SmetS1 Smart Meter

GizmoWM

Hello All

This is my first post and hoping someone can cast light, we have an issue with a Smart Meter.

We were with British Gas and changed to Octopus Energy early last year, our tariff comes to an end just in time for the price cap rise.

We have a SmetS1 and just found out they upgraded it with firmware, so now it is working again, a year of not working because of changing to Octopus.

I have been in touch with them about changing it to a standard meter, which they say we cannot do and they said it is a legal requirement to have one, which as I checked before hand, believe to be incorrect, I asked them because of the charges involved annually, which I think os between £30 and £70 pounds a year added to our bill, plus the running cost.

So my question is, can I request that they put the meter into dumb mode, we have a RED HAN light flashing so don't know if that means it is already dumb, but we had a bill for one months supply with reading yesterday, we did not give them the reading.

What are our rights in this situation regards the smart meter.

Thank You in advance.

Gizmo WM

QrizB

GizmoWM said:

What are our rights in this situation regards the smart meter.

Welcome to the forum.

Your meter is working as intended. You have no right to a replacement.

There are no additional costs associated with having a smart meter on your property.

If it was replaced, it would be with another smart meter.

... we have an issue with a Smart Meter.

What exactly is your issue with the smart meter?

MWT

GizmoWM said:

... I asked them because of the charges involved annually, which I think os between £30 and £70 pounds a year added to our bill, plus the running cost.

There are no running costs to you, as the meter uses the electricity supply on the grid side of the meter and so you are not charged for that.

There are no other components of your bill that are added because you have a smart meter.

GizmoWM said:

So my question is, can I request that they put the meter into dumb mode, we have a RED HAN light flashing so don't know if that means it is already dumb, but we had a bill for one months supply with reading yesterday, we did not give them the reading.

No, they have the right to access monthly meter readings without your permission, you can chose if you give them access to daily or half-hourly information.

This may help...

FreeBear

If anything, having a functioning smart meter with readings being taken by the supplier is to your advantage. No more estimated bills or nasty surprises with a huge catch-up bill.

lammy82

The HAN light is for the "Home Area Network" and is probably telling you that it can't connect to the IHD (In Home Display). If you can find your IHD and plug it in it will connect to the meter and give you information on current and past energy consumption. It's actually really handy if you want to try to get your usage down as you can switch items on and off and see what difference it makes to your consumption level.

Dogbyte009

The HAN light relates to the Home Area Network - in other words whether the meter is communicating with the gas meter and with the in-home display. There should also be a WAN (Wide Area Network) light which indicates whether it's communicating with the supplier. Usually these flash if things are working or show solid if there's a fault.

PennyForThem_2

The IHD is also great for reading your meters - no scrambling on hands and knees holding torch in mouth to try to read gas meter under the stairs or getting on a ladder to read leccy meter - just do it via IHD.

[Deleted User]

GizmoWM said:

Hello All

This is my first post and hoping someone can cast light, we have an issue with a Smart Meter.

We were with British Gas and changed to Octopus Energy early last year, our tariff comes to an end just in time for the price cap rise.

We have a SmetS1 and just found out they upgraded it with firmware, so now it is working again, a year of not working because of changing to Octopus.

I have been in touch with them about changing it to a standard meter, which they say we cannot do and they said it is a legal requirement to have one, which as I checked before hand, believe to be incorrect, I asked them because of the charges involved annually, which I think os between £30 and £70 pounds a year added to our bill, plus the running cost.

So my question is, can I request that they put the meter into dumb mode, we have a RED HAN light flashing so don't know if that means it is already dumb, but we had a bill for one months supply with reading yesterday, we did not give them the reading.

What are our rights in this situation regards the smart meter.

Thank You in advance.

Gizmo WM

There is no such thing as a smart meter ‘dumb’ mode. Your meter is now connected to the DCC network and the meter manufacturer will use the network to push out firmware updates; the DNO will monitor your grid voltage etc. You can request billing based on manual readings but as others have suggested why would you want to do that?

Yes, the smart meter programme is costing us £12Bn in costs which are being added to all our bills irrespective of whether you have a smart meter or not. There is no obligation on any supplier to replace a working smart meter with an old analogue meter. The more established suppliers may still have some old meters in store and, if pressed, they might agree to a meter exchange in you are prepared to pay for it. 

BEIS, that is The Government, has also said that suppliers can now replace an end-of-life meter with a smart one without the homeowner’s approval as suppliers have a legal right of entry into a property.