Faulty gas meter, can't get hold of British Gas, in middle of switching to new provider

Matthaus73

I was originally told they would come and change battery then that was changed to battery is not replaceable so got a new meter instead 

Gerry1

I trust you have photographic evidence of the meter showing the low battery 'b' symbol?  If not, get the freeze blocks out !

I understand that they change the whole meter when the battery fails. In the meantime, keep daily records of the meter reading.

NippyNelly

Gaargh! Just checked my few photos, and none of them show the "b" - fingers crossed the meter is found to be faulty.... (second attempted engineer visit due today some time.....).  Meter readings seem to be behaving now, even when gas turned off. 

Talldave

Matthaus73 said:

I was originally told they would come and change battery then that was changed to battery is not replaceable so got a new meter instead 

Sums up our energy industry really doesn't it? Why design a product to allow replacement of a £10 battery when the alternative is to junk the whole product costing £hundreds?!  The stupidity is astounding.

tim_p

Talldave said:

Matthaus73 said:

I was originally told they would come and change battery then that was changed to battery is not replaceable so got a new meter instead 

Sums up our energy industry really doesn't it? Why design a product to allow replacement of a £10 battery when the alternative is to junk the whole product costing £hundreds?!  The stupidity is astounding.

You’d think this at first BUT.. if it’s known a duff battery can cause a meter to go rogue then there are a lot of people out there who would capitalise on this, at the rest of our expense.  If I can think of ways then others could and would. 

NippyNelly

##Update##  Just received the engineer's report that finds the meter was "so defective that it could not be investigated" - I have never been so happy to find out something was very very broken!  I actually had a little cry when I read it. So now we just have to negotiate with BG over the outstanding bills... Thanks everyone for your comments - I know it's only a little bean in the hill of beans of life, but it's been such a worry. 

Gerry1

Thanks for coming back !  So many posters don't bother, which is disappointing because others with similar problems end up none the wiser.  Please can you also post a summary on the Rogue Meters thread.

Talldave

This is obviously a design flaw, since all the reports involve similar behaviour. How many are doing this without the customer noticing and how long before someone accepts that there's a problem?

Matthaus73

Great news , that relief when you are proved right when the gas supplier has told you you're wrong so many times is a bit overwhelming ! 

NippyNelly

Gerry1 said:

Thanks for coming back !  So many posters don't bother, which is disappointing because others with similar problems end up none the wiser.  Please can you also post a summary on the Rogue Meters thread.

I certainly will My best advice to anyone who even suspects something awry with their gas meter is to do the tests we did: take a reading, then turn it off at the stopcock, leave overnight (or however long you can) and take another reading.  These were the killer evidence for us. And take photos of the readings, videos of the meter changing while gas switched off, etc. If you go to the Ombudsman, they will look at your usage as well, and compare periods in question to previous years' usage.  Of course, looking back at our bills, we have a sneaking suspicion that the meter was probably misoperating last winter as well,but things have been changing a lot for us the last couple of years, and we just didn't think to look. I'll be looking very regularly from now on!

Talldave said:

This is obviously a design flaw, since all the reports involve similar behaviour. How many are doing this without the customer noticing and how long before someone accepts that there's a problem?

I've certainly found the Landis Gyr to feature in more threads and complaints than any other model.  The engineer told us they aren't putting them in any more, and haven't done for a while, so fingers crossed that the new generation meters are better.  Truth is, anything which relies on a battery of any sort stands to have that battery run down over time. The apparent lack of monitoring of these meters by gas companies means that the onus is on the consumer (as always!) to make sure that things are working as they should.  Small misfirings won't ever be picked up, though, so yes, energy companies could easily be making money for nothing on meters with spurious readings.  My dad (90, poor eyesight, etc) would definitely not be able to check his meter was operating correctly.

Matthaus73 said:

Great news , that relief when you are proved right when the gas supplier has told you you're wrong so many times is a bit overwhelming ! 

Ain't it just! The wait for the result has been nailbiting, without a doubt.  And the timing (lockdown) was pretty rubbish

So, thanks again, everyone, for your support