Are Smart meters any smarter?

oo7Mole

We have been told that our gas meter is now too old and needs replacing (and apparently have a fantastic opportunity to upgrade both gas and electricity meters for free.....am not going into who pays here though!).  Couple of questions though, and I'd be grateful for any advice:
We live in an old cottage which has gone through various iterations and expansions since the first part of it was built pre-interregnum, and later parts in the 18th and 19th.  It has 18-24" thick stone walls.  The electricity meter in on the front of the house (outside), to one side, and the gas meter on the back, also to one side and outside, with both meters actually being as far from each other as would be possible!
Will the smart meters actually be able to talk to each other (we have a very complex mesh system in the house in the hope of getting any wifi coverage, so I know that these sort of comms are tricky!
If the meters cannot talk to each other, will they actually work?
The gas meter is not bonded; will we need to get this done before the meter is replaced?
Do we have to have it bonded to the electricity meter (am somewhat loathe to have a bright cable circumnavigating the whole cottage, and not sure what they would have done with similar buildings in the area that are listed!)

Grateful for any advice!

:-)

Curiousgirl1

hi, I can’t comment on the bonding as know nothing about that. However it is unlikely the smart meters will both work as smart with them being so far apart. Depending on the signal in the area, the electric may work as smart but even if they don’t, they will still work as regular meters & record your usage accurately. Just means you will have to give your own readings. Hopefully in the future things may change & they will work as smart but possibly not yet. 

tacpot12

The meters will always work to the extent that they will record your usage. If reception is a problem they may not be able to report your usage to the DCC (who then pass it to your supplier), so you will still have to provide meter readings. Reception problems may also prevent the In-home Display (IHD) working. 

Unfortuntely the only way to find out is to get the new meters installed. (We're in a similar position and have had the same spiel about our gas meter being old.) I can't see any downside.

I would recommend that you closely monitor your usage of gas and electric in the couple of weeks before and after meters are being replaced, and make sure you have given your supplier your meter readings just before they are due to be replaced.

They will change the gas meter if the bonding is not in place, but will remind you that it is a safety issue for people in your home (e.g. guests, family members and their children). They don't care about the bonding as its not a safey issue for them. (They temporarily bond the external pipework to the internal pipework while the change the meters using a cable with crocodile clips). 

FreeBear

tacpot12 said: The meters will always work to the extent that they will record your usage. If reception is a problem they may not be able to report your usage to the DCC (who then pass it to your supplier), so you will still have to provide meter readings. Reception problems may also prevent the In-home Display (IHD) working.

The supplier may provide you with a signal booster that you plug into a socket inside the house. This might resolve any comms issues...

One thing though - Take a photo of the old meter as it is being removed. Check to see what units it records in (cubic metres or xubic feet). The smart meter will be metric. When your first bill comes through, if you had an imperial meter, check the conversion calculations to make sure they have updated the calculations.