Smart Gas Meters - why is no-one warning about this?

wondermouse

It's very frustrating to be bombarded with adverts on TV and online about smart meters when nobody mentions a fundamental flaw with the system. 

If you want a smart gas meter it MUST be installed close to your electricity meter. Nowhere in any of the online literature is this pointed out. It seems that currently, there are no standalone smart gas meters. I live in a development of 151 flats. Every flat has its electricity meter in the basement of each block. This precludes installing a smart gas meter, as it can't "talk" to the electricity meter, unless your flat is also in the basement. We now have a smart electricity meter fitted, although we weren't given a smart display, as it's again too far from the meter.

So, until they develop a smart gas meter that can "call home" via Wi-Fi or similar, 95% of our flats can't get one installed. The industry body tells me it's working on the problem and expects to have something available within 5 years!

No-one is pointing this out! It's a major failing of the smart meter roll-out and must affect hundreds of thousands of flats. 

Could Martin say something about this at some point? 

pochase

What do you mean nobody is pointing this out?

For example

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360030097111-If-your-meters-are-more-than-10-meters-apart

Nobody is hiding that there is a problem if the gas meter is more than 10 to 15 meters away from the electricity meter..

macman

Most large apartment blocks do not have mains gas supplies, so I doubt this issue is as widespread as you suggest. The only solution would be to move the gas meters so that they are near to the leccy meters. Your gas meter is presumably within or outside your own flat?
The problem with a standalone smart gas meter is that it would need a wired power supply rather than a battery.
It was never intended that smart meters could be installed in 100% of properties, as many locations are not able to receive the necessary mobile networks.

Robin9

wondermouse said:

If you want a smart gas meter it MUST be installed close to your electricity meter. 

Not true.   I have two buildings with meters in cellars - both are hardwired out to a battery pack / transmitter

Astria

I have a friend who is in a situation like this but not 100% - all the electric meters are on the ground floor, gas meters are inside each flat, so all the electric meters are smart but the gas is not. However, the IHD works fine most of the time. You can't really use it for instant-use, but for a running total it's fine (ie, the signal isn't that great).

As the gas meters are inside the property, it's also easy to check usage of gas by simply looking at the meter - it's simple enough to get an approximation from m3 to £ in your head.

wondermouse

Astria said:

As the gas meters are inside the property, it's also easy to check usage of gas by simply looking at the meter -

Unfortun\ately our gas meter is in a really inacessable position in our kitchen. It means taking everything off the shelves in order to get close enough to read it, which is why I need a smart gas meter. I was going to rig a small web cam pointing at it but the new gas meter (non-smart - installed at the same time as the smart electricity meter) requires you to press a button to show the reading so that's not an option eeither. It's frustrating. 

macman

It'll be a smart meter, but be running in dumb mode, as it can't link to the comms hub on the leccy meter.