitting smart meters will have been trained specifically to fit smart meters and nothing else other than some standard electrical H&S. They are not "dumping the job if it involves more work than normal", they aren't trained to deal with a more complex installation, and they will also have targets to fit so many meters per day, and therefore don't have the time to do a job that isn't just a fairly straight forward exchange. In theory, the job should drop back into the system for someone more qualified & with less time constraints to deal with.

brewerdave

mac.d wrote: »

Many of the people fitting smart meters will have been trained specifically to fit smart meters and nothing else other than some standard electrical H&S. They are not "dumping the job if it involves more work than normal", they aren't trained to deal with a more complex installation, and they will also have targets to fit so many meters per day, and therefore don't have the time to do a job that isn't just a fairly straight forward exchange.

....and unfortunately some of them were so target driven ,that they fitted SMETS1 meters in establishments with inadequate mobile signal - my s-i-l's meters have never worked!!!

zeupater

brewerdave wrote: »

....and unfortunately some of them were so target driven ,that they fitted SMETS1 meters in establishments with inadequate mobile signal - my s-i-l's meters have never worked!!!

Hi

... and therefore those installations should be struck from the smart-metering project installation database & not be counted towards project targets or be considered for project (therefore consumer) funding ... but, of course, vested interests & clueless government departments ensure that they are & will continue to be!

As an aside, don't worry about the communications differences between SMETS1 & 2 ... chances are that if there's no carrier signal in an area then any device that needs network access simply won't work ... all smart-meters fitted within the scope of the roll-out project within areas or physical locations with inadequate network provision should immediately be struck from the scheme ...

It's actually pretty easy to audit & fix the issue ... if the DCC can't communicate with the meters on (a technically realistic) >99% of data access requests, then there's something seriously wrong, so the suppliers should be given a window for rectification with fines for each non-compliant occurrance ... all it would take is Ofgem to build this into supply license requirements and you can be sure that the smart-meter installation count would subjected to rapid downward adjustment! ...

HTH
Z

brewerdave

zeupater wrote: »

As an aside, don't worry about the communications differences between SMETS1 & 2 ... chances are that if there's no carrier signal in an area then any device that needs network access simply won't work ... all smart-meters fitted within the scope of the roll-out project within areas or physical locations with inadequate network provision should immediately be struck from the scheme ...

Thought that SMETS2 meters depend on setting up a local area network and then establish a connection back to DCC from a meter which DOES have a link.??

Bark01

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

... and therefore those installations should be struck from the smart-metering project installation database & not be counted towards project targets or be considered for project (therefore consumer) funding ... but, of course, vested interests & clueless government departments ensure that they are & will continue to be!

As an aside, don't worry about the communications differences between SMETS1 & 2 ... chances are that if there's no carrier signal in an area then any device that needs network access simply won't work ... all smart-meters fitted within the scope of the roll-out project within areas or physical locations with inadequate network provision should immediately be struck from the scheme ...

Z

This is already in the license conditions. The rule set that governs which meters can be counted by suppliers changes each year in the roll out. For instance last year was the final year suppliers could count capable meters, if the meter isn’t communicating then it can’t receive the firmware upgrade to change it from capable to
compliant so it will drop off the suppliers count this year.

By the end of 2020 the rule set changes again and suppliers have to demonstrate they have taken all reasonable steps to provide a customer with a compliant communicating smart meter. This means that where there is a signal strength issue the supplier has to try whatever options there are (mesh hubs/dual band coms hubs/ flying leads etc.) to get the customers smart meter working.