Crossed meter or not?

Spoonie_Turtle

baglessupright said:

Chrysalis said:

I found the pic of my old meter, guess what

Posting the pic.

Granted might not be the same type/batch, the pic next to it on phone doesnt have the missing right hand side, but I might find some others that have full meter visible.

Was replaced in 2022, 19 years after certification.

The engineer told me that all meters have a 'life' of 10 years but electricity suppliers all claim that it's 20 years.

Our previous one - also a 5235A, but certified 2015/installed 2019 - had 20 years.

The different certification period lengths can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schedule-4-uk-nationally-approved-electricity-meters

I guess it's possible the new smart meters all tend to have only 10 years, I haven't really checked.

Chris_b2z

I find OP's photo showing the different generations of meters side by side quite amusing. The old mechanical device looks like a bullet-proof feat of engineering designed to last a lifetime being replaced by a cheap Chinese manufactured disposable plastic toy. That's progress.

baglessupright

Spoonie_Turtle said

The different certification period lengths can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schedule-4-uk-nationally-approved-electricity-meters

Thanks for that - it'll come in handy for the 'dossier' I'm compiling for the ombudsman  (Especially since the first call handler I spoke to at Eon told me that my 2008 meter was good for another 5 years!)

ArbitraryRandom

It also might depend if you're talking gas or electric - I know the battery in gas smart meters is often said to only last about 10 years (less if the meter is repeatedly struggling to connect to the home network). 

baglessupright

Chris_b2z said:

I find OP's photo showing the different generations of meters side by side quite amusing. The old mechanical device looks like a bullet-proof feat of engineering designed to last a lifetime being replaced by a cheap Chinese manufactured disposable plastic toy. That's progress.

Funny you should say that - the engineer said this (the old mechanical one) was considered to be the 'Rolex' of devices.

Spoonie_Turtle

baglessupright said:

Spoonie_Turtle said

The different certification period lengths can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schedule-4-uk-nationally-approved-electricity-meters

Thanks for that - it'll come in handy for the 'dossier' I'm compiling for the ombudsman  (Especially since the first call handler I spoke to at Eon told me that my 2008 meter was good for another 5 years!)

They may have been right in theory, depending on the certification date - the circle in the left hand corner will have had it, if you have a clear enough photo for you to see what it said.

Clearly your meter in reality didn't have any useful, accurate life left but the call handler had no way of determining that themselves.

[I mentioned ours was the same model but just to clarify it was much younger, didn't give us any problems thankfully, and the only reason we changed was a smart meter was required to stay on our tariff saving us a fortune.]