Power company messed up meter change

GDB2222

We were called and offered a change to smart meters for both gas and electricity. Fair enough. I accepted. 

Today, they turned up, turned off the electricity, and then decided not to change the meters after all. They could have changed the electricity meter, but the member of staff was not qualified to disconnect our particular gas meter. So, they didn’t change either meter. 

Anyone knows why they need to do both at the same time?

I can see why this particular energy supplier is poorly rated, as they don’t seem at all well organised.

TELLIT01

The probably don't need to be done at the same time.  Just more convenient for them. 

I had a call about changing meters and told them it's not convenient at present.  I then had a text a couple of weeks ago saying they are coming on x date.  No way to cancel on the text, only to change the date.  I ended up wasting ages on the phone to British Gas who have cancelled the installation.  They said that the people who called me should have cancelled the booking in the first place, and it was now up to me to let BG know when/if I want them installed.

FFHillbilly

I think the meters communicate with each other, only the electric meter broadcasts a signal so they need to be installed as a pair. I'm sure I've heard that before recently

TadleyBaggie

There was nothing stopping them from just installing the electric one. That happened to me, the installer didn't like bodge to the bracket that the gas meter was connected to made by the heating engineer, he refused to install just the gas meter.

silvercar

TadleyBaggie said:

There was nothing stopping them from just installing the electric one. That happened to me, the installer didn't like bodge to the bracket that the gas meter was connected to made by the heating engineer, he refused to install just the gas meter.

Similar story here. Changed the electric meter then decided the gas meter needed a support he didn’t have. Every time I try and book for them to change the gas meter they aren’t interested in doing it. Actually matters little that the gas meter hasn’t been changed as all the cut down and save incentives are on the electric meter and I’m capable of reading the gas meter myself.

diystarter7

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

GDB2222 said:

We were called and offered a change to smart meters for both gas and electricity. Fair enough. I accepted. 

Today, they turned up, turned off the electricity, and then decided not to change the meters after all. They could have changed the electricity meter, but the member of staff was not qualified to disconnect our particular gas meter. So, they didn’t change either meter. 

Anyone knows why they need to do both at the same time?

I can see why this particular energy supplier is poorly rated, as they don’t seem at all well organised.

You should contact the supplier and inform them that it is in breach of the Smart Meter Installation Code of Practice which is a part of the Standard Licence Conditions imposed on all energy suppliers. The particular paragraph that you should refer to is this:

5. FAULT RESOLUTION 5.1.Procedures for Handling Faults

It is each Member’s responsibility to ensure that;

5.1.1.If a fault is identified with the Smart Metering System during the Installation Visit, the Customer is made aware of the problem, what the resolution is likely to be, who will be resolving the fault, and the approximate timescales of the resolution;

5.1.2.The Customer is provided with contact details for additional information related to the Smart Metering System fault, for example should they wish to check progress;

5.1.3.It is made clear to the Customer that they will not be charged for rectifying the Smart Metering System fault;

5.1.4.Information is provided as to who the Customer is to contact if they identify a fault with the Smart Metering System;

5.1.5.If the IHD, if provided, is found to be faulty within 12 months of Installation, the IHD is either repaired or replaced17; and

5.1.6.The Customer is informed about their rights in relation to components of the Smart Metering System that are identified to be faulty.

Sadly, when there is an installation issue, installers place it in the too difficult column and suppliers just seem to accept it. 

FWiW, my daughter had her smart meters installed in December. The installer failed to commission the gas meter and left no IHD. She followed the advice above. She called her supplier asked for the gas meter to be commissioned remotely and a paired IHD to be sent out by post. Initially, she was told that this was not possible. She escalated her request to a complaint and advised the supplier that it was in breach of SMICoP and its Licence Conditions and that the breach would be reported to Ofgem. 

A week later later, an IHD arrived in the mail and on turning it on it showed  ‘ ESME and GSME commissioned’ messages. CS staff are not well briefed on smart meter installation or fault issues.

MWT

FFHillbilly said:

I think the meters communicate with each other, only the electric meter broadcasts a signal so they need to be installed as a pair. I'm sure I've heard that before recently

Just a small correction, it is the comms hub which takes power from the electricity meter that handles the collection of data over a Zigbee wireless network from the gas and electricity meters, and then responds to requests for that data from authorised parties, like your energy supplier. The IHD also connects to the Zigbee network.

The gas meter can be added later, it does not have to be installed at the same time.

Keep_pedalling

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

[Deleted User]

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

It is known as the Illusory Truth Effect (ITE) 

ITE is the based on the idea that repeated statements are perceived to be more truthful than those which are evidence-based . The ITE is frequently used by marketeers, cult leaders, and politicians to give credence to a particular point of view. After a number of repetitions even the person making the statement believes what he/she is saying is true despite the actual facts suggesting something altogether different.

For example:

Vaccines and face masks do not work.

All politicians lie.

Smart meters are bad for your health.

All energy suppliers are inherently dishonest.

GDB2222

Keep_pedalling said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

I'm sure its a very rare event and fans of smart meters will tell you that very quickly. I am just glad I did not go for it. The more I read about these meters and the problems, the more entrenched my views about this.

Anyway, good luck with the change.

Thanks

And just how does repeating you mantra for the nth time help the OP?

This is not a smart meter problem but a dumb engineer one. There was no reason the electric smart meter could not have been installed.

I honestly hadn't realised that he was suggesting that smart meters are inherently dangerous in some obscure way that I am far too stupid to understand. At least, unlike Covid vaccine, everybody agrees that smart meters contain computer chips. 

One potential danger from smart meters is when they report energy consumption at frequent intervals, say every day. It's possible to tell from that data when a house is uninhabited, which could be useful to burglars. That problem is easily circumvented by setting the reporting interval to monthly, though.