British Gas smart meter in house display no longer working & B Gas not doing anything about it

Spoonie_Turtle

Templejoy19 said:

molerat said:

They only have to maintain the IHD for 12 months.  There are many options open to you with apps and third party devices, in all honesty it would have been a better option not to have the instant bits of WEEE provided with smart meter installation and pointed to on line / app options only.  No real point complaining as they are doing nothing wrong within the scope of the regulations.

 The electricity companies keep trying to get my near 80 year old mum to have a smart meter - so if she agreed & the same happens with her & the device thing in her house stops working she will be told to look at her useage online or to try to see it via an app on her phone. But she doesnt have a smart phone & doesnt use the internet - hwo do the guidelines account for the many elderly people like her who dont want to & or cant use the intenet or apps. In these situations what advantage is there then to them in having the smart meter - 

Hopefully after 12 months of having a working IHD she would have a decent idea of what uses how much energy in normal life. 

And if she is concerned about a particular period, she would not be worse off than she is now without having the smart meters - she would (as others have said) have to read her meters like she does now. 

Or perhaps a loving family member might see fit to gift her a third-party IHD if she has come to rely on it that much and her original one does stop working after 12 months    Obviously not all older people without internet usage will have a loving family who can afford to do that, but not all of them will have their original IHD stop working either.

Of course it's not ideal, especially since the IHDs are a heavily emphasised marketing point for smart meters, but the IHD isn't an integral part of the meter working so it's not the end of the world for most people if it does stop working.

Scot_39

Templejoy19 said:

molerat said:

They only have to maintain the IHD for 12 months.  There are many options open to you with apps and third party devices, in all honesty it would have been a better option not to have the instant bits of WEEE provided with smart meter installation and pointed to on line / app options only.  No real point complaining as they are doing nothing wrong within the scope of the regulations.

Molerat as you obviously know the guidance can I ask you this. The electricity companies keep trying to get my near 80 year old mum to have a smart meter - so if she agreed & the same happens with her & the device thing in her house stops working she will be told to look at her useage online or to try to see it via an app on her phone. But she doesnt have a smart phone & doesnt use the internet - hwo do the guidelines account for the many elderly people like her who dont want to & or cant use the intenet or apps. In these situations what advantage is there then to them in having the smart meter - sorry im not ignorant but have no time to read up on the regs (a job & too many aninmals to look after! but as you seem fully conversant with them thought Id pick your brains! thanks 

Smart meters can be read manually just like any other meter.

And if unable due to age or disability to read - they provide readings to supliers direct on a different network to the ihd - meaning they get accurate billing.

There's another thread on forum today of someone's family dealing with a large debt demand after 5 years of estimated readings for an elderly parent.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6494969/advice-on-gas-bill/p1

And increasingly these days only way to access cheaper flexible or fixed tariffs or grid peak saving schemes.

RosemaryBo

I have the same situation. My IHD was fitted by Pure Planet and worked for about 1 day. When I contacted them, they said it could take a couple of weeks for the device to 'settle down'. I called a number of times but never got any joy. The other explanation given was that it must be too far from the meter to pick up the signal - but it did work for that one day!  I am now with Octopus. They say they could supply a new one but it's not really worrying about because they provide plenty of usage statistics. 
I don't kbow why suppliers give you these devices if they're so useless.

Scot_39

Unlike most other mechanisms to access data - IHD information is relatively real time - electric updated c5-6 times per minute - gas iirc more like 2x per minute from some posts here (I don't have gas).

It really is as per the "einstein advert" - sold as you can see what you use - and switch it off if not needed.

My tariff rate has 3 off peak periods - the IHD provides a useful indication of next switch time - right now telling me my unit rate is going up in 27 mins time - so can decide to bring forward / delay cooking, washing etc to save and do at off peak rates.

I am unlikely to buy a replacement - if it fails - but it's a useful nag.

Octopus iirc are one of the few who give alternate good real time access for apps via the is it "mini" ? - interface unit.

Most of the other apps as I understand it - only read the 1/2 hrly registers - and some of those only iirc a day in arrears.

The most annoying thing about my IHD - is that it does not cope with 2 electric unit rate tariffs - like E7/E10 etc.  Have to go outside to actual meter to see the two separate registers.

EssexHebridean

Gas updates every 30 minutes. 

victor2

EssexHebridean said:

Gas updates every 30 minutes. 

And as such makes the IHD completely useless for indicating the current gas usage at a particular moment in time. If the boiler is firing at the moment the IHD gets it's snapshot, that's it for the next 30 minutes. 
At least the kWH used over a period of time is a little more accurate, given that the CV of the gas is unknown but within a small range.
Cost may or may not be realistic - it depends if the meter has the actual tariff in use.
It does give me (in my case) accurate meter readings though!

JSHarris

One thing that stands out in these posts about failing IHDs is that many people believe that it's having the IHD that is the key reason for having a smart meter.  TBH I can understand this, much of the marketing and government-led advertising for smart metering has very much focussed on the benefit of being able to use the IHD to change usage behaviour and save money.  It stands to reason that those unaware of the full rationale behind the change to smart metering may believe the promotional material that it's mostly about using the IHD to save money and then be disappointed when their IHD fails.

Would have been far better if the smart meter campaign had ignored the side show that is the IHD and focus on the true reasons for fitting smart meters and the benefits they give to suppliers, as ultimately it is those benefits that should filter down to consumers in the form of lower prices (oh, look!  Is that a unicorn leading a formation of flying pigs I see?).

Have to say that of all the suppliers Octopus have been the most upfront about trying to explain the true benefits of smart metering and getting consumers to engage.  They've done a far better job than the official government advertising campaign IMHO.  I've no axe to grind with Octopus, BTW (in fact quite the opposite) but fair play to them for their efforts in trying to better explain the benefits.

Scot_39

EssexHebridean said:

Gas updates every 30 minutes. 

Thanks - for the correction - had no idea it was that slow.

badmemory

From what I have read though smart meters are harder to read than the old meters, have they improved them recently?  I can manage the bending and reading so far, but know that I will not be able to manage the bending twisting to press buttons & trying to read at the same time with a smart meter.

Spoonie_Turtle

badmemory said:

From what I have read though smart meters are harder to read than the old meters, have they improved them recently?  I can manage the bending and reading so far, but know that I will not be able to manage the bending twisting to press buttons & trying to read at the same time with a smart meter.

Our electric meter displays without needing to press anything - though we've only ever used one register since it was installed, whereas if multiple registered have been used then yes it would be more complicated.

(Don't know about gas, although from posts on here it sounds like just a button press required to wake up the screen.)