Existing smart meters at risk due to 3G turn off?

Chrysalis

I posted about this a while back and was told no worries a contract is in place, but this seems to indicate there might be a problem.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/10/7-million-uk-smart-meters-at-risk-of-connectivity-loss-in-2g-and-3g-switch-off.html

Why do they not at least have the foresight to have meters installed today with a 4g compatible communications hub pre installed?

MikeJXE

Chrysalis said:

I posted about this a while back and was told no worries a contract is in place, but this seems to indicate there might be a problem.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/10/7-million-uk-smart-meters-at-risk-of-connectivity-loss-in-2g-and-3g-switch-off.html

Why do they not at least have the foresight to have meters installed today with a 4g compatible communications hub pre installed?

Chrysalis said:

I posted about this a while back and was told no worries a contract is in place, but this seems to indicate there might be a problem.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/10/7-million-uk-smart-meters-at-risk-of-connectivity-loss-in-2g-and-3g-switch-off.html

Why do they not at least have the foresight to have meters installed today with a 4g compatible communications hub pre installed?

Thanks for the heads up

Even more problems with smart meters so now I'll definitely stick to my dumb meters as I will with my ICE car 

All this new technology is being pushed before it's proven in my opinion 

The_Green_Hornet

Vodafone and DCC agree new partnership to upgrade Britain’s smart meter system | Smart DCC

Chrysalis

The_Green_Hornet said:

Vodafone and DCC agree new partnership to upgrade Britain’s smart meter system | Smart DCC

Yep but its 4G, so the hubs need replacing.  At least this one is for 15 years.

Reed_Richards

In Scotland and the north of England smart meters don't use the mobile phone network so there should be no issues there.

ArbitraryRandom

This seems to be the actual section of the report the article is based on: 

 Too many smart meters are not fully functioning and millions more will be impacted when the 2G and 3G mobile communication networks close. In March 2023, around 3 million (9%) of smart meters were not working properly in total. Of these, 1.6 million are “transitory” issues according to the Department, but the remainder were faulty, and either not sending energy use information to suppliers or not displaying usage to consumers, or both. Suppliers are supposed to take “all reasonable steps” to replace smart meters that are not working properly, but the government’s rollout targets mean suppliers have much clearer incentives to prioritise the installation of new meters rather than replacing broken ones. Consumers are only guaranteed for a year the benefits arising from being able to monitor their energy consumption in real-time - because if their display breaks after that, the supplier currently has no obligation to replace it. An estimated seven million communications hubs (part of the electricity smart meters) will also need to be replaced, because they will lose functionality when the 2G and 3G mobile communications networks are closed. The costs of these upgrades could be very significant, and, like other costs of the rollout, are ultimately passed on to billpayers.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubacc/1332/report.html

I really wish they would stop conflating the IHD working (which most people don't use anyway) with the meter not sending readings to the network... there's no way to know how many of the 9% they quote are facing one or both problems. 

But as far as I can tell a portion of smart meters will keep working (i.e. measuring energy used) - they will just revert to being a dumb meter with the customer needing to send readings. 

Obviously, that assumes the agreement to keep supporting them fails (the deadline for the transition from 3G and 2G to 4G is not until 2033) AND they don't get their finger out and sort the problem before then... 

Qyburn

There is a degree of scaremongering or sensationalising. A "new report" referring to something that's been known and discussed for quite some time, which won't happen for 10 years, and for which the proposed solution was published months ago.

EssexHebridean

As we have seen on here though, there is a small but strident section of the population who get their kicks from fearmongering - we do our best to counter the nonsense often spouted on here, and also to counter-balance the more scary factual stuff - as in most cases where smart meters “could” be used in a way, it is necessary to balance that with “yes, they could, but it would be political suicide” - true - and much as it may sometimes seem as though a sitting government is happy to do things which the majority feel are guaranteed to lose them votes, there are limits to that! Generally I think we do a pretty decent job - there are sufficient people on here who really do know their stuff (although sadly a few fewer than there used to be, of late) and that does help to ensure that the truth outweighs the lies. 

The turning off of the 2G/3G network is indeed something that has been known about for a very long while  - this is not news to anyone who has even the slightest interest in news and current affairs.