British Gas have suddenly decided to invite themselves round this month

spiro

matelodave said:

MWT said:

The only time they can insist on fitting a new meter is if the old meter has reached the end of its service life, do they mention that in their letter?

Who determines when it's reached the end of it's service life? Lots of people have meters that are 20-30 years old and others have had them changed when they are less than ten years old.

The manufacturers may certify them for a certain lifetime but surely it's up to the meter owner ((the supplier, DNO or even the meter leasing company)to decide when or if he wants to change a meter and to even decide what sort or make of meter to install. There may not be a legal requirement to have a smart meter but it doesn't prevent the supplier in specifying one although you can request that it's smart functionality isn't activated.

All meters have a recertification period after which they require to be recertified. The period was originally determine by OFGEM now it comes under MID.  Years ago the old meter would be taken away and recertified so a meter could be a lot older than the certification period. Now with the smart roll out this is no longer happening so most old meters just end up being scrapped. 

elsien

I’ve just had mine changed and they are indoors.
I just showed the installer where the meters were and left them to it while I worked in another room. They didn’t do the stuff they’d normally do about showing dow the reader works, but that’s downloadable online anyway. 

I didn’t have any concerns about COVID - the installer was careful and I sped down the cupboards etc afterwards. 

theoretica

es5595 said:

Also, how old is your boiler? There have been a spate of recent incidents of the smart meter installation causing a surge that has fried circuit boards. 

Otherwise, they seem like a good idea and you’ll have much more accurate bills without the hassle of reading the meters. 

This can happen any time you throw the main switch - easy enough to avoid by switching everything off first.

matelodave

es5595 said:

Also, how old is your boiler? There have been a spate of recent incidents of the smart meter installation causing a surge that has fried circuit boards. 

Otherwise, they seem like a good idea and you’ll have much more accurate bills without the hassle of reading the meters. 

That's rubbish,there's no more likelihood of frying your boiler or anything else by turning the leccy on and off to change the meter than there is from turning it off at the wall or suffering a power outage.

AFAIK there hasn't been a "spate" of incidents, there may have been one or two who have attributed a co-incidental boiler failure to a meter exchange and then tried to blame the energy company but it hasn't been proven.

It's another case of false news or hearsay which you are helping to spread.

Gerry1

matelodave said:

es5595 said:

Also, how old is your boiler? There have been a spate of recent incidents of the smart meter installation causing a surge that has fried circuit boards. 

Otherwise, they seem like a good idea and you’ll have much more accurate bills without the hassle of reading the meters. 

That's rubbish,there's no more likelihood of frying your boiler or anything else by turning the leccy on and off to change the meter than there is from turning it off at the wall or suffering a power outage.

Nope.

If you throw the main switch then any voltage spikes won't be quenched by the low impedance presented by the public supply.  Any inductive spike from the fridge, freezer, pool pump or whatever can zap anything fragile such as the boiler controller that still happens to be connected at the time.

Far better to unplug everything individually and then throw the mains switch.

Mister_G

Indeed.  As an electrician, when working on the consumer unit, it is considered good practice to turn off individual circuit breakers before turning off the main switch.  Similarly, when re-energising, individual breakers are switched back on one at a time.  This minimises any surges or spikes that can damage sensitive equipment.

[Deleted User]

es5595 said:

Also, how old is your boiler? There have been a spate of recent incidents of the smart meter installation causing a surge that has fried circuit boards. 

Otherwise, they seem like a good idea and you’ll have much more accurate bills without the hassle of reading the meters. 

Yet again, this is just un-necessary scaremongering.  Power is restored when the installer re-inserts the main fuse. This simple action is no different from turning on a light switch and it does not result in a power surge Yes, electrical items will fail, and have done for years, when power is restored/turned on because electrical components age over time. Think of old incandescent light bulbs. 

molerat

People would be less averse to smart meters if they had been designed by someone with at least some common sense.  Why can't the screen on the actual meter simply show the one and only figure that anyone is interested in seeing, the actual meter reading ? Why do you have to go through the rigmarole of pressing a button several times to get that reading whilst coming across several that could be the reading ?  When they get that one sorted, I can currently read my meter from 6ft away, I will consider having one.  My SIL has been continually nagged to get one.  Even explaining that there is no mobile signal from any network at her house and her neighbour is about half a mile away as the crow flies still does not put them off pushing.  Ticking a box seems far more important than implementing a network that actually works as it should.

Mister_G

Dolor said:

es5595 said:

Also, how old is your boiler? There have been a spate of recent incidents of the smart meter installation causing a surge that has fried circuit boards. 

Otherwise, they seem like a good idea and you’ll have much more accurate bills without the hassle of reading the meters. 

Yet again, this is just un-necessary scaremongering.  Power is restored when the installer re-inserts the main fuse. This simple action is no different from turning on a light switch and it does not result in a power surge Yes, electrical items will fail, and have done for years, when power is restored/turned on because electrical components age over time. Think of old incandescent light bulbs. 

I think that we'll just beg to differ on that.  Incandescent lamps tend to fail due to either mechanical or thermal shock.

Talldave

molerat said:

People would be less averse to smart meters if they had been designed by someone with at least some common sense.  Why can't the screen on the actual meter simply show the one and only figure that anyone is interested in seeing, the actual meter reading ? Why do you have to go through the rigmarole of pressing a button several times to get that reading whilst coming across several that could be the reading ?  When they get that one sorted, I can currently read my meter from 6ft away, I will consider having one.  My SIL has been continually nagged to get one.  Even explaining that there is no mobile signal from any network at her house and her neighbour is about half a mile away as the crow flies still does not put them off pushing.  Ticking a box seems far more important than implementing a network that actually works as it should.

I think they were specified by idiots.