Gas meter not workkng

mac.d

Despite this faulty gas meter suddenly starting to work, Shell are saying they aren't getting the readings so will arrange a meter exchange. Once the new meter is installed, they will then take 3 months usage on the new meter to recalculate what they owe for the past 6 months and re-bill.

Immaterial of what this calculation works out at, should the customer be looking for some kind of credit on their account for the hassle caused by this, and mainly the length of time its taken Shell to fix it? Or should they just wait for the new bill and leave it at that?

[Deleted User]

mac.d said:

Despite this faulty gas meter suddenly starting to work, Shell are saying they aren't getting the readings so will arrange a meter exchange. Once the new meter is installed, they will then take 3 months usage on the new meter to recalculate what they owe for the past 6 months and re-bill.

Immaterial of what this calculation works out at, should the customer be looking for some kind of credit on their account for the hassle caused by this, and mainly the length of time its taken Shell to fix it? Or should they just wait for the new bill and leave it at that?

Given that Spring us almost upon us, I suggest that you take their offer and be grateful.

Can you see usage in the free App BRIGHT? If BRIGHT can retrieve data, then your supplier should be able to do the same.

mac.d

I figured when they said recalculated, they wouldn't just use the figures and charge them the same amount they used in Mar-May X 2, although if they did, that'd obviously be great.

I'll see if they can install the Bright app on their tablet to check if there's anything from the gas meter on it.

mac.d

They didn't want to install the Bright app so didn't get to see if the data from the gas meter was available, but Shell finally got things sorted and arranged for the latest meter fixer to replace the meter and also said they'd install dual band comms. I presume the latter would be part of the electric meter but don't notice anything new, but new gas meter installed and Shell have confirmed they're able to get the readings.

Fair play to Shell, as they also cancelled all the estimated gas bills, and in 3 months time have requested another complaint is raised and they will recalculate and rebill for the winter period.

Never seen this kind of meter before, a Flonidan SciFlo, its got a nice clear screen on it.

[Deleted User]

mac.d said:

They didn't want to install the Bright app so didn't get to see if the data from the gas meter was available, but Shell finally got things sorted and arranged for the latest meter fixer to replace the meter and also said they'd install dual band comms. I presume the latter would be part of the electric meter but don't notice anything new, but new gas meter installed and Shell have confirmed they're able to get the readings.

Fair play to Shell, as they also cancelled all the estimated gas bills, and in 3 months time have requested another complaint is raised and they will recalculate and rebill for the winter period.

Never seen this kind of meter before, a Flonidan SciFlo, its got a nice clear screen on it.

Firstly, to correct a common misbelief: smart meter comms hubs are never built into electricity meters. They are separate devices that sit above, and are connected to, the electricity meter so that there is access to Grid power. 

Your new gas meter is dual-band wifi as is your new comms hub. The gas meter uses the Home Area Network generated by the comms hub to provide gas usage and tariff information every 30 minutes to the gas proxy meter built into the comms hub. 

mac.d

Thanks Dolor, I was looking at the top bit of the electric meter to see if I could notice any changes as I figured they could swap that 'part' out, what you say makes perfect sense though. Ta also for the info on the gas meter being dual-band too, I wondered why they had to exchange it when it appeared to be working and connecting to the IHD, but I guess it's all about improving the communication to the DCC. 

[Deleted User]

mac.d said:

Thanks Dolor, I was looking at the top bit of the electric meter to see if I could notice any changes as I figured they could swap that 'part' out, what you say makes perfect sense though. Ta also for the info on the gas meter being dual-band too, I wondered why they had to exchange it when it appeared to be working and connecting to the IHD, but I guess it's all about improving the communication to the DCC. 

 The DCC connection to the comms hub is either 2G or UHF radio depending where you live. The dual band comms hub is all about improving the range of the Home Area Network.

mac.d

So does that mean the upgrade to dual band comms hub shouldn't really have been necessary since the readings from the gas meter were showing up on the IHD? I don't suppose it matters since everything appears to be working ok now, and at least Shell have managed to fix the problem, especially as there seems a few issues with people's gas meters not communicating.

I have my own problem that my SMETS1 smart meter has stopped communicating for the past two weeks. I've requested a gas smart meter and if Octopus ever get round to fitting it I'm hoping they'll install a new electric meter too.

[Deleted User]

mac.d said:

So does that mean the upgrade to dual band comms hub shouldn't really have been necessary since the readings from the gas meter were showing up on the IHD? I don't suppose it matters since everything appears to be working ok now, and at least Shell have managed to fix the problem, especially as there seems a few issues with people's gas meters not communicating.

I have my own problem that my SMETS1 smart meter has stopped communicating for the past two weeks. I've requested a gas smart meter and if Octopus ever get round to fitting it I'm hoping they'll install a new electric meter too.

If the gas readings were showing in the IHD then the HAN connection was working correctly. If there is a WAN issue connecting to the network, then suppliers have the option of fitting a SKU2 comms hub with an external aerial.

john080347

Further to our problems with no data for the gas meter appearing on our IHD, it now seems that British Gas have revamped all accounts and communications with meters, at least in our area (South Wales); the only notification we had was a message on our IHD which was one cryptic word: "Withdrawal". And guess what? We now have the data from the gas meter as well as the electric, although we still have no info on live usage (current kWh) of gas, but everything is now available. This change-over to a new system must have been known to the many support staff at BG I've contacted via Twitter and on the phone over the past few months, but I was fobbed off with lame excuses each time.