Gas and electricity meter certification expiry dates?

wild666

bashful said:

Thank you for that schedule matelodave!

I have found information on my electricity meter and it’s an ME160 (so I assume an Iskra) with a certification period of 20 years.

The meter was installed in November 2002 so Octopus is correct that its certification is about to expire.

Maybe i need to bite the bullet and move to smart meters......

Brian

A friend has had his meters for 40 years, he moved into a new build flat in July 1982 and has had numerous calls, texts and letters telling him his meter is end of life. Each time he calls them and tells them he used XXX kWh of electric and gas per month in 1982 and the meters are still reading within a few kWh per year of that every 12 months and tells them to prove the meters are faulty without removing them and they back off for a few months.
If his meters suddenly started giving higher readings every month I suppose he would contact them but not if they were reading low as he would be in pocket with lower kWh readings every month.

I spoke to him the other day and he's said that he's reduced his usage of electric and gas to roughly 1.5 kWh of electric per day and less than 1 kWh of gas per day by lowering the temperature on his boiler to 50 degrees for water and 55 degrees for heating but won't know exactly how much less gas he's saving until winter kicks in.

Exile28

I think one of the things I find most frustrating about the certification replacements is how inconsistent they are. Some people get chased up around the end of the certification period, some at a random point after expiry, and some seem to be off the radar completely. I know people with non digital rotary meteres that have to be 40 years old or more (and they are with octopus as one of the ex avro customers)

The other thing is some companies (British gas I'm looking at you) are still not able to replace meters like for like in the case of numerous economy 7 setups.

If you are happy giving regular meter readings and you are happy your usage seems about right there is no inventive for people to get their meters replaced just because it is out of the certification period. If it is that important why is there such difference between customers?

[Deleted User]

ansaryon said:

Interesting - I've been with Shell for several years and they haven't played the "your certification is going to expire soon" trick. They have randomly phoned me (or rather a "partner company" has) to arrange to have smart meters installed, but as I'm at work when they phone all they get is the answerphone. I don't really want smart meters myself as I don't want to burn a day's annual leave to have them installed.

As for the meters I have: a gas meter installed in the 90s, and an electricity meter from at least 1981, if not older. I suspect the latter predates any concept of "certification periods", it still works fine of course!

It is not a trick. All meters have an initial certificated life. This certificated life can be extended based on further testing and in-life experience. Certification cannot be arbitrarily extended by suppliers. Both the Gas and Electricity Acts require suppliers to bill against certificated meters.

As I said above, the Government has agreed with suppliers that smart meters can be fitted when a meter is deemed to be end-of-life because stocks of analogue meters are being drawn done. Some of the smaller/newer suppliers have never bought any. Consumer consent is not required for end-of-life meter replacement as suppliers have a legal right of entry through the Courts (not needed for external access).

Suppliers are also required by Ofgem to engage with customers re smart meters. Unless the consumer has signed up to a tariff which requires a smart meter, then it remains a matter of choice. The big question though is for how long?

brewerdave

[Deleted User] said:

ansaryon said:

Interesting - I've been with Shell for several years and they haven't played the "your certification is going to expire soon" trick. They have randomly phoned me (or rather a "partner company" has) to arrange to have smart meters installed, but as I'm at work when they phone all they get is the answerphone. I don't really want smart meters myself as I don't want to burn a day's annual leave to have them installed.

As for the meters I have: a gas meter installed in the 90s, and an electricity meter from at least 1981, if not older. I suspect the latter predates any concept of "certification periods", it still works fine of course!

Suppliers are also required by Ofgem to engage with customers re smart meters. Unless the consumer has signed up to a tariff which requires a smart meter, then it remains a matter of choice. The big question though is for how long?

If they don't improve the supply of meters and /or fitters then there is absolutely no point in making them "compulsory" 

ansaryon

[Deleted User] said:

ansaryon said:

Interesting - I've been with Shell for several years and they haven't played the "your certification is going to expire soon" trick. They have randomly phoned me (or rather a "partner company" has) to arrange to have smart meters installed, but as I'm at work when they phone all they get is the answerphone. I don't really want smart meters myself as I don't want to burn a day's annual leave to have them installed.

As for the meters I have: a gas meter installed in the 90s, and an electricity meter from at least 1981, if not older. I suspect the latter predates any concept of "certification periods", it still works fine of course!

It is not a trick. All meters have an initial certificated life. This certificated life can be extended based on further testing and in-life experience. Certification cannot be arbitrarily extended by suppliers. Both the Gas and Electricity Acts require suppliers to bill against certificated meters.

New ones do, of course, but they're effectively computers with a mobile phone SIM card in them. Old ones like my electricity meter (which have digits, but are entirely analogue, like an old car odometer) - nope, they didn't have an initial certificated life as they predate the Act which establishes meter certification periods. 

Digging further, old meters that predate the Act were given periods retrospectively - mine is 20 years, apparently, which means it'd have expired in 2001 - but it's clearly not a high priority for my supplier.

I suspect eventually there will be an edict that all non-smart meters HAVE to be replaced, but it's not the case at the moment. 

As I don't want to burn leave, and I only use things when I'm around (e.g. a computer, or a washing machine during the daytime when I'm there) I'm in no hurry to have it replaced. I accept that one day it will be, but hey - may as well leave it be for now.