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Your meter is approaching its use-by date and needs to be replaced

edited 24 February at 11:32AM in Energy
67 replies 3.4K views
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  • edited 8 March at 5:11PM
    Marvel1Marvel1 Forumite
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    edited 8 March at 5:11PM
    Mstty said:
    You don't lose the option of reading your own meter and sending in reads whenever you want.

    Personally nothing to worry about and not having a smart meter means missing out on potentially money saving tariffs and schemes such as the national grid ESO demand flexibility service. (Some have earned upwards of £300 on this already)
    Which suppliers provide this? Hoping it's SSE and British Gas.

    ________________________________________________

    Personal experince is to submit your own reading like you do now.
  • 1socrates11socrates1 Forumite
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    The latest update is a man phoned me from SMS. I am not sure if Octopus Energy passed on the email I wrote onto them or not or if they were just following up a job that had been aborted. I was able to tell him in brief my side of the story. He said that he will be speaking to his manager, probably get back to me on Monday and then should have new meter installed by another technician.
  • 1socrates11socrates1 Forumite
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    I had the meters installed today which went smoothly. I have one question though. The one meter connected to the electricity (Aclara) seems to be on and is displaying information. The meter connected to gas (UNIFLO), the display is totally blank Is this correct or is something wrong?
  • DolorDolor Forumite
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    I had the meters installed today which went smoothly. I have one question though. The one meter connected to the electricity (Aclara) seems to be on and is displaying information. The meter connected to gas (UNIFLO), the display is totally blank Is this correct or is something wrong?
    Nothing amiss with what you are seeing. It takes the supplier a few days to complete the industry procedures to set up your system. You are seeing electricity because the meter is connected to the hub whereas the gas meter uses the Home Area Network for its connection. 

    When meter commissioning is complete you will get two messages on your IHD  - ‘ ESME commissioning complete’  and ‘GSME commissioning complete’.
  • cm4evercm4ever Forumite
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    The gas meter blanks the display to save energy - it's powered by a battery.

    Press a button and it'll turn the display back on for a short period of time.
    Solar PV: 5.68kWp (8 x 395W and 6 x 420W Trina Vertex-S)
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    "Enjoy it while it lasts, because nothing lasts for ever and when it's gone, it's gone!"
  • 1socrates11socrates1 Forumite
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    Thank you so much or the clarification. 
  • ariarniaariarnia Forumite
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    and thank you for sticking with the thread and keeping us updated. i hope the new meters work well but if you have problems you no where we are :)
    Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Anne Lamott

    It's amazing how those with a can-do attitude and willingness to 'pitch in and work' get all the luck, isn't it?

    Please consider buying some pet food and giving it to your local food bank collection or animal charity. Animals aren't to blame for the cost of living crisis.
  • edited 29 March at 11:27AM
    DolorDolor Forumite
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    edited 29 March at 11:27AM
    Hi, this is my first time asking a question and I hope someone has a similar experience....

    I am with Sainsbury's Energy (eON) dual fuel, smart meter ect.
    A few months ago I've noticed an unusual 'charge' on my home display device, between 00:00 -00:30 (the first 30 min after midnight (I'm not weird, just had a legitimate reason to be up at an ungodly hour :)). 

    The home display shows daily usage up to midnight, then at 00:00 it goes to £0.
    Every 10 min, the amount shown in £ changes (no gas/electricity symbols displayed, just £xx), with the latest being over £11. Then at 00:30 it goes back to showing a standing charge only i.e. £0.47 and carries on as normal. 
    The amounts displayed in that first 30 min are different every day, between £7-£11. 

    There are no activities (washing machine, dishwasher etc) at that time of night, I have not changed my habits and can not explain what that is. 

    I have contacted Sainsbury's Energy, with a series of photos sent asking for an explanation, considering the price hike I'd like to know my usage and what I'm paying for. 
    I have been told that the home display device is a 'guide', not accurate or to be relied upon and 'I should put it away in a drawer' and forget about it. They have direct access to my meter and are taking readings daily, reassuring me that whatever is displayed they're not charging! - But why is the amount in sterling displayed?! What is it for?
    They don't know, is what I got. They promised they'll ask the technical team but never got back to me. 

