SmartMeter disconnected yet assurances given.....

SmashnGrab

I pay my gas and electircity bills by direct debit and although we were all bracing the the current energy price hik, I did not expect to find myself in debit to the tune of £300, especially when I have a SmartMeter - or so I thought. I made enquiries with british Gas who is my energy provider. It turns out that my SmartMeter has no longer been reporting readings since June 2021. Apparently they changed their system and the meter was no longer compatible. The result was that my readings have since been estimated and debt had accrued. I was not able to confirm whether or when anyone had been informed of this. This despite assurances a month ago that I needn't worry about giving my meter readings (their site crashed on the 1st April and wasn't working for a number of days so I couldn't submit any) because I am on a Smart Meter and they will be automatically getting readings.

I was asked to provide my actual meter readings but this made very little difference over all. The Gas bill wen down, the electricity bill shot up, the net result was the same amount owing.

I just wanted to mention it to make people aware that contrary to what they might believe, their SmartMeter may not be sending readings. It is probably just as well to check. I am not sure exactly when my SmartMeter was put in, but I think it was within the last 5 years. This is the last thing I needed on top of the ridiculously beyond inflation price hikes this year.

SmashnGrab

PS, I am also rather surprise that this amount of debt has been allowed to accrue over the last few months without my being notified of it? Energy provides usually adjust the Direct Debit in line with estimated or actual usage, or at least they used to, but I was informed that it was my responsibility to adjust  the DD to the appropriate monthly payment amount.

molerat

The UK public have been lulled into a false sense of security by the blatantly misleading smart meter advertising campaign which if it was not from a government backed organisation would have been banned by the ASA.  The whole roll out has been an unmitigated disaster at massive cost to the general public. By the time we get to SMETS6 standard the system may be fit for purpose.

It is just as important to check meter readings and bills whether you have a smart meter or not.

[Deleted User]

The OP does not say what specification of smart meter he has? Smart meters do not stop sending readings. Smart meters connect to a network and a supplier uses secure software to ‘pull’ data from the meters on a timed basis. 

All SMETS2 meters will remain connected to the DCC network irrespective of the supplier. Most SMETS1 meters can have an OTA upgrade that allows them to connect to the DCC network. Some early meters are not upgradable and they are deemed to be legacy meters which will need to be replaced.

eastcorkram

My smart meter readings are collected, but are always wrong when compared to an actual reading . By a long way. 
Someone is supposed to be coming next week from Eonnext  to investigate.
I'm not sure what they will actually do when here, and I've no confidence that it will be resolved. 
Frustrating, as when I submit a manual reading, it gets overwritten a day or two later, by a smart reading, which is always way lower than the actual one. 
Meter was only fitted Dec 21.

SmashnGrab

Other than the fact that it was put in by Britisdh Gas, I had no idea what type of smart meter I have, so I have done a little online research. The electricity meter is a Landis Gyr E470 which apparently can be SMETS1 or SMETS2. However, there is a separate box labelled Trilliant SEAP2000V next to it and from what I can gather online, this means that it is likely to be a SMETS1 meter.

QrizB

eastcorkram said:

My smart meter readings are collected, but are always wrong when compared to an actual reading . By a long way. 
Someone is supposed to be coming next week from Eonnext  to investigate.
I'm not sure what they will actually do when here, and I've no confidence that it will be resolved. 
Frustrating, as when I submit a manual reading, it gets overwritten a day or two later, by a smart reading, which is always way lower than the actual one. 
Meter was only fitted Dec 21.

Have you checked all four registers on your meter, usually labelled R01 to R04? Does IMP KWH equal R01 or do you also have readings showing for R02 etc?

[Deleted User]

You can check your smart meter here:

https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

eastcorkram

QrizB said:

eastcorkram said:

My smart meter readings are collected, but are always wrong when compared to an actual reading . By a long way. 
Someone is supposed to be coming next week from Eonnext  to investigate.
I'm not sure what they will actually do when here, and I've no confidence that it will be resolved. 
Frustrating, as when I submit a manual reading, it gets overwritten a day or two later, by a smart reading, which is always way lower than the actual one. 
Meter was only fitted Dec 21.

Have you checked all four registers on your meter, usually labelled R01 to R04? Does IMP KWH equal R01 or do you also have readings showing for R02 etc?

No idea what that even means. 
The LCD cycles between three things. A reading, currently 1084kwh. An export reading of 0000. And a bill figure showing £38.40.
There are two buttons. I pressed the right one, to see if I could get anything like you're talking about. Now stuck in a menu of options that I can't exit .:(

pochase

If you give the model of your smart meter somebody will be able to tell you how to read the different registers.

eastcorkram

pochase said:

If you give the model of your smart meter somebody will be able to tell you how to read the different registers.

Not sure of the model so here's a pic