British Gas trying to deceive customers to have smart meters installed

Ultrasonic

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

The same problem would be there if there was a power-cut for any reason, so it isn't unreasonable to expect the customer to be able to handle that without assistance.

I've never had to manually restart my combi-boiler after a power cut? I was thinking the issue was more caused by the gas supply being interrupted?

Yes ideally everyone should know how to restart their boiler but realistically I can understand that there are bound to be people who don't.

bagand96

AngelaJane68 said:

And they're still doing it.  I received another vaguely threatening email saying I NEED to have a smart meter fitted.  Then two days later saying it was a mistake and I don't.  I say 'another' as they also did the exact same thing to me last year.  It's obviously a deliberate and coercive ploy on their part to get everyone on smart meters.  Makes me wonder what's wrong with them??

Generally these things are c*ck up over conspiracy. And BG are more than capable of c*ck ups! 

wild666

Wend20 said:

I am trying to change my provider since Bulb are changing tariffs and increasing my monthly DD from £77 to £114!!!, horrified I am looking to switch asap.  Problem is my meters are too far apart and I have been told they can't work at that distance apart, so does that mean I could be stuck with a higher cost energy deal as none of the providers want to do the work involved - or will I have to bear the cost myself?  Seems as though new tariffs are biased towards smart meters?  Any ideas?

Just let them fit the smart meters, it's the suppliers problem if one meter won't make contact with the other. 

MWT

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

The same problem would be there if there was a power-cut for any reason, so it isn't unreasonable to expect the customer to be able to handle that without assistance.

I've never had to manually restart my combi-boiler after a power cut? I was thinking the issue was more caused by the gas supply being interrupted?

Odds are you have a boiler that doesn't have a pilot light, and you'd probably have no issues with a meter change either.

They will usually use the hob if it is gas, to clear the majority of the air in the system and modern boilers should be able to restart on their own after that.

Just takes a bit of time to relight a pilot light if there is still air in the system.

I do recall the engineer that fitted our smart gas meter checked that we had turned off the boiler and knew how to restart it before he changed the meter.

I guess he may have already had a bad experience or two...

Ultrasonic

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

The same problem would be there if there was a power-cut for any reason, so it isn't unreasonable to expect the customer to be able to handle that without assistance.

I've never had to manually restart my combi-boiler after a power cut? I was thinking the issue was more caused by the gas supply being interrupted?

Odds are you have a boiler that doesn't have a pilot light, and you'd probably have no issues with a meter change either.

They will usually use the hob if it is gas, to clear the majority of the air in the system and modern boilers should be able to restart on their own after that.

Just takes a bit of time to relight a pilot light if there is still air in the system.

I do recall the engineer that fitted our smart gas meter checked that we had turned off the boiler and knew how to restart it before he changed the meter.

I guess he may have already had a bad experience or two...

Yes, my boiler doesn't have a pilot light. I don't have gas hobs (unfortunately) and I can't remember for certain what happened when my smart meter's were fitted now. I suspect that the installer either checked or got me to check that all was good before he left.

nigelbb

Ultrasonic said:

nigelbb said:

There are problems with them especially when you switch suppliers when your smart meter cannot be read by their systems so reverts to being dumb meter.

Just on this point, if it happens then someone is no worse off that with a conventional meter, and such issues are far rarer with SMETS2 meters. So far my SMETS2 meter has successfully worked with three different providers. I am though currently mid-switch to Scottish Power and I have seen a couple of people post here about cost display issues following a similar switch so I'll see how that goes. The actual usage figures are still displayed OK even then, which is the most important part.

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

From the consumer's point of view a smart meter that becomes a dumb meter when you switch suppliers is worse than useless. If it fails to work as a smart meter when you change supplier then all of the supposed benefits like no meter readings & being able to easily keep an eye on consumption are lost to you. Unless of course there is going to be a government incentivised programme to replace dumbed down smart meters with smart meters that actually stay smart.

nigelbb

MWT said:

Ultrasonic said:

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

The same problem would be there if there was a power-cut for any reason, so it isn't unreasonable to expect the customer to be able to handle that without assistance.

We have had power outages on occasion when the main circuit breaker has tripped. Nothing needed to be done to restart the gas boiler.

Ultrasonic

nigelbb said:

Ultrasonic said:

nigelbb said:

There are problems with them especially when you switch suppliers when your smart meter cannot be read by their systems so reverts to being dumb meter.

Just on this point, if it happens then someone is no worse off that with a conventional meter, and such issues are far rarer with SMETS2 meters. So far my SMETS2 meter has successfully worked with three different providers. I am though currently mid-switch to Scottish Power and I have seen a couple of people post here about cost display issues following a similar switch so I'll see how that goes. The actual usage figures are still displayed OK even then, which is the most important part.

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

From the consumer's point of view a smart meter that becomes a dumb meter when you switch suppliers is worse than useless. If it fails to work as a smart meter when you change supplier then all of the supposed benefits like no meter readings & being able to easily keep an eye on consumption are lost to you. Unless of course there is going to be a government incentivised programme to replace dumbed down smart meters with smart meters that actually stay smart.

No, you need to distinguish between the in-home display that I was talking about and the smart-meter itself. The IHD can be powered off and in a drawer and the energy supplier will still get the meter readings from the smart meter. The principle benefits to society as a whole (load monitoring etc) also still apply. 

nigelbb

Ultrasonic said:

nigelbb said:

Ultrasonic said:

nigelbb said:

There are problems with them especially when you switch suppliers when your smart meter cannot be read by their systems so reverts to being dumb meter.

Just on this point, if it happens then someone is no worse off that with a conventional meter, and such issues are far rarer with SMETS2 meters. So far my SMETS2 meter has successfully worked with three different providers. I am though currently mid-switch to Scottish Power and I have seen a couple of people post here about cost display issues following a similar switch so I'll see how that goes. The actual usage figures are still displayed OK even then, which is the most important part.

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

From the consumer's point of view a smart meter that becomes a dumb meter when you switch suppliers is worse than useless. If it fails to work as a smart meter when you change supplier then all of the supposed benefits like no meter readings & being able to easily keep an eye on consumption are lost to you. Unless of course there is going to be a government incentivised programme to replace dumbed down smart meters with smart meters that actually stay smart.

No, you need to distinguish between the in-home display that I was talking about and the smart-meter itself. The IHD can be powered off and in a drawer and the energy supplier will still get the meter readings from the smart meter. The principle benefits to society as a whole (load monitoring etc) also still apply. 

If the IHD no longer works then one of the key benefits to the consumer is lost. How does the consumer get it re-enabled? How does the consumer confirm that it won’t get broken in the first place? It’s a bit late after they have made a switch & discovered that the IHD is now useless. 

Ultrasonic

nigelbb said:

Ultrasonic said:

nigelbb said:

Ultrasonic said:

nigelbb said:

There are problems with them especially when you switch suppliers when your smart meter cannot be read by their systems so reverts to being dumb meter.

Just on this point, if it happens then someone is no worse off that with a conventional meter, and such issues are far rarer with SMETS2 meters. So far my SMETS2 meter has successfully worked with three different providers. I am though currently mid-switch to Scottish Power and I have seen a couple of people post here about cost display issues following a similar switch so I'll see how that goes. The actual usage figures are still displayed OK even then, which is the most important part.

You do raise a fair point about a meter change causing issues for anyone unaware of how to restart their own boiler.

From the consumer's point of view a smart meter that becomes a dumb meter when you switch suppliers is worse than useless. If it fails to work as a smart meter when you change supplier then all of the supposed benefits like no meter readings & being able to easily keep an eye on consumption are lost to you. Unless of course there is going to be a government incentivised programme to replace dumbed down smart meters with smart meters that actually stay smart.

No, you need to distinguish between the in-home display that I was talking about and the smart-meter itself. The IHD can be powered off and in a drawer and the energy supplier will still get the meter readings from the smart meter. The principle benefits to society as a whole (load monitoring etc) also still apply. 

If the IHD no longer works then one of the key benefits to the consumer is lost. How does the consumer get it re-enabled? How does the consumer confirm that it won’t get broken in the first place? It’s a bit late after they have made a switch & discovered that the IHD is now useless. 

My point that was originally responded to was that they weren't worse off. You can't reasonably argue against smart meters on the basis that they do give consumers a benefit but this is clearly a bad thing because they might then subsequently lose that benefit  .