British Gas not using smart meter readings

Yorkie006

Hi,
I have an unusual question. I'm with British Gas and have smart meters since 2018. I'm getting monthly bills. For the last 2 months, my electricity bill were all estimated. For gas bills, they're using the smart meters readings. 
Any idea why they all of a sudden stopped using the smart meter readings for electricity but continue to use them for gas? Their estimates are higher than my actual usage. I've just submitted a reading manually through their website but obviously want this sorted. Just want to check if anyone else have/had similar issue before I try to contact them.
Thank you!

CSI_Yorkshire

The meter might have stopped reporting, it happens sometimes.

They won't be receiving readings and just not using them.

HampshireH

Yorkie006 said:

Hi,
I have an unusual question. I'm with British Gas and have smart meters since 2018. I'm getting monthly bills. For the last 2 months, my electricity bill were all estimated. For gas bills, they're using the smart meters readings. 
Any idea why they all of a sudden stopped using the smart meter readings for electricity but continue to use them for gas? Their estimates are higher than my actual usage. I've just submitted a reading manually through their website but obviously want this sorted. Just want to check if anyone else have/had similar issue before I try to contact them.
Thank you!

Interesting I reviewed a relative's bills last week (also with BG) and for the last two months theirs says "estimated" when previously they said "smart meter" or something similar.

Their bill is quarterly but the readings are monthly as is their DD

Have advised them to submit readings too and phone to ask why

Yorkie006

I though that may be the case, but wouldn't BG notice that it's not working? Surely, they were getting reading since 2018 and if they suddenly stopped, you'd think they'd try to find out why... Or at least contact me to tell me there's a problem and ask for manual readings if they're too busy to get the meter fixed.
It's just strange that nobody picked up on it. There are probably people out there who rely on their meter to send the reading and if they don't check their bills properly, they may not know the bills are estimated and then end up with a huge bill several months later.
I'll send BG an email and wait for their response.

Yorkie006

HampshireH said:

Yorkie006 said:

Hi,
I have an unusual question. I'm with British Gas and have smart meters since 2018. I'm getting monthly bills. For the last 2 months, my electricity bill were all estimated. For gas bills, they're using the smart meters readings. 
Any idea why they all of a sudden stopped using the smart meter readings for electricity but continue to use them for gas? Their estimates are higher than my actual usage. I've just submitted a reading manually through their website but obviously want this sorted. Just want to check if anyone else have/had similar issue before I try to contact them.
Thank you!

Interesting I reviewed a relative's bills last week (also with BG) and for the last two months theirs says "estimated" when previously they said "smart meter" or something similar.

Their bill is quarterly but the readings are monthly as is their DD

Have advised them to submit readings too and phone to ask why

Looks like there is a glitch in the matrix... I had smart meter readings every month without fail since 2018, until now. Last electricity smart reading was at the beginning of April. Luckily their estimates are higher than my usage so it's not a big deal, just an inconvenience. Still needs sorting though. I wonder how many people are affected?

CSI_Yorkshire

Yorkie006 said:

I though that may be the case, but wouldn't BG notice that it's not working? Surely, they were getting reading since 2018 and if they suddenly stopped, you'd think they'd try to find out why... Or at least contact me to tell me there's a problem and ask for manual readings if they're too busy to get the meter fixed.
It's just strange that nobody picked up on it. There are probably people out there who rely on their meter to send the reading and if they don't check their bills properly, they may not know the bills are estimated and then end up with a huge bill several months later.
I'll send BG an email and wait for their response.

They don't check (why would they?), they wouldn't notice and they wouldn't care.  They can bill on estimates if they don't get a reading, so it doesn't bother them.

Yorkie006

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Yorkie006 said:

I though that may be the case, but wouldn't BG notice that it's not working? Surely, they were getting reading since 2018 and if they suddenly stopped, you'd think they'd try to find out why... Or at least contact me to tell me there's a problem and ask for manual readings if they're too busy to get the meter fixed.
It's just strange that nobody picked up on it. There are probably people out there who rely on their meter to send the reading and if they don't check their bills properly, they may not know the bills are estimated and then end up with a huge bill several months later.
I'll send BG an email and wait for their response.

They don't check (why would they?), they wouldn't notice and they wouldn't care.  They can bill on estimates if they don't get a reading, so it doesn't bother them.

