Gas: just received a scary letter from Network Plus

FreeBear

TELLIT01 said:

FreeBear said:

Gas (and electricity) meters have a fixed working life - This is more to do with calibration & certification rather than any safety issue. The letter is not a scam.

One piece of advice - Take a clear photo of your old gas meter before it is removed. If the old one meters consumption in cubic feet, the replacement will be metric. Double check your next gas bill to make sure the billing units are correct. If you were on cubic feet and your supplier continues to bill you on that basis, you'll end up paying nearly three times as much.

How?  If the supplier continues to bill as cubic feet when the meter is reading cubic metres, surely the bill should be approximately 1/35th of the previous bill.  A cubic metre is approximately 35 times larger than a cubic foot.

As an example...

Imperial meter says you have used 25 units of gas - That is ~783KWh of energy.

A metric meter would need to register ~71 units for the same amount of energy. The supplier, thinking you still have an imperial meter will now charge you for 71 units.

daivid

Surely there is a phone number on your gas meter for whoever is responsible for it (though the name of the organisation may have changed depending on how old the meter is), phone them and ask if they know anything about your meter needing replacing.

Jeepers_Creepers

daivid said:

Surely there is a phone number on your gas meter for whoever is responsible for it (though the name of the organisation may have changed depending on how old the meter is), phone them and ask if they know anything about your meter needing replacing.

Just in case it is an attempted scam - to gain access to your property. Paranoid? Moi?

[Deleted User]

When a meter is deemed end-of-life, the meter operator has a legal right of entry under the Gas and Electricity Acts to exchange the meter. Where admittance is refused, the operator would apply to a Court for a Warrant.

In June 2020, the Government (BEIS) agreed that in meter end-of-life cases, meter operators can fit smart meters without the homeowner’s permission. I have yet to read exactly what a dumb smart meter actually is as, for example, all meters have to be commissioned and this requires a working comms hub. Moreover, suppliers have a responsibility to monitor battery issues in gas meters: again this needs a working comms hub.

Annemos

Surely there is a phone number on your gas meter for whoever is responsible for it (though the name of the organisation may have changed depending on how old the meter is), phone them and ask if they know anything about your meter needing replacing..... daivid


Well, thank you everyone. I just had a good look at it and the thing was fitted in 1997! So it is rather old. 

It is British Gas, who I am still with. So I would prefer to go through them, rather than the unknown company (from my point of view.) 



That raises another issue. People around here and my family (and me).... are reluctant to have the Smart Meters at the moment,  in case we get given one of the old Generation 1 meters, that they might be trying to get rid of. 

So we always thought we should hold off having one for as long as possible, to get the latest technology available.



a) If I was to call British Gas, can I insist I have the Generation 2 meter installed? 


b) Jeepers_Creepers....... here is some REAL paranoia for you. If the homeowner has a pacemaker..... have there ever been any incidences of negative interference on the pacemaker from a Smart Meter? 


I just did a quick search. Found a couple of incidents. But in general, there is not much information out there on pacemaker interference, one way or the other. Not many tests seem to have been done. 


(Do I prefer to come to a demise in a gas explosion, or via the Pacemaker shutting me off? )    



Just attaching  below what Which says. We don't have to have a Smart Meter until 2024. Also, requesting the Dumb Mode might be an option to get around any Pacemaker issue. 


https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter-aLLKl9O63dbM

Carrot007

Annemos said:

Surely there is a phone number on your gas meter for whoever is responsible for it (though the name of the organisation may have changed depending on how old the meter is), phone them and ask if they know anything about your meter needing replacing..... daivid


Well, thank you everyone. I just had a good look at it and the thing was fitted in 1997! So it is rather old. 

It is British Gas, who I am still with. So I would prefer to go through them, rather than the unknown company (from my point of view.) 



That raises another issue. People around here and my family (and me).... are reluctant to have the Smart Meters at the moment,  in case we get given one of the old Generation 1 meters, that they might be trying to get rid of. 

So we always thought we should hold off having one for as long as possible, to get the latest technology available.



a) If I was to call British Gas, can I insist I have the Generation 2 meter installed? 


b) Jeepers_Creepers....... here is some REAL paranoia for you. If the homeowner has a pacemaker..... have there ever been any incidences of negative interference on the pacemaker from a Smart Meter? 


I just did a quick search. Found a couple of incidents. But in general, there is not much information out there on pacemaker interference, one way or the other. Not many tests seem to have been done. 


(Do I prefer to come to a demise in a gas explosion, or via the Pacemaker shutting me off? )    



Just attaching  below what Which says. We don't have to have a Smart Meter until 2024. Also, requesting the Dumb Mode might be an option to get around any Pacemaker issue. 


https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter-aLLKl9O63dbM

It will not effect a pacemaker anymore than any other mobile phone will.

So very slight risk if you put it directly over the right location. Though I am ussure why you would be that close to a meter.

The IHD is like any other 2.4ghz wireless device and your house is likely full of them. Though unless the meter locations are hard to accessed probably best to chuck it in a cupboard and forget it ever existed.

I have had smart meters for 8 years. OH has a ICD and there are no issues. You will get more warnings about an induction hob.

Ectophile

SMETS1 meters are now obsolete, and no company should be fitting them any more.  When it comes down to it, they were obsolete even when they were being installed.

thegreenone

1997.  That's a baby compared to the one in my late Mum's flat!  E-on want to change it but as it's in a pig of a place in the kitchen, which needs ripping out, I'm leaving it to the new owners when they renovate.

Most of the energy companies sub out the work. 

MaryNB

Ectophile said:

SMETS1 meters are now obsolete, and no company should be fitting them any more.  When it comes down to it, they were obsolete even when they were being installed.

While they won't be installing new gen 1 meters, existing ones won't be obsolete as smart meters for long. There's a programme in place to remotely upgrade them all to make them smart again. It was due to complete this summer but think the deadline is now end of the year.