    I happened to mention that again recently, when calling regarding something else, and again I've been told they don't know what the displayed amount is and I should not worry. We all agreed that it isn't the standing charge :)

    Does anyone know what that could be?
    Do you keep your home display unit under the bed :)
    Should I be worried?

    Thank you in advance if you do take the time to comment.

     
    The In House Display plays no part in the billing process: it connects to a network that is limited in range and one which the supplier cannot access. All your energy bills are based on meter index readings pulled by the supplier from your comms hub/meters via the DCC-managed network. 

    I have no idea why you are seeing what you are seeing but it is nothing to be worried about. If you want to see daily usage and costs* then I suggest that you download and sign up to the free app BRIGHT.

    FWiW, my IHD has, in 4 years,  never shown the daily standing charge for gas even though I can see that the correct tariff has been sent to each of the smart meters.

    * Gas costs shown on your IHD and in BRIGHT will never exactly match those shown on your bill. Devices have to use a fixed calorific value whereas actual billing is based on the average calorific value of the gas supplied during the billing period.
  • ariarniaariarnia Forumite
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    Dolor said:
    Hi, this is my first time asking a question and I hope someone has a similar experience....

    I am with Sainsbury's Energy (eON) dual fuel, smart meter ect.
    A few months ago I've noticed an unusual 'charge' on my home display device, between 00:00 -00:30 (the first 30 min after midnight (I'm not weird, just had a legitimate reason to be up at an ungodly hour :)). 

    The home display shows daily usage up to midnight, then at 00:00 it goes to £0.
    Every 10 min, the amount shown in £ changes (no gas/electricity symbols displayed, just £xx), with the latest being over £11. Then at 00:30 it goes back to showing a standing charge only i.e. £0.47 and carries on as normal. 
    The amounts displayed in that first 30 min are different every day, between £7-£11. 

    There are no activities (washing machine, dishwasher etc) at that time of night, I have not changed my habits and can not explain what that is. 

    I have contacted Sainsbury's Energy, with a series of photos sent asking for an explanation, considering the price hike I'd like to know my usage and what I'm paying for. 
    I have been told that the home display device is a 'guide', not accurate or to be relied upon and 'I should put it away in a drawer' and forget about it. They have direct access to my meter and are taking readings daily, reassuring me that whatever is displayed they're not charging! - But why is the amount in sterling displayed?! What is it for?
    They don't know, is what I got. They promised they'll ask the technical team but never got back to me. 

    I happened to mention that again recently, when calling regarding something else, and again I've been told they don't know what the displayed amount is and I should not worry. We all agreed that it isn't the standing charge :)

    Does anyone know what that could be?
    Do you keep your home display unit under the bed :)
    Should I be worried?

    Thank you in advance if you do take the time to comment.

     
    I have no idea why you are seeing what you are seeing but it is nothing to be worried about. If you want to see daily usage and costs* then I suggest that you download and sign up to the free app BRIGHT.

    i would also recomend bright. you just need the code thats on the back of (or somewhere on) your ihd. then it can take a few days to get your data, but its got some really useful charts that help understand when and how your using your energy. 

    one thing to understand tho is that its not 'live'. the app updates i think once a day early in the morning so shows you your use yesterday. you can get smart plugs or use the ihd for actual use if you want to spot check (just ignore the pounds and pence). 
    Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Anne Lamott

    It's amazing how those with a can-do attitude and willingness to 'pitch in and work' get all the luck, isn't it?

    Please consider buying some pet food and giving it to your local food bank collection or animal charity. Animals aren't to blame for the cost of living crisis.
  • 1socrates11socrates1 Forumite
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    I received a bill for gas because  "The gas is all set up and sending data, we are just awaiting some more of the electric details to come through from the installation for this to be updated".

    In the meantime surely I should be able to see gas usage on the small hand-held monitor? But I am unable to do so.
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