Faulty smart meter / hub

martynh99

I moved into my home in Jan 2023 and took elec/gas with EDF who were the previous owners supplier. The home has smart meters (SMETS2) and an IHD , all was working well until the end of Feb when the IHD stopped working and meter readings were not getting to EDF. 
It took me a further 5 months of complaining / sending photos of the meters for them to send someone out who instantly diagnosed the issue as being the communications hub which was flashing a red light on the WAN . HAN shows green and ok. 
The techie who visited said the whole thing needs replacing as the hub is paired with the two meters and there is no way to unpair them / re-pair with a new hub and that EDF would be in touch to arrange this. 
I then received a letter from EDF 
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We have tried a series of actions to fix things for you with the help of our technical teams, but unfortunately have not been able to restore the full smart-metering functionality to your meter. We have investigated further and identified that the problems you are experiencing are linked to known issues across the national smart metering infrastructure, and unfortunately cannot be fixed with the tools currently available to suppliers. The DCC has been notified of these issues affecting yourself and many others in your area. 

 We understand that this is not acceptable and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused you. We are working alongside other suppliers, meter manufacturers and the companies that manage the data transfer from your property to us to ensure we find solutions. Unfortunately, this will be a complex process for which we do not expect a resolution to be available in the short term. You can find out more about the issue and what the energy industry is doing to fix things at: https://www.edfenergy.com/smart-meters and https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/.  

Currently, we are unable give you a working Smart meter as the Gas Meter does not work as a smart meter on its own. You would need to have both Gas and Electricity supplied by EDF Energy to facilitate a working Smart system.    

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Not sure what that last paragraph is about, i take both utils from EDF and the HAN is working (green light)

The links provided don't seem to have any more detail and to me this just sounds like EDF have either got the wrong end of the stick or are just fobbing me off. 

Any smart meter experts out there can cast any more light on this please ? 

Swipe

It sounds like they are only confident of getting it all working by replacing the whole lot with new meters and comms hub. I'd just insist on them doing exactly that.

Ozzig

I've been trying to get my SMETS1 communications fixed with EDF for a couple of years now.

Every 5-6 months they do something that springs it into action for a few weeks, sometimes both meters other times just electric.

I pushed the point about just replacing them with new and the complaints guy I was speaking to said with their existing issues it's not guaranteed to actually work

[Deleted User]

I've been trying to get my SMETS1 communications fixed with EDF for a couple of years now.

Do you mean fixed or updated/adopted by the DCC?  It has not been possible to update all SMETS1 meters over-the-air.  We are now in the SMETS1 sunset phase. If the supplier cannot update your meters then it will have no option but to replace them when the sunset phase ends. 

Ozzig

When we moved from British Gas, as expected, the meters stopped being smart.
But after a year or so I plugged in the IHD to see if it would still power up (was going to bin it if it didn't.) and found it worked. Checked on the EDF "Energy Hub" and they'd been receiving readings for weeks.

After that, the gas meter stopped and restarted a few times, but the electricity meter was pretty consistent for well over a year.

Then about 6 months ago the IHD couldn't connect anymore and around the same time the readings stopped on the "Energy Hub" bit of my account.

Bright app confirmed the inconsistent gas readings and now the absence of both.

Both meters have a status of ...

"Current status We're carrying out checks on your smart meter – please send us a reading"

So I've been submitting reading instead.

Ozzig

Actually, I appear to have been exaggerating, just checked and it was May 16th that Bright last saw my electricity meter.

martynh99

Just had this from EDF again, but they don't seem to be able to elaborate any further. 

At this point we cannot commission the Smart meters, due to poor signal in your area. Our Smart team have advised this is linked to known issues across the national smart metering infrastructure, and unfortunately cannot be fixed with the tools currently available to suppliers. The Data Communication Company (DCC who run Smart meters) has been notified of these issues affecting yourself and many others in your area.  The meters will continue to record accurately the energy you use, and we will bill you as normal. We might ask you to send us your readings from time to time, but only if it is safe for you to do so.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a fix date

Ozzig

They have a bingo card of possible excuses reasons and I think their customer advisor just won a box of Celebrations with that message