British gas smart meter usage not working and other problems

GTare14

I thought the whole reason for getting a smart meter was so that you would know how much you were using. The British gas mobile usage app has been broken since February this year and my in home display doesn't give me the correct prices for gas and electricity either. When I call them they just tell me they are working to fix these problems, but they never get fixed.

I even tried changing my bill to a monthly one so that I can get an idea what I'm using and paying, but the system has a problem changing me from a quarterly bill to monthly one. This is so frustrating and not sure what else I can do to get these problems fixed. I've spoken to the complaints department who have sent these of to the back office, but still nothing gets fixed. Are other people experiancing these issues

pochase

Not a great situation, but what stops you from just taking a meter reading once a month yourself? 

Just drop it into a simple spreadsheet.

GTare14

pochase said:

Not a great situation, but what stops you from just taking a meter reading once a month yourself? 

Just drop it into a simple spreadsheet.

Having a smart meter was supposed to tackle the issue of having to work it out yourself and let you know what you are using. Had the supplier told me a smart meter would mean me doing spreadsheets each month and working it out myself, I would have declined having the smart meter fitted.

How do I even know the smart meter is giving the correct reading when everything else about it is broken?

QrizB

GTare14 said:

How do I even know the smart meter is giving the correct reading when everything else about it is broken?

"Everything else about it is broken" is a bit of a stretch. You've not yet mentioned a single thing about your smart meter that is broken.

The BG app is not your smart meter.

The IHD is not your smart meter.

The tariff displayed on your IHD is not the tariff you're billed on.

If you use your IHD to read the meter readings in kWh (not the prices in £) you'll find they agree with your smart meter.

GTare14

QrizB said:

GTare14 said:

How do I even know the smart meter is giving the correct reading when everything else about it is broken?

"Everything else about it is broken" is a bit of a stretch. You've not yet mentioned a single thing about your smart meter that is broken.

The BG app is not your smart meter.

The IHD is not your smart meter.

The tariff displayed on your IHD is not the tariff you're billed on.

If you use your IHD to read the meter readings in kWh (not the prices in £) you'll find they agree with your smart meter.

I have listed everything that is broken and that made me wonder if something was wrong with the smart meter. British gas told me that the IHD was an extension of the smart meter and should give those readings. They make out that smart meters are the next best thing. That just glancing at your IHD will tell you what you are using each day and how much it's cost you, but the reality is totally different. I might as well just have had my old meter if I want to mess around working out what I'm using each month. When you have three different devices telling you three different things, it becomes a bit of a joke. Smart meter reading something different to the IHD and the IHD showing something different to the British Gas mobile app.

I notice the things you have listed, but they don't tell you any of that when selling you the smart meter.

Tim_beryl

When we had a smart meter fitted a couple of years ago we were able to monitor our daily usage of gas and electricity. Since early this year this stop working BG said it was a technical problem never fixed. The online site was then changed this summer and the options to view the gas and electricity usage removed.
In my view this information is even more critical now with the energy crisis and it seems that BG have ditched this important tool. I would welcome a statement from BG on their intentions to fix or not this facility and timescale to reinstate the monitoring on the gas and electricity usage. On behalf of all BG  customers Martin please can you help as individuals seem to be fobbed  off with promises that never are never kept.

[Deleted User]

Oh dear. Smart meters are certified meters which have a communications capability. If the comms hub goes dumb, the meters will still record usage in the same way as an old analogue meter.

The comms hub which sits above the electricity meter establishes a Home Area Network (HAN). The In House Display (IHD) connects to the HAN. The IHD takes data from the two meters and the gas proxy (located within the comms hub) to show usage and costs on the IHD. The cost information will only be correct if the supplier has sent the correct tariff information to each of the meters.

The comms hub corrects to the DCC network via a Wide Area Network (WAN) or MESH. The supplier ‘pulls’ data from the meter - usually once every 24 hours. 

It is perfectly possible to have no information on the IHD but a normal WAN connection to the DCC Network, or vice versa.

MuckChucker

Interesting to learn that the BG site/app hasn't always been rubbish, I'm not with them long enough to know any different. . .but lets be clear, it's not up to standard and I'm surprised I've not heard anything from them about when likely to be fixed. My account does not show up to date elec useage, it looks like it just estimates monthly useage and divides by the number of days so it just gives a flat average (oh, and it's 3+ weeks slow, see below).

My IHD died a long time ago and I was glad to bin it, the Bright app is so much better - probably only refreshes once/twice a day but at least gives an accurate account of what's recently been used and tracks back quite a way.