British Gas Electricity Smart Meter not working

critchley

We pay BG by Direct Debit and virtually trust that everything is OK.  I find their website really confusing as it seems to throw you about from pillar to post and to get a proper bill you have to download a PDF file.  I'm 77 and I can find my way around a computer quite well but I don't keep checking the account as often as I should.  

When I logged in earlier this year and managed to negotiate my way to actual readings I noticed that we had a proper reading (not estimated) for the last time on 1st December 2019 and then a big gap and the next item on the readings was on the 6th April 2020 and this was estimated (both gas and electricity) and has been every quarter since.  I decided to take readings but whereas the gas meter could be read the electricity one is just a total blank.  I looked online at the instructions for reading it, printed a picture even, and pressed the green button as it said and although the panel lit up it was just green, no figures.

I managed to talk to someone in online chat and was told that they were busy sorting out priority customers who had no heating, lighting, etc. and to try again in March!  I've tried again but it now just comes up with a message that they can only deal with emergency cases.

My worry is that it says we aren't paying enough (although how they know that from estimates I don't know) and because we are both elderly, in poor health and my partner is disabled we have had the heating on practically 24/7 during the cold Winter months and I'm worried that when/if they do fix the meter we will owe them a small fortune.  

The stupid thing is that we were paying £120 a month for over a year and then they suddenly informed us that we were paying too much and they dropped it down to £48 a month!  I knew this couldn't be enough but when I tried to alter the payment the website said it was unable to do it at the time.  Then in January this year they suddenly said it wasn't enough and upped it to £120 again!  We've only paid that for 2 months and they're saying it still isn't enough.

I'm really confused and don't know what to do.  None of their Frequently Asked Questions (that they steer you to for help) say anything about our sort of meter, it's all about Pay As You Go ones.  Help! 

PennyForThem_2

Hi
I am surprised nobody has answered this - will try to help.  

Are the meters Smart Meters or old style?  From your description of electricity meter it sounds as if might be Smart Meter and showing consumption digitally?  It would help if you could tell us.

Do you have an In House Display unit which if Smart Meters you would have received on installation?  It might be easier to read from that.

Knowing this would make it easier to help you.

I would find the Customer Service contact details for British Gas and either phone or email them.  

PennyForThem_2

Just read the title - so you have Smart Meters.  Do you have an In House Display?  If so, do you have its instruction manual?

critchley

Thank you for your reply.  The in house display hasn't worked for ages (probably about the same time that they stopped getting accurate readings).  I know it probably sounds daft but I just thought it was that particular bit of equipment that wasn't working and didn't think it affected the readings.  I can't remember what was displayed the last time I looked at it but I tried pressing buttons to try and reset it it but got nowhere.  Strangely enough I just looked at it (it's over the other side of the room and not really in my line of vision) and it now says "Lost Network.  Please contact customer services if problem persists".  I don't know when that popped up but it certainly wasn't showing last time I took any notice of it. 

You'd think that if they weren't getting readings they would have realised something was wrong and contacted us or automatically sent someone out to see why.  

I suppose the obvious answer is to try and contact customer services by telephone then.  Co-incidentally, someone on a group I belong to said that they hung on for 30 minutes to try and speak to someone about a payment problem and when she finally got through the rep put the phone down on her!!  This damn Pandemic seems to have screwed up everything. 

If they do eventually fit a new meter or repair the old one do you think they have to abide by the estimated readings or would they be able to get an accurate one when it's installed and charge us for all the unmetered electricity?  

keithgawler

critchley said:

Thank you for your reply.  The in house display hasn't worked for ages (probably about the same time that they stopped getting accurate readings).  I know it probably sounds daft but I just thought it was that particular bit of equipment that wasn't working and didn't think it affected the readings.  I can't remember what was displayed the last time I looked at it but I tried pressing buttons to try and reset it it but got nowhere.  Strangely enough I just looked at it (it's over the other side of the room and not really in my line of vision) and it now says "Lost Network.  Please contact customer services if problem persists".  I don't know when that popped up but it certainly wasn't showing last time I took any notice of it. 

You'd think that if they weren't getting readings they would have realised something was wrong and contacted us or automatically sent someone out to see why.  

I suppose the obvious answer is to try and contact customer services by telephone then.  Co-incidentally, someone on a group I belong to said that they hung on for 30 minutes to try and speak to someone about a payment problem and when she finally got through the rep put the phone down on her!!  This damn Pandemic seems to have screwed up everything. 

