EON Massive bill?

mikejay

Yes I did use the ihd for my readings as I did not know.But when the massive bill came in I watched a few youtube videos and looked at a few web pages on how to read the meter direct. The way they said was press button to light display and first number was the reading I did not realise I had to go hunting through menus for other readings. Eon could have put this right as soon as I told them the register 1 reading but they refuse to saying I will be billed for the extra units and now have said after the dispute I will be billed accordingly. And also want to put me on dual rate tariff and have me submit both sets of readings.

Reed_Richards

I think that BG could have done a lot more by telling you explicitly on the bills which register they were reading or estimating but @MWT thinks it was there in the small print.  Hopefully with Eon if you make a formal complaint it will reach somebody senior enough to understand what is happening because so far you have only been in communication with people who manifestly don't.  @E.ON_Company_Representative or @E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena sometimes show up on this board and might be able to help if they notice your thread.    

mikejay

I wish I had never even bothered with eon and just left it as it was. Eon advertise a tariff saying it is a smartmeter tariff and you need a smartmeter. And you get an ihd but then if like me you have a gen1 smartmeter it won't be upgraded. So in my eyes its now a dumb meter but in there's its a smartmeter that no one can connect to and I can't have a ihd. Not the end of the world but was really handy keeping the bills down using the ihd. And being smart was handy not having to !!!!!! about with mirrors or phones to read meters in the backs of cupboards fitted the wrong way round.

[Deleted User]

mikejay said:

I wish I had never even bothered with eon and just left it as it was. Eon advertise a tariff saying it is a smartmeter tariff and you need a smartmeter. And you get an ihd but then if like me you have a gen1 smartmeter it won't be upgraded. So in my eyes its now a dumb meter but in there's its a smartmeter that no one can connect to and I can't have a ihd. Not the end of the world but was really handy keeping the bills down using the ihd. And being smart was handy not having to !!!!!! about with mirrors or phones to read meters in the backs of cupboards fitted the wrong way round.

SMETS1 meters are being enrolled and adopted by the DCC. Over 10M have had the necessary firmware update.

MWT

One thing this thread highlights is that the energy suppliers have got to get better at handling the fact that smart meters are not limited to always be the same as the day they were installed and may go through several cycles of bing switched between single and multi-rate mode over their lifetime...

In single-rate mode only register 1 matters, it is only when they are in multi-rate mode that any other register needs to be read and if they switch to multi-rate mode they will need to check the opening reading on register 2, they cannot assume it is zero...

niktheguru

MWT said:

One thing this thread highlights is that the energy suppliers have got to get better at handling the fact that smart meters are not limited to always be the same as the day they were installed and may go through several cycles of bing switched between single and multi-rate mode over their lifetime...

In single-rate mode only register 1 matters, it is only when they are in multi-rate mode that any other register needs to be read and if they switch to multi-rate mode they will need to check the opening reading on register 2, they cannot assume it is zero...

Or, the actual meters need to be more user friendly to read.

OR

There needs to be clear instructions given to customers on how to read their respective smart meters, or a central website or a manual which explains how to correctly read the smart meter.....try and find a smart meter manual on the internet anywhere!

Tallerdave

niktheguru said:

MWT said:

One thing this thread highlights is that the energy suppliers have got to get better at handling the fact that smart meters are not limited to always be the same as the day they were installed and may go through several cycles of bing switched between single and multi-rate mode over their lifetime...

In single-rate mode only register 1 matters, it is only when they are in multi-rate mode that any other register needs to be read and if they switch to multi-rate mode they will need to check the opening reading on register 2, they cannot assume it is zero...

Or, the actual meters need to be more user friendly to read.

OR

There needs to be clear instructions given to customers on how to read their respective smart meters, or a central website or a manual which explains how to correctly read the smart meter.....try and find a smart meter manual on the internet anywhere!

Totally agree. Having the individual registers and a total figure accessible by the user is idiotic. The latter is irrelevant and should not be displayed in normal use.

MWT

Pick which one of the suggestions is most likely to happen...

As I've said before, if you actually go look at the meter reading advice from the better suppliers, it does already tell people to use the register 1 reading.

Better training for front-line staff would obviously help a lot as well.

Changing the meter firmware is the least likely outcome, but again, in fairness with most SMETS2 at least, the default display is the register 1 reading so you do actually have to make a special effort to get it wrong if on a single rate setting.

The problems come with multi-rate tariffs as few of the meters make it easy to get to the second register, but of course if things are working correctly you would never need to do that manually anyway...

QrizB

mikejay said:

And also want to put me on dual rate tariff and have me submit both sets of readings.

If they insist on that, is there any chance you can get them to call Register 1 your "cheap rate" and Register 2 your "peak rate"?

tim_p

niktheguru said:

MWT said:

One thing this thread highlights is that the energy suppliers have got to get better at handling the fact that smart meters are not limited to always be the same as the day they were installed and may go through several cycles of bing switched between single and multi-rate mode over their lifetime...

In single-rate mode only register 1 matters, it is only when they are in multi-rate mode that any other register needs to be read and if they switch to multi-rate mode they will need to check the opening reading on register 2, they cannot assume it is zero...

Or, the actual meters need to be more user friendly to read.

OR

There needs to be clear instructions given to customers on how to read their respective smart meters, or a central website or a manual which explains how to correctly read the smart meter.....try and find a smart meter manual on the internet anywhere!

You were right the first time - because all it takes is for something to change via an update or (much more likely) any clear instructions get lost / owner moves etc, then it’s all rendered useless. Make the meter have a simple interface, something like a single button clearly marked ‘press for reading’ Any second register needs another button that if the register isn’t used the meter shows basic text saying ‘not used’. Or something along those lines - the simpler the better. All smart meters need to be the same. You can’t expect the ‘ordinary main in the street’ to have to negotiate complex menu systems just to submit a basic meter reading - not if you want cooperation and reliable readings.