British Gas IHD readings after switch to Scottish Power

click86

My parents have just completed a switch from British Gas to Scottish Power.

The British Gas in home display appears to be working for the most part, which is good news (some nonessential functionality has been lost though)!

Unfortunately, my parents aren't very savvy with technology, and due to lockdown I cannot go and take a look myself so I hope somebody on the MSE forum can suggest a fix or explanation to their issue.

After guiding them through the process to obtain their gas and electric meter readings via the IHD, it appears that the gas reading is displaying correctly, but the electricity is showing circa double what the actual meter suggests (the meter sounds correct as these almost correlate with the auto-readings taken by BG prior to the account closing).

Does anyone know why this may be happening or if anything can be done to put this right for them?

I understand that the actual smart meter should be the device that auto-sends the meter readings, but just in case this functionality has been lost, I thought it would be easier for them to provide readings from the IHD rather than crawling under a cupboard every month.

Thanks!

matelodave

IMO it's not a good idea to use the IHD to read the meter unless your are totally sure that it reads exactly the same as the meter. So at least for the first couple of months please do ensure that the IDH reads the same as the meter, if it doesn't then always give the meter info not the IHD unless you want problems in the future.

They aren't reliable and are likely to become less reliable if you've changed supplier. Data gets returned by the supplier to the IHD via the meter so if it's now become a dumb meter because the new supplier won't, can't or hasn't been able to enroll it onto the DCC then it can't communicate properly and data will either get lost or corrupted.

MWT

The problem with a lot of the meters is that they don't easily display the correct number, especially if the meter has even been in E7 mode. For example, my IHD always shows a higher reading than my meter will show on its initial screen, but that is because the first screen on the meter only shows the first register on the meter, not the total used for all registers on the meter. So in my case the IHD is right, the meter is 'wrong', until you press the button about 9 times to get to the right total reading in kWh...

click86

Thank you for the responses.

Would it be too early (considering it's been around 5 days in since the switch was complete) to ask Scottish Power whether the smart meter will automatically submit the meter readings, or would that only become known when its time for the first bill?

MWT

click86 said:

Would it be too early (considering it's been around 5 days in since the switch was complete) to ask Scottish Power whether the smart meter will automatically submit the meter readings, or would that only become known when its time for the first bill?

Never too early to ask, but they should be able to see on the IHD if the new supplier is shown along with the correct tariff, that would be a good sign that all is well...

matelodave

You should be able to log on to your on-line account with Scottish Power to see if it's logging the data but TBH I wouldn't hold my breath, I'm not sure how far the programme for transferring smart meters from one supplier to another has advanced.
It's been on the cards for a long time but it still involves a complex process between the gaining supplier, the leaving supplier and the DCC and the meters have to be compatible and enrolled onto the DCC (and not many have yet).

I'd think that you won't get much sense out of anyone at the moment especially with the Covid-19 problem reducing the manpower available for what might be considered trivial queries

mac.d

matelodave said:

You should be able to log on to your on-line account with Scottish Power to see if it's logging the data but TBH I wouldn't hold my breath, I'm not sure how far the programme for transferring smart meters from one supplier to another has advanced.

I know of someone who has switched back to British Gas (SMETS1 meter originally installed by British Gas), and despite a visit from a British Gas engineer to fix/update something at the electric meter so they can get remote readings again, the online account still only shows gas meter data, nothing for the electric. I can't figure out how they've been able to get readings from the gas meter right from the date of them taking over the supply, the IHD was no longer connecting to the meter (it is now), and who knows if they are getting the readings for the electric or not?

Yet another example of the pathetic smart meter rollout.

elle_may

click86 said:

My parents have just completed a switch from British Gas to Scottish Power.

The British Gas in home display appears to be working for the most part, which is good news (some nonessential functionality has been lost though)!

Unfortunately, my parents aren't very savvy with technology, and due to lockdown I cannot go and take a look myself so I hope somebody on the MSE forum can suggest a fix or explanation to their issue.

After guiding them through the process to obtain their gas and electric meter readings via the IHD, it appears that the gas reading is displaying correctly, but the electricity is showing circa double what the actual meter suggests (the meter sounds correct as these almost correlate with the auto-readings taken by BG prior to the account closing).

Does anyone know why this may be happening or if anything can be done to put this right for them?

I understand that the actual smart meter should be the device that auto-sends the meter readings, but just in case this functionality has been lost, I thought it would be easier for them to provide readings from the IHD rather than crawling under a cupboard every month.

Thanks!

If this is your first meter reading you have to telephone the first meter reading to Scottish power.  The meter not the IHD is the one to look at and summit. The ihd sometimes does not work with new supplier.