I would have thought that with everything being auto-generated by computers these days, there would some sort of an alert on the system if an expected smart reading didn't arrive.

Marvel1

Yorkie006 said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Yorkie006 said:

I though that may be the case, but wouldn't BG notice that it's not working? Surely, they were getting reading since 2018 and if they suddenly stopped, you'd think they'd try to find out why... Or at least contact me to tell me there's a problem and ask for manual readings if they're too busy to get the meter fixed.
It's just strange that nobody picked up on it. There are probably people out there who rely on their meter to send the reading and if they don't check their bills properly, they may not know the bills are estimated and then end up with a huge bill several months later.
I'll send BG an email and wait for their response.

They don't check (why would they?), they wouldn't notice and they wouldn't care.  They can bill on estimates if they don't get a reading, so it doesn't bother them.

I would have thought that with everything being auto-generated by computers these days, there would some sort of an alert on the system if an expected smart reading didn't arrive.

Chances are they dont care because they filled their duty in fitting a smart meter.  Agree though as the benefits posted are they (should) send automatically so you dont have too.

[Deleted User]

Marvel1 said:

Yorkie006 said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Yorkie006 said:

I though that may be the case, but wouldn't BG notice that it's not working? Surely, they were getting reading since 2018 and if they suddenly stopped, you'd think they'd try to find out why... Or at least contact me to tell me there's a problem and ask for manual readings if they're too busy to get the meter fixed.
It's just strange that nobody picked up on it. There are probably people out there who rely on their meter to send the reading and if they don't check their bills properly, they may not know the bills are estimated and then end up with a huge bill several months later.
I'll send BG an email and wait for their response.

They don't check (why would they?), they wouldn't notice and they wouldn't care.  They can bill on estimates if they don't get a reading, so it doesn't bother them.

I would have thought that with everything being auto-generated by computers these days, there would some sort of an alert on the system if an expected smart reading didn't arrive.

Chances are they dont care because they filled their duty in fitting a smart meter.  Agree though as the benefits posted are they (should) send automatically so you dont have too.

That’s quite a claim. Octopus checks its cohort of smart meters every fortnight:

The most likely reason for the temporary failure of a meter is a firmware upgrade that has gone wrong. The supplier has to wait for the meter manufacturer to build; test and make available a fix. Eighteen months ago, it took Kaifa 7 months and 3 firmware updates to fix some of their meters.

Robin9

Yorkie006 said:

Hi,
I have an unusual question. I'm with British Gas and have smart meters since 2018. I'm getting monthly bills. For the last 2 months, my electricity bill were all estimated. For gas bills, they're using the smart meters readings. 
Any idea why they all of a sudden stopped using the smart meter readings for electricity but continue to use them for gas? Their estimates are higher than my actual usage. I've just submitted a reading manually through their website but obviously want this sorted. Just want to check if anyone else have/had similar issue before I try to contact them.
Thank you!

Well done for reading and checking your bills - if only many of the posters on this forum were to do that.

CSI_Yorkshire

[Deleted User] said:

Marvel1 said:

Yorkie006 said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Yorkie006 said:

I though that may be the case, but wouldn't BG notice that it's not working? Surely, they were getting reading since 2018 and if they suddenly stopped, you'd think they'd try to find out why... Or at least contact me to tell me there's a problem and ask for manual readings if they're too busy to get the meter fixed.
It's just strange that nobody picked up on it. There are probably people out there who rely on their meter to send the reading and if they don't check their bills properly, they may not know the bills are estimated and then end up with a huge bill several months later.
I'll send BG an email and wait for their response.

They don't check (why would they?), they wouldn't notice and they wouldn't care.  They can bill on estimates if they don't get a reading, so it doesn't bother them.

I would have thought that with everything being auto-generated by computers these days, there would some sort of an alert on the system if an expected smart reading didn't arrive.

Chances are they dont care because they filled their duty in fitting a smart meter.  Agree though as the benefits posted are they (should) send automatically so you dont have too.

That’s quite a claim. Octopus checks its cohort of smart meters every fortnight:

The most likely reason for the temporary failure of a meter is a firmware upgrade that has gone wrong. The supplier has to wait for the meter manufacturer to build; test and make available a fix. Eighteen months ago, it took Kaifa 7 months and 3 firmware updates to fix some of their meters.

It's a claim that could well be true for all other suppliers than Octopus, and even they don't seem to do the checks for everyone having seen some other posts on here.