Octopus: Action: Your meter is approaching its use-by date

pochase

Sorry, I have not found any lists or a possibilty to establish the age of a gas meter,

EssexHebridean

What a bizarre coincidence that we were only discussing that very meter on here at the weekend, and now someone has posted who has one! 

[Deleted User]

EssexHebridean said:

What a bizarre coincidence that we were only discussing that very meter on here at the weekend, and now someone has posted who has one! 

Was the discussion on this Forum, Essex-Hebridean?  Do you have a link?  Thanks.

ariarnia

huh. google has thrown up this which is interesting. 

Unlike electricity meters there is no statutory list of approved gas meters (i.e. the equivalent of Schedule 4).

In addition, gas meters do not have a defined in-service life. However, there is an obligation in Schedule 2B of the Gas Act 1986 for all parties to keep meters in proper order for correctly registering the quantity of gas supplied. This obligation is generally fulfilled by the asset owner monitoring the accuracy of particular meter types on an ongoing basis and taking action when problems occur.

so could someone who understands this more than i do say if that means gas meters dont have a cert lifespan?

this is the law its talking about and i'm not reading thru but skimming the contents the only bits on certification are talking about people i think? 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/44/contents

i mean at the end of the day the meter belongs to the supplier so i can't see they wont have the right to take it away if they want to but it might mean they could be persuaded to wait a bit until the electric meter is completely out of life?

ariarnia

Deleted_User said:

EssexHebridean said:

What a bizarre coincidence that we were only discussing that very meter on here at the weekend, and now someone has posted who has one! 

Was the discussion on this Forum, Essex-Hebridean?  Do you have a link?  Thanks.

 i did look for it when i saw this post and couldnt find it. there was some bickering and i think it got deleted. or i'm channeling my oh and someone else will post it in a second when it stops hiding from me

70sbudgie

Annemos said:

You have cleared something up for me, matt_drummer.

Are you saying that the actual meter reading that we can see on a Smart meter is still totally mechanical, as it ticks around? 

And that the Smart bit is just for communication with the Gas/ Electricity Company or your mobile phone or that separate display box that you might have lying around to show you what happens when you switch a kettle on?

I was thinking the actual meter reading itself was somehow very sophisticated and digital. 

As @matt_drummer said, a smart meter is just a (digital) meter (dumb) with an additional communication bit (it used to just be a mobile phone SIM) card. It is the communication bit that makes it smart. It is also the communication bit that has had the most issues. 

The display that goes in your house is exactly that - just a display. It can do nothing more than show you a simplified version of what the meter is reading. It can't send any information. I have had a smart meter for nearly 4 years now and after a few months I realised that my in house display was doing nothing other than gather dust, because I never looked at it. So I unplugged it and stuck it in a drawer. Then last summer, when the energy crisis was heating up and I started to be more conscious of my energy usage, I dug out the inhouse display and plugged it in again. I have to say I was surprised that it started working a treat. The tariffs are all completely wrong, but I'm only interested in my instaneous use, so that doesn't bother me.

Octopus have 3 frequencies for smart meter data collection - half hourly, monthly and one in between that I've forgotten. By having your smart meter data collected monthly, it is no different to having a dumb meter with Octopus as they recommend and will remind you, to submit a meter reading every month. You just don't have to go out in the cold (or scrabble around in a cupboard) to get your reading and send it.

As you are with Octopus, you probably have a few options when getting your meter replaced. You can try asking for the smart functionality to be disabled ie ask them to fit a dumb, digital meter. This will look just like a smart meter, but won't behave like one. (I don't know whether Octopus would say yes to this)

You could just accept the smart meter but ask for it to be read monthly and not more frequently. If you currently receive paper bills from Octopus, that won't change with the installation of a smart meter. (This option is definitely possible)

You could also talk to Octopus and ask them how far in advance you can book your meter replacement. It may be as much as 6 months (I am just guessing at this point, but basing the timescale on how busy they currently are and how long it took to get a meter reader to my house). This way you can put off having your meter replaced, but won't have the worry of what happens if you ignore emails.

By the way, being on the priority register is for your DNO and means that they will visit you earliest in the case of a power cut (and often provide additional services). The supplier (Octopus) only collects the data of who has signed up to the priority register. Also, if you are on the priority register with one utility, make sure you are on it for all - not as many people seem to be aware that the water companies also operate priority registers.

EssexHebridean

Deleted_User said:

EssexHebridean said:

What a bizarre coincidence that we were only discussing that very meter on here at the weekend, and now someone has posted who has one! 

Was the discussion on this Forum, Essex-Hebridean?  Do you have a link?  Thanks.

It was a similar topic to this in the first place, sadly it got overrun with quite a lot of misinformation and I know some posts got removed - probably not a great one to link to to be honest! Your meter came up in discussion though simply because it was one of only 2 with the long certification to 45 years! 

pochase

The only one with 45 years, there are two more with 40 years.

I had doubts that there would be a lot of them left, and now we found one.

Spoonie_Turtle

Deleted_User said:

EssexHebridean said:

What a bizarre coincidence that we were only discussing that very meter on here at the weekend, and now someone has posted who has one! 

Was the discussion on this Forum, Essex-Hebridean?  Do you have a link?  Thanks.

I've looked through 12 pages looking for the 'closed' symbol and it's not there.  At first it got the usual types of comments like you've already had, but quickly became very unconstructive. 

The context for your meter coming up was that one poster took umbrage at people saying most meters have a certification period of 10-20 years, because some meters have a period of 40.  Both those things are true - some have 40 years and most of them are 10-20, and your meter came up as the one example on the list that was 45 years (which pettily proved the nuisance poster was wrong in their adamance that cert periods were 'up to 40 years') - if he hadn't been going on and on about it, this one meter model would not have come up.

So you really have not missed anything useful!  I'd happily delete that thread from my brain if I could.

Mstty

That is some good news for you then.

However here is the flip side. Octopus, a company you like, are a provider of smart meter required tariffs especially with their newly released time of use tariffs.

I suspect Octopus are reaching out so you have the chance to chose those money saving tariffs.