If they do eventually fit a new meter or repair the old one do you think they have to abide by the estimated readings or would they be able to get an accurate one when it's installed and charge us for all the unmetered electricity?  

My BG smart meter is now about 5 years old. If yours is the same, it has a poor design feature which means it is difficult to read, especially from an angle but getting up close and using a torch if in a dark place might help. I don't need to press any buttons on my electric smart meter. Your monitor may just need a reboot. Re your point about bills, this process is pretty much the way with all suppliers - to tell you your bill is ready and then you need to access the PDF. Hope this helps.

PennyForThem_2

There is a whole thread on here from someone whose electricity SM2 did not work and was broken.  It sounds similiar to yours:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6231319/no-meter-readings-for-two-years#latest

Suggest you read it as it is really informative - in a general way about broken SM2 meters.

Contact details for BG:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6257164/british-gas-no-way-to-get-refund#latest

Free 0800 number at end - you could also try complaints 

You do need to sort it as the first thread makes very, very clear because a dd amount does not necessarily cover what you owe.

mac.d

critchley said:

I looked online at the instructions for reading it, printed a picture even, and pressed the green button as it said and although the panel lit up it was just green, no figures.

Did you try pressing the button more than once after the screen had lit up? Quite often the button is used to cycle through the different displays on the meter. And as someone else has already mentioned, some meters you need to be almost eye-level with the display to be able to see the figures properly.

Try viewing it at eye level, and press the button a few times to see if it not only lights up the screen, but then cycles through and starts to show some readings. You could also try plugging in your In House Display and leaving it plugged in for a day or two. Sometimes they lose connection but reconnect again, just because it says it once, it doesn't necessarily mean it has lost the connection for good. If it does start working again, you should be able to find the meter readings from it.

In saying that, if you're online account with British Gas is showing estimated readings, it does suggest somethings gone wrong and they can't communicate with the electric meter to get readings. In saying that, I know from experience that BG meter readings with a smart meter are a bit hit and miss, they don't seem to take regular readings, and can leave long gaps between the readings they do have.

If it turns out you do need a new meter and they can't get readings from it, they will probably base it on estimates of your previous usage with them. So if you've been a BG customer for a while, it might be a good idea to log into your online account and download all your old bills that have actual readings and not estimates, to try and get an idea of how much you use each month (and over the course of a full year). That way you can make sure the estimate they use is fair.

critchley

keithgawler said:

critchley said:

Thank you for your reply.  The in house display hasn't worked for ages (probably about the same time that they stopped getting accurate readings).  I know it probably sounds daft but I just thought it was that particular bit of equipment that wasn't working and didn't think it affected the readings.  I can't remember what was displayed the last time I looked at it but I tried pressing buttons to try and reset it it but got nowhere.  Strangely enough I just looked at it (it's over the other side of the room and not really in my line of vision) and it now says "Lost Network.  Please contact customer services if problem persists".  I don't know when that popped up but it certainly wasn't showing last time I took any notice of it. 

You'd think that if they weren't getting readings they would have realised something was wrong and contacted us or automatically sent someone out to see why.  

I suppose the obvious answer is to try and contact customer services by telephone then.  Co-incidentally, someone on a group I belong to said that they hung on for 30 minutes to try and speak to someone about a payment problem and when she finally got through the rep put the phone down on her!!  This damn Pandemic seems to have screwed up everything. 

If they do eventually fit a new meter or repair the old one do you think they have to abide by the estimated readings or would they be able to get an accurate one when it's installed and charge us for all the unmetered electricity?  

My BG smart meter is now about 5 years old. If yours is the same, it has a poor design feature which means it is difficult to read, especially from an angle but getting up close and using a torch if in a dark place might help. I don't need to press any buttons on my electric smart meter. Your monitor may just need a reboot. Re your point about bills, this process is pretty much the way with all suppliers - to tell you your bill is ready and then you need to access the PDF. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply x  You're right, the BG smart meter is a poor design and the one they showed on the instructions to take meter readings wasn't even the same meter as mine.  As I said, by pressing the green button as directed (think it was 2 or 3 times) it went from blank black screen to blank green screen.  Of course, I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the box with these things and do have difficulty getting down to where the meter is (I did have a torch though .. lol) but I got my son, who is very clever at stuff like this, to check it out and he pronounced it not working (or a word that meant the same but was too rude to put here).  My IHD just says "No Network connection" 

critchley

mac.d said:

critchley said:

I looked online at the instructions for reading it, printed a picture even, and pressed the green button as it said and although the panel lit up it was just green, no figures.

Did you try pressing the button more than once after the screen had lit up? Quite often the button is used to cycle through the different displays on the meter. And as someone else has already mentioned, some meters you need to be almost eye-level with the display to be able to see the figures properly.

Try viewing it at eye level, and press the button a few times to see if it not only lights up the screen, but then cycles through and starts to show some readings. You could also try plugging in your In House Display and leaving it plugged in for a day or two. Sometimes they lose connection but reconnect again, just because it says it once, it doesn't necessarily mean it has lost the connection for good. If it does start working again, you should be able to find the meter readings from it.

In saying that, if you're online account with British Gas is showing estimated readings, it does suggest somethings gone wrong and they can't communicate with the electric meter to get readings. In saying that, I know from experience that BG meter readings with a smart meter are a bit hit and miss, they don't seem to take regular readings, and can leave long gaps between the readings they do have.

If it turns out you do need a new meter and they can't get readings from it, they will probably base it on estimates of your previous usage with them. So if you've been a BG customer for a while, it might be a good idea to log into your online account and download all your old bills that have actual readings and not estimates, to try and get an idea of how much you use each month (and over the course of a full year). That way you can make sure the estimate they use is fair.

Thank you.  Yes I had a picture and the instructions about pressing the buttons more than once but nothing and as you say, the fact that the IHD isn't working plus the estimated bills, also the fact that my son couldn't get any more life out of it than I could, does suggest that it's gone wrong.  

I've noted what you say about downloading previous non-estimated bills to make sure they use a fair estimate.

I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and try phoning them.  

critchley

PennyForThem_2 said:

There is a whole thread on here from someone whose electricity SM2 did not work and was broken.  It sounds similiar to yours:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6231319/no-meter-readings-for-two-years#latest

Suggest you read it as it is really informative - in a general way about broken SM2 meters.

Contact details for BG:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6257164/british-gas-no-way-to-get-refund#latest

Free 0800 number at end - you could also try complaints 

You do need to sort it as the first thread makes very, very clear because a dd amount does not necessarily cover what you owe.

Thank you for all that information.  I read all through that thread from the person having similar problems and it was mind boggling.  I didn't even attempt to change energy suppliers with a duff meter as I knew it would cause problems (let alone twice!)  I was really impressed by the help they were given especially the spreadsheets that were produced for them.  I was glad to see that he did finally get a new meter so that encouraged me to persevere with a phone call.  I was going to do it yesterday but my partner is disabled and sleeps  a lot in the daytime and as all the bills are in his name I will have to do it when he's awake as I'm sure they will want to speak to him (at least for him to give them permission to deal with me).  

Going to try this afternoon when I get back from an appointment.  As for what they decide that we actually owe, I'll cross that bridge when we come to it and may be back .. lol.  Thanks again for taking the trouble to send the links, much appreciated xx

critchley

Well I used to 0800 number that was contained in that link from PennyForThem_2 and after 15 minutes of Muzak (and recorded messages saying it would be qucker to use the website) it just cut off.  Same again for another 15 minutes only that time it rang a couple of times but sounded like someone picked up the phone and put it straight down again.  Determined, I tried again and 20 minutes later actually got through.  O/h managed to tell them what the problem was and got passed to what he said sounded like an Indian Call Centre and they said that they would phone us back in 7 days after "looking into it".  Hmm... I won't hold my breath.

I did get talking to a guy on a forum on Facebook who said he used to install these meters and asked me what my "hub" was doing,i.e. was the WAN light flashing red, green or nothing.  I didn't even know what the hub was. It's a smaller box to the side of the meter.

I had a look and told him the light was dead, nothing at all. Apparently this box contains a SIM card like a mobile and he said it had obviously lost signal and they would have to come out and fix it.

He gave me another number and said to try that so will do it on Monday. 

Apparently, from what I read I found out  that BG is having major problems and a lot of their engineers are on strike due to a plan to sack them all and re-employ them with lower pay and worse terms of employment  There were people with no heating, no electricity etc. saying that even when they managed to get a date for an engineer to call they always cancelled, sometimes on the day or just didn't turn up. So I can't see us getting any sort of priority.