Rogue Smart meters

purpleparrotuk

Has my Bulb smart meter installed Friday and now they are saying some meters are known to be faulty and won’t submit readings and mine is one of them. Why are they installing them then!

Robin9

@purpleparrotuk Which make and model please ?

Gerry1

Because they get fined if they don't, it's just a box-ticking exercise.

And it's not a rogue (=overcharging) meter, so your post (effectively a duplicate of another that you have just posted) would be best deleted.

purpleparrotuk

Gerry1 said:

Because they get fined if they don't, it's just a box-ticking exercise.

And it's not a rogue (=overcharging) meter, so your post (effectively a duplicate of another that you have just posted) would be best deleted.

Since when does rogue mean overcharging? It’s says in the first post failed smart meters. Mine has failed. 

purpleparrotuk

Robin9 said:

@purpleparrotuk Which make and model please ?

Landis g470 672

Gerry1

purpleparrotuk said:

Gerry1 said:

Because they get fined if they don't, it's just a box-ticking exercise.

And it's not a rogue (=overcharging) meter, so your post (effectively a duplicate of another that you have just posted) would be best deleted.

Since when does rogue mean overcharging? It’s says in the first post failed smart meters. Mine has failed. 

Your meter is probably still happily recording your usage, but the comms link to the hub can't be established (thick walls or whatever) or the comms hub can't phone home.  If that's the case it's not rogue and you can see how much you are using (although you'll have to convert the volume to kWh and do the sums).

A rogue meter is one that malfunctions, e.g. a failing battery means that it shows crazy usage amounts and/or shows usage when the supply is turned off.

Greendak

Hi, I have a Landis 310P and I tried my heating at the end of Nov 22, first time since last winter. It was on 9851(cubic meters). Today its reached 12068. Last Monday it was 11406 for example. Thats 662 cubic meter in a week. It was I have a 4 minute shower a day and on washing up bowl of hot water. I have not had my heating on while I report these huge readings, apart from a couple of hours on low for the last 4 days since a burn test. A 'C' appeared in the bottom right corner when it read 9851 and the readings have been increasing ever since, even with the gas off. I have finally done a burns test, Bulb did not respond despite daily emails and phone calls. They finally replied via fb messenger. I have been taking meter readings daily/more than once a day and sent all the photos in a pdf to them. This has been so stressful, my boiler friend said its like I have been powering the street and the boiler can not output the amount it is. I may have to wait 5 weeks for the meter to be sent away for testing. It must be faulty but I can not leave the heating off, my health and house are suffering (wet walls and damp rooms) so just hope this can get sorted.

Gerry1

@Greendak Welcome to the forum.

It would be well worth taking a video of the meter incrementing with the shut off handle clearly shown set to off.  You won't be able to post it here yet, although you can probably upload it to a video sharing site and type in the URL.

Forget customer service, register a formal written complaint with Bulb and get a reference number.  Even better if you can include the 'smoking gun' video link.

You can then go to the Energy Ombudsman upon receipt of a deadlock letter, or after eight weeks if they don't send one.

Greendak

Thanks Gerry1. I have been on at them for ages. The meter now shows a 'b' instead of a 'c', which I think from a google search on a similar device means its the battery? I am now concerned it will shut my gas off when the battery goes. Bulb only seem to reply to facebook messages, so I sent one today and then they emailed back asking if the cost for the check was ok. I have already said it was, it is just being held up all the time. I have sent pdfs with photos of usage and a video showing usage with nothing on, and done a burns test (they asked me to do it again,  said you have this information already). Still no appointment made to check the meter, I have no idea on my usage. It was 9851 on 23/11/22, and is 13495 as of yesterday. I live alone and barely use the heating as I can not budget usage with this going on. My usage last year was 157 units for Dec '21 and 92 for Jan '22 fo reference. I would have suffocated if it was a leak, plus no gas smell. So stressful and so cold.

Gerry1

Greendak said:

I have been on at them for ages. The meter now shows a 'b' instead of a 'c', which I think from a google search on a similar device means its the battery? I am now concerned it will shut my gas off when the battery goes.

Have you made a formal written complaint?

If not, do it today.  Don't waste time phoning, you need an audit trail.  You could also complain to their CEO whose info can be found at the ceoemail site which is a dot com.

You can then go to the Ombudsman upon receipt of a deadlock letter, or after eight weeks if they don't send one.

If the smart meter has a failing battery it may well switch off the gas.  That's likely to happen when the weather gets very cold.  A rogue smart meter was found to be the the culprit ln this long thread.