Bristol Energy 17 June 2021 at 1:54PM in Praise, vent & warnings 4 replies 71 views

Robbo66

I have been in dispute with Bristol Energy since Jan 2020, I had smart meters fitted I noticed the incorrect style of meter had been installed. My old meter had a top mounted display as I have a ground installation, the meter fitted had a side mounted display that you would normally associated with a wall mounted meter.

I immediately raised this with BE and sent them a photo, after weeks of wrangling i got nowhere so decided to change suppliers and here is when the fun and games started.

The best saving quoted all came from suppliers that don not support smart meters, after load of toing and froing I raised a complaint with the Ombudsman Services who found in my favour Aug 2020. I have has two engineer visits to replace the gas meter but the replacements were like for like so would not have resolved the issue. BE have totally ignored the findings from the Ombudsman and continue to ignore the directive to rectify the issue. 18 months later and we still have no resolution.

Do not use this company if you value your sanity, as long as things are going well they are OK but as soon as an issue arises they just don't care and don't want to know. Best to just avoid and go else where.

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Hasbeen

Are the smart meters working ok and sending readings to B Energy?

Is your IHD unit capable of letting you see the readings?

Do you even get smart meters with a top mounted display?

Can you not read the meter at all from the side?

Perhaps advice may be found in the Energy forum

Robbo66

Hasbeen said:

Are the smart meters working ok and sending readings to B Energy?

Is your IHD unit capable of letting you see the readings?

Do you even get smart meters with a top mounted display?

Can you not read the meter at all from the side?

Perhaps advice may be found in the Energy forum

Meters and in house display working fine but if I move to a different supplier that smart function is turned off and I will then need to take manual reading which would be impossible

Apparently no there are no other types of meters, when booking the smart meter installation I was asked where my meter was and what type of installation I had so they have the relevant information. They should have at that point advised me that the only meter available is one with a side mounted display and then given me the option to go ahead or not.

Nope impossible to access or read the display.

Thanks for the reply.

Admin any chance of moving this over to the energy forum, thanks

MattMattMattUK

Robbo66 said:

Hasbeen said:

Are the smart meters working ok and sending readings to B Energy?

Is your IHD unit capable of letting you see the readings?

Do you even get smart meters with a top mounted display?

Can you not read the meter at all from the side?

Perhaps advice may be found in the Energy forum

Meters and in house display working fine but if I move to a different supplier that smart function is turned off and I will then need to take manual reading which would be impossible

This is the way temporally with almost all smart meters, the switching process, even with SMETS2 meters is still not as smooth as it should be. However why would it be "impossible", surely you just have to look at the meter from the side, rather than the top, is it in some very small hole?

Robbo66 said:

Apparently no there are no other types of meters, when booking the smart meter installation I was asked where my meter was and what type of installation I had so they have the relevant information. They should have at that point advised me that the only meter available is one with a side mounted display and then given me the option to go ahead or not.

I have only ever seen one style of meter modern meter, the type designed to be viewed from the site, they also largely appear to be standardised in size and shape so that they are easy to change and replace without needing to move wiring for electricity meters or pipes for gas meters. 

Robbo66

MattMattMattUK said:

Robbo66 said:

Hasbeen said:

Are the smart meters working ok and sending readings to B Energy?

Is your IHD unit capable of letting you see the readings?

Do you even get smart meters with a top mounted display?

Can you not read the meter at all from the side?

Perhaps advice may be found in the Energy forum

Meters and in house display working fine but if I move to a different supplier that smart function is turned off and I will then need to take manual reading which would be impossible

This is the way temporally with almost all smart meters, the switching process, even with SMETS2 meters is still not as smooth as it should be. However why would it be "impossible", surely you just have to look at the meter from the side, rather than the top, is it in some very small hole?

Robbo66 said:

Apparently no there are no other types of meters, when booking the smart meter installation I was asked where my meter was and what type of installation I had so they have the relevant information. They should have at that point advised me that the only meter available is one with a side mounted display and then given me the option to go ahead or not.

I have only ever seen one style of meter modern meter, the type designed to be viewed from the site, they also largely appear to be standardised in size and shape so that they are easy to change and replace without needing to move wiring for electricity meters or pipes for gas meters. 

That the whole point, you cant see the display as my meter installation is a semi buried one hence the reason it should have a top display. The current type of smart meter installed isn't suitable for this situation.

I get when switching you temporally lose smart function and then it is turned back but only if the supplier supports smart meters unfortunately many still don't and the best rates I have found are from companies currently not offering smart meters so would have to take a manual reading every month. As i cant see the display to take a reading i would have to pay estimated bills so would;d either end up with a massive overspend or worse yet under charge so could owe hundred, not something i want to do.

I'm shocked the supplier can just get away with ignoring the Ombudsman but then no I'm not as they dont actually have any real powers to enforce any decision made