Smart Gas Meter Communication Problem

Vanguard11

Apologies posted this earlier by mistake as a comment on an old thread instead of starting new thread

I had smart meters [type 2] installed in 2019. Electricity meter works fine but the gas meter has never communicated in smart mode from the day it was installed. The day after installation we had a visit from the installers quality inspector to check the overall installation. I told him there was a problem with the gas meter. His immediate reply was "I don't need to look at it, I can tell that your gas meter is too far away from the electricity meter to communicate at the standard 2.4GHz frequency -you need a dual band gas meter which communicates at a lower frequency  of 868MHz. Unfortunately the dual band meters are still under development and you will have to wait until they are rolled out. "
Five years later I am still sending in manual gas readings and waiting for a new meter although I understand dual band meters are now available. 

My electricity meter is in the porch at the front door and my gas meter is outside the rear of the house which has thick stone walls so I can understand why communication fails at 2.4GHz. My first question is - Is there anybody out there in a similar situation who has had a dual band meter installed and does it communicate ok with the electricity meter?

The second question is how can I get this problem sorted? My current supplier [British Gas} refuses to do anything about it. Their final response was - "as you have a working meter we cannot replace it at present, we will reduce your next bill by £50 to compensate. "    

From conversations with other people it seems that my problem is quite a common one, but gets very little publicity. Offgem seems to be more interested in getting the suppliers to make new installations of smart meters rather than fixing the problems on existing installations. Also the energy companies get an effective subsidy for new installations and nothing for fixing problems so they have no incentive to do anything.  I would like to know how many other people have the same problem. I am sure I am not the only one.  Martin do you think it is worthwhile organising a petition or standard letter of complaint to Offgem to get the suppliers to give fixing existing installations equal priority with new installations?

Just as a footnote I have home WIFI for internet which works at 2.4GhZ [The same frequency as my gas meter is failing to communicate]. With the use of WIFI extenders I get good WIFI all over the property and even to a birdbox videocam in the garden 60 feet away. In my opinion this gas meter communication problem is easily solvable it just needs the energy suppliers and Offgem to give it more attention. 

Rodders53

It is solved the comms hubs (and db gas meters?) are available.  You know that.

Try changing supplier to one who may want to get the two talking?  Asking those suppliers if they will fix the issue before jumping ship.

BG CS is not, allegedly, the best.  But £50 free gas is not to be sniffed at.

jcb208

Mine were Smets1 meters installed by British gas and the gas meter has never worked properly since I changed supplier  to Octopus  and both meters are next to one another

Vanguard11

jcb208 said:

Mine were Smets1 meters installed by British gas and the gas meter has never worked properly since I changed supplier  to Octopus  and both meters are next to one another

 Thanks for the input. JCB208. I think there is a different issue with SMETs1 as they were not built to a common standard and were notorious for going dumb if you switched suppliers. That was the reason I waited until SMET2s were well established as they conform to a different (and common) standard. However as I found to my cost this did not solve all the problems.  As Rodders53 suggested I will probably move to a more co-operative supplier once I have enjoyed my £50 freebie for British gas

FreeBear

This might be of interest to you - https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/smart-meter-booster/

peterinreading

I had the same problem and solved it by installing a SmartXtend device. The gas and electricity smart meters are about 15 meters apart and the gas meter had not been communicating since it was installed. Now both meters are communicating fine and the readings are being picked up by Octopus. You have to follow the instructions that come with the SmartXtend device carefully to get it communicating with the Smart Meter HAN.

Scot_39

Dual band meters and hubs are available and have solved for some.

BG are wrong IMO to deny the upgrade - other suppliers have.

And Ofgem are no longer as tolerant with suppliers ignoring such problems, but also allow compensation for not functioning.

Beware the compensation offer potentially might allow them to close the issue - and it's going to cost a lot more than £50 for them to fix by updating meters.

Other suppliers have fitted althan tech to normal premises - and thats part wire based relay comms to a local han adaptor designed even for large flat blocks - where dual band failing.  And that's the basis of above octopus booster link.

You could take the £50 - the pure wireless extender above retails £35 from a quick google - but Id be a tad worried why providers haven't spotted its potential - both technically - and of course its potentially far cheaper costs.

Ildhund

FreeBear said:

This might be of interest to you - https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/smart-meter-booster/

I wonder if 'booster' isn't a bit misleading. I would take 'boost' to mean 'amplify', take something small or weak and make it bigger or stronger. It's my understanding that with AltHAN there is no change to the signal itself, it's just pushed a bit further by passing it through the building's wiring, using a 'powerline' technique. 'Extend' sounds more accurate than 'boost' to me.. 

matelodave

Ildhund said:

FreeBear said:

This might be of interest to you - https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/smart-meter-booster/

I wonder if 'booster' isn't a bit misleading. I would take 'boost' to mean 'amplify', take something small or weak and make it bigger or stronger. It's my understanding that with AltHAN there is no change to the signal itself, it's just pushed a bit further by passing it through the building's wiring, using a 'powerline' technique. 'Extend' sounds more accurate than 'boost' to me.. 

Boost really doesn't necessarily mean amplify - units like this probably regenerate and retransmit the signal. 

Wifi signal boosters receive and re-transmit whereas power-line adapters modulate and need a second unit to demodulate whatever has been transmitted over the power cables a bit like ADSL. In fact some wifi "boosters" allow you set up a different network ID rather than just cloning the input which implies that its not an amplifier

There's a possibility that the Octopus thingy might retransmit the signal over the mains cabling, using it as an antenna but I don't know whether that's possible with a 2.4mHz Zigbee signal

You could get one of these if it bothers you, or even ask your supplier to give you one - https://www.in-home-displays.co.uk/product/smartxtend/ which seems to work like a wifi booster insofar as it retransmits