Many British Gas smart meter customers STILL can't track their energy usage

MSE_Emily

Many British Gas smart meter customers say they are still unable to track their energy usage, with some complaining they've been unable to check consumption regularly on the firm's app, website and in-house display for over a year. So if you're looking to monitor and cut your usage, you'll need to do this manually by taking meter readings yourself...

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Many British Gas smart meter customers STILL can't track their energy usage - so make sure you take regular meter readings

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danthemoneysavingman

I can't see my usage on British gas app, never have been able to, but I CAN see it on the HUGO app. So if others want see it, get that app. I'm just a user of it, find it useful! Plus was able to do the winter cashback events on HUGO too. 

oracleofknowledge

I don’t have a smart meter but I can’t get into my online account via app or website tells me they are having “technical issues”.  I try to send regular meter readings and I make a payment each month towards my bill but haven’t been able to do this for a couple of months. They know about the problem so why don’t they just fix it?  They are still sending out bills- never backwards in coming forward when you owe them but making things easier for their customers doesn’t seem to be high on their list of priorities. Is anyone else not on a smart meter having problems or is it just me?

Annemos

Good evening oracle.

I am also with British Gas. In November 2022, my old meter was changed to a refurbished non-smart meter. 

As "luck" would have it, this was about 4 days before I was transferred onto the new "super" British Gas account system, so my customer number was changed. 

As a result, British Gas had no idea that my meter had even been changed. And I also seem to have fallen through the cracks between both the old and the new billing system. I have even sent them photographs of the old meter's last reading and also the new meter with its "new installation" reading. You would think they could sort this out  ...... 

Their Engineers have now been "looking into this" for 3 months and I still have not had any confirmation that my account is now synchronised with my new meter. 

About 2 months ago they told me they are dealing with thousands of complaints and thanked me for being patient! Every month, I get an apology by mail which apologises for the delay in sorting it out. 

I take photographs of my meter reading regularly. I am on a fixed contract until October and the same amount is just being taken out every month by DD. 

oracleofknowledge

Hi Many thanks for your reply and apologies for not responding sooner.  To be honest didn’t know that BG were doing anything to their system, it might have been better if they had left things alone. Surely their IT department is capable of sorting things out, if not then it’s time they employed IT staff who can 

Dolor

oracleofknowledge said:

Hi Many thanks for your reply and apologies for not responding sooner.  To be honest didn’t know that BG were doing anything to their system, it might have been better if they had left things alone. Surely their IT department is capable of sorting things out, if not then it’s time they employed IT staff who can 

Suppliers need to update their IT/billing systems to accommodate such things as 4 index readings and 30 minute usage data from a smart meter, and the increased rollout of time-of-use tariffs.

Octopus went down this road 5 years ago with the development of its Kraken Technologies platform which is now used by Good Energy; E.oN Next and, soon, EDF - and in many other parts of the World. 

To demonstrate how things are changing. My Octopus 6 tier time-of-use tariff (3 import and 3 export period/rates) no longer shows any meter index readings. All billing is done on a single meter register using 30 minute usage data pulled daily from my smart meter. My monthly statement has a daily sheet of cost information. In sum, leaving things as they are is no longer an option.

In future, when carrying out a price comparison you will no longer be required to enter your usage in kWh/year. Price comparison websites will with your approval be able to pull 12 months worth of usage data from your smart meter. The tariff which comes out cheapest will not only be based on your total annual usage but when you use energy.