Smