Meter readings if you have a smart meter?

jazzy

Is there still a need to take meter readings on the 31st March to keep billing accurate if you have a smart meter fitted?

lohr500

I would photograph the readings for peace of mind, just in case there is a problem!!

Mstty

Might as well if you rate is changing 1st April for the worse. At least photo it for your own records anyway.

Ultrasonic

Taking a photo was my plan, as my smart meter sends daily figures. If my smart meter only sent monthly readings I would manually submit one.

MrX

Coincidently (yeah really!) my British Gas Smart Meter hasnt been able to send readings back since mid Feb.  Now the cynic in me suspects this is a deliberate ploy to give me an 'estimate' (no doubt lower than the actual figure) for the period to 1 April, so that I pay more on the more expensive tarif once the cap is raised.  So I will be taking photos. 

AndyBGood

jazzy said:

Is there still a need to take meter readings on the 31st March to keep billing accurate if you have a smart meter fitted?

I, like many, were very concerned about the price rise 1/4/22.  I assumed that as I am on a Smart meter my readings would be accurate and up to date so I did not do anything on 31st March.   However on advice from friends I submitted a manual reading yesterday (12th) and received an interim bill today.

Between 24/3 & 1/4 we used 12kwh Electricity per day and 20.5 Gas.
Today's bill shows between 1/4 and 12/4 our average daily usage has gone up to 17kwh Electricity and 31.3 Gas.  We have not had ANY change in devices, heating, appliances, thermostats - nothing has changed at all (in fact with the better weather we have used less) and yet our average daily consumption has gone up almost 50% since the 1st April.

I appreciate that the unit tariffs and standing charges were to increase but I am struggling to comprehend how our actual daily usage has increased by so much.

All I can assume is that the automated Smart meter reading sent on 31st March was incorrectly low and now a correct reading has been given the difference is being charged at the higher tariff.

No wonder people were being urged to take and submit meter readings on 31st March - I wish I had !

pochase

Your meter readings are reported at least once per day, maybe even every 30 minutes if you agreed to it.

Have you checked your daily use instead of just checking over a 2 week time?

MWT

AndyBGood said:

All I can assume is that the automated Smart meter reading sent on 31st March was incorrectly low and now a correct reading has been given the difference is being charged at the higher tariff.

That is unlikely, but why not take your own daily readings now and see what they say...?

Also if you still have a working IHD, you can usually find a history option that will show your daily and weekly consumption for at least the last month...

Ultrasonic

pochase said:

Your meter readings are reported at least once per day, maybe even every 30 minutes if you agreed to it.

Have you checked your daily use instead of just checking over a 2 week time?

The minimum is once per month rather than once per day - I chose only monthly readings when I first had a smart meter.

MWT

pochase said:

Your meter readings are reported at least once per day, maybe even every 30 minutes if you agreed to it.

Have you checked your daily use instead of just checking over a 2 week time?

Even if you have enabled half-hour data it is only collected once a day and is in the format of 48 half hour consumption totals and separately, a single daily snapshot of the register reading(s).

pochase

@Ultrasonic @MWT Understood,

But even if it is only collected once a month the 30 minutes consumption totals are still submitted, but for example an application like Bright will only be updated once per month, but you can view the complete historic data after that.