British Gas Meter end of life and Smart Meters

aprieto

Hi Ive just had a call form British Gas who have said my electric meter is end of life, and they they need to arrange an appointment to come and chage to a smart meter, they will also do my gas free of charge.

I asked if I could not have a smart metre and have a normal one they have said yes but it would not be free and that it would cost between 120 to 180 per meter.

Im just wondering if this is part of a drive to get people on smart meters and if anyone else has had this type of call.

That said i asked if they could email me the details so I can think about it, and they said they will call me in a few days, sureley a letter or an email would be ok, unless they arent actually supposed to be doing this?

either way although a bit skepitkal about smart meters im usually pretty happy to have another gadget, but obviusly concerned around the real TCO

Gerry1

They aren't mandatory and you can choose not to have one.

Sounds like someone on commission is tring to bamboozle you; ask them to put it in writing and then report them to the ombudsman if they confirm it or don't respond.

aprieto

Gerry1 wrote: »

They aren’t compulsory and you can choose not to have one.

Sounds like someone on commission is tring to bamboozle you; ask them to put it in writing and then report them to the ombudsman if they confirm it or don't respond.

I realise that, but this is slightly diffrent in the sence that im sure by law we ahve to have a meter changed when its end of life.

When/If they ring back ill ask them to send me the details in an email including the fact that we have to pay for a meter that isnt a smart meter, as im sure changing of meters in the past when they were end of life, should not have th ecost passed on to me, but may be wrong!!

FreeBear

It will be the "end of certification period", not an "end of life". Depending on the type of meter, the certification period could be 10 years or as much as 20. There should be a label attached to your meter giving a date when it was fitted, and possibly when the certification period expires.

"End of life" gives the impression that the meter will stop working once the date passes. This is not so, it will keep on clocking up consumption.
"End of certification period" just means that the meter can not be guaranteed to be within calibration specification. It will still keep working, but BG can not legally bill you for consumption based on the meter readings.

More information here - http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/42360/5876-meterapprovalverification-pdf

aprieto

Thanks Freebear

the terms they used was end of life, so are you saying they should or shoud not be using the end of certification time to be effectlivery forcing you onto a smart meter or should they also be telling me that i will have to pay to get a non smart meter fitted?

Thanks

Bark01

aprieto wrote: »

Thanks Freebear

the terms they used was end of life, so are you saying they should or shoud not be using the end of certification time to be effectlivery forcing you onto a smart meter or should they also be telling me that i will have to pay to get a non smart meter fitted?

Thanks

This is the mechanism by which everyone will be getting a smart meter eventually. You don’t have a choice over what meter your current legacy one is replaced with when it comes to recertification, but you can choose to have a smart meter installed in dumb mode. Do you have an objection to having a smart meter installed if it’s communications are disabled?

There are very limited supplies of legacy meters and I expect the vast majority are used. I’d imagine BT are quoting you the cost of finding a new legacy meter and working it through their pipeline.

aprieto

Bark01 wrote: »

This is the mechanism by which everyone will be getting a smart meter eventually. You don’t have a choice over what meter your current legacy one is replaced with when it comes to recertification, but you can choose to have a smart meter installed in dumb mode. Do you have an objection to having a smart meter installed if it’s communications are disabled?

There are very limited supplies of legacy meters and I expect the vast majority are used. I’d imagine BT are quoting you the cost of finding a new legacy meter and working it through their pipeline.

THanks Bark, I wonder if thats even an option, as I said im not too worried about a smart meter, but its the way they are doing it I suppose, if they call again ill ask if it can be put into dumb mode and see what they say.

Thanks

Gerry1

Bark01 wrote: »

This is the mechanism by which everyone will be getting a smart meter eventually.

Evidence, please !

harrys66

The old meters never read "over", always "under" as they age.... in your interest to keep it as long as possible


What I'd do is just change provider, it stops the process dead


If you choose a small/medium sized provider, they will never get round to sorting out the replacement (recommend bulb who will reimburse any early termination fees, plus i have a referral link if you want to message me direct )

Bark01

Gerry1 wrote: »

Evidence, please !

Legacy meters will run out of stock next year, what do you think will happen when current meters need to be replaced?

Suppliers can get warrants to replace unsafe meters and most suppliers threaten to do this already when customers don’t respond to repeated recertification exchange requests. I don’t think many if any actually follow up on that threat as most people respond. Suppliers are allowed to have 10% of their metering portfolio out of recertification, so the small number that don’t respond fall into that pot and are left.

If lots of people start to refuse, then there will need to be some form of industry intervention. Without change suppliers will be forced to go down the warrant route and nobody wants that on their hands.

As I said above the smart meter can be installed in dumb, but I’d imagine this would be opt-out. And the vast majority of people won’t be bothered to opt out.

A dumb smart meter is essentially the same as an electronic legacy meter. So what’s the problem?

Gerry1

If a smart meter is installed without the hardware for any communications facility in either direction then it's not a smart meter.

Therefore there is still no evidence that genuine smart meters will become compulsory, it's mere supposition.