Smart Gas Meter reading stopped incrementing

Joyful

I have a smets 2 meter that was replaced by British Gas ( previously installed by an IGT) so someone is telling you porkies.

Ectophile

shefmarkh said:

MWT said:

shefmarkh said:

Bulb says they cannot do anything because Ofgem forbids the replacement of smart meters (which they say is the only solution), but that they are trying to get this policy changed. They don't seem to have any idea of when this will happen.

Complete rubbish.

You have a faulty meter and it is their obligation as your supplier to arrange for it to be fixed or replaced.

If your meter was not faulty and you were asking to have it replaced with a SMETS2 meter then they would have a point as they are supposed to wait until they can get older SMETS1 meters adopted into the DCC, and not just replace them.... .. .but this is entirely different and certainly not prohibited by Ofgem...

Send in a written complaint and get the clock started on that if you can't get them to see sense...

Thanks. Is there a link you can give me to the regulations about this that I could then quote at them? As it is they will just say the same thing again presumably, so I would need some kind of proof that they are wrong to get them to budge.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/45/schedule/2  Gas Act 1995, Schedule 2B, 3 (3):

In the case of any consumer, the public gas transporter or any relevant gas supplier shall at all times, without charge to the consumer, keep any meter which is owned by him and is lent or hired to the consumer in proper order for correctly registering the quantity of gas supplied.

shefmarkh

Ectophile said:

shefmarkh said:

MWT said:

shefmarkh said:

Bulb says they cannot do anything because Ofgem forbids the replacement of smart meters (which they say is the only solution), but that they are trying to get this policy changed. They don't seem to have any idea of when this will happen.

Complete rubbish.

You have a faulty meter and it is their obligation as your supplier to arrange for it to be fixed or replaced.

If your meter was not faulty and you were asking to have it replaced with a SMETS2 meter then they would have a point as they are supposed to wait until they can get older SMETS1 meters adopted into the DCC, and not just replace them.... .. .but this is entirely different and certainly not prohibited by Ofgem...

Send in a written complaint and get the clock started on that if you can't get them to see sense...

Thanks. Is there a link you can give me to the regulations about this that I could then quote at them? As it is they will just say the same thing again presumably, so I would need some kind of proof that they are wrong to get them to budge.

In the case of any consumer, the public gas transporter or any relevant gas supplier shall at all times, without charge to the consumer, keep any meter which is owned by him and is lent or hired to the consumer in proper order for correctly registering the quantity of gas supplied.

Thanks. I am going to make an official complaint and quote that legislation.

I've been told by other bulb customers on their community forum that bulb will not respond to complaints and prefer to let Ofgem deal with them. If true I would have to wait 8 weeks (but anyway they are not dealing with the issue now, so no loss...). Hopefully those users are mistaken and something will happen.

[Deleted User]

OP - out of interest, where do you live? In Scotland, the Government has stopped all smart meter installations during Lockdown. I am also aware of one model of gas meter that is suffering from the problem that you have described which is waiting for a firmware update.

shefmarkh

Dolor said:

OP - out of interest, where do you live? In Scotland, the Government has stopped all smart meter installations during Lockdown. I am also aware of one model of gas meter that is suffering from the problem that you have described which is waiting for a firmware update.

I live in England.

I have been told by bulb I have a Landis & Gyr meter. They have repeatedly claimed vague things about firmware upgrades, but never commit to any specific date (sometimes claiming Ofgem won't let them fix or replace meters). Its very unclear from the self-contradictory information they give customers.

[Deleted User]

It is reported that some consumers had similar issues with the L&G G470 this time last year. A couple of months later the meters started operating normally again.

Phones4Chris

shefmarkh said:

Ectophile said:

shefmarkh said:

MWT said:

shefmarkh said:

Bulb says they cannot do anything because Ofgem forbids the replacement of smart meters (which they say is the only solution), but that they are trying to get this policy changed. They don't seem to have any idea of when this will happen.

Complete rubbish.

You have a faulty meter and it is their obligation as your supplier to arrange for it to be fixed or replaced.

If your meter was not faulty and you were asking to have it replaced with a SMETS2 meter then they would have a point as they are supposed to wait until they can get older SMETS1 meters adopted into the DCC, and not just replace them.... .. .but this is entirely different and certainly not prohibited by Ofgem...

Send in a written complaint and get the clock started on that if you can't get them to see sense...

Thanks. Is there a link you can give me to the regulations about this that I could then quote at them? As it is they will just say the same thing again presumably, so I would need some kind of proof that they are wrong to get them to budge.

In the case of any consumer, the public gas transporter or any relevant gas supplier shall at all times, without charge to the consumer, keep any meter which is owned by him and is lent or hired to the consumer in proper order for correctly registering the quantity of gas supplied.

Thanks. I am going to make an official complaint and quote that legislation.

I've been told by other bulb customers on their community forum that bulb will not respond to complaints and prefer to let Ofgem deal with them. If true I would have to wait 8 weeks (but anyway they are not dealing with the issue now, so no loss...). Hopefully those users are mistaken and something will happen.

Really, I'm not sure they'd really do that! It costs them money every time the Ombudsman has to consider a complaint about them, that would be financial suicide for them Are you sure those other customers made a formal complaint and followed Bulb's procedures for doing so.

shefmarkh

Well I have made an official complaint to bulb requesting a specific date to fix or replace the meter, given it still is not working. Lets see if that gets me anywhere.

Cheers,

Mark

[Deleted User]

shefmarkh said:

Dolor said:

OP - out of interest, where do you live? In Scotland, the Government has stopped all smart meter installations during Lockdown. I am also aware of one model of gas meter that is suffering from the problem that you have described which is waiting for a firmware update.

I live in England.

I have been told by bulb I have a Landis & Gyr meter. They have repeatedly claimed vague things about firmware upgrades, but never commit to any specific date (sometimes claiming Ofgem won't let them fix or replace meters). Its very unclear from the self-contradictory information they give customers.

The claims are not that vague. My G470 meter stopped increasing in December 19 and started again in February 20; it worked normally until late October 20. The problem is related to firmware upgrades which appear to be affecting a small cohort of G470 meters. 

red_flump

The claims are not that vague. My G470 meter stopped increasing in December 19 and started again in February 20; it worked normally until late October 20. The problem is related to firmware upgrades which appear to be affecting a small cohort of G470 meters. 

Almost identical the the stop start times of my G470 gas meter!