Being forced to buy a smart meter

markin

Just move to Octopus, And get a referral code to get £50 for you and the person you get the code from.

https://octopus.energy/quote/?postcode=#/

[Deleted User]

helpfulflowers said:

I am with EON Next and when under EON I had smart meters installed but from day one I had endless problems with the gas meter not working or being picked up by the IHD (In House Display) and EON fobbed me off for so long, with every excuse possible.

Like you my gas meter was outside in the ground and very difficult to read, but before smart meters I had a meter reader out twice a year, which helped get accurate bills. I had no one who could read my meter in between.

It took 18-months and two complaints both which went to the Energy Ombudsman before EON finally admitted the gas smart meter was too far apart from the electric meter and it could not communicate with the smart hub, and therefore it could not send readings to EON Next, same reason the gas meter would not be picked up on the IHD. They admitted they should not have installed smart meters.

A third complaint was made last year to the ombudsman because despite being on the priority register and EON Next being told my meter had to be read due to my disability, EON never read the meter, and the customer service last year was just awful, staff that didn’t have a clue.

Finally, I had another EON energy installer come out this month, and there is now new technology “dual band” for smart meters set apart from each other, and I can only praise the man who came out, who ran tests and since it worked, he then installed new smart meters, and gave me a new IHD. That was two weeks ago and all is working well, I can now see what I am using, and take meter readings from the IHD. This time I can only praise the engineer and the man at EON Next who finally resolved an issue that started in 2020!

The only way to resolve your issues, especially as you have a disability is to make a complaint with EON Next, there could be a reason why your smart meter is not sending readings automatically to them, which might be fixable, such as someone coming out to recommission the meter. Those on here saying there is no reason why your meter can’t send meter, are really not being helpful.

I advise:

1. Raise a complaint with EON Next.
2. Make a note of who you speak to, date and time, each time you talk to someone.
3. EON Next should acknowledge the complaint.
4. If it reaches 8 weeks and they do nothing or do not resolve it, or send you a deadlock letter, you can escalate to the Energy Ombudsman, but not before the 8 weeks is up.
5. If it goes to the Energy Ombudsman EON Next have a specialist team that deals with the ombudsman complaints they get, and you will get a named advisor to deal with it.
6. I suspect if you go down this route, they will send someone out to check the meter, and perhaps provide a new IHD.
7. You need to ensure in your complaint you emphasise your disability, age, and how difficult it is to read your meter due to location.

I have so far had £225 out of EON Next for complaints taken to the ombudsman, and around £90 for failed appointments. So complaining whilst it can be stressful is worth it, but it takes time.

If you will struggle with this, ask the citizens advice bureau for help or even Age Concern, but don’t worry and don’t buy a new IHD regardless of what EON Next is telling you, they need to fix why the meter is not sending them readings, they are your supplier and have a responsibility to ensure the meter is working.

In fairness to suppliers, dual-band communications hubs are only just being rolled out and these are a DCC responsibility - not the responsibility of any supplier. Meter and IHD manufacturers are the responsible for the certification of their equipment and for all firmware updates. The DCC is responsible for the network. 

My IHD went into silent mode early last month after one of the DCC-initiated quarterly firmware updates. All LEDs flashing norming but no WAN or HAN connections. All the supplier can do is ask the DCC to investigate and initiate a remote hub reset. As luck would have it, a smart meter installation team pitched up in my street a few days later.I   was able to get them to call their smart meter team who agreed to a 15 minute main fuse pull to reset the comms hub.

In my opinion, smart metering should never have been a supplier responsibility as the only thing that they can do is ask their 'industry friends' to resolve a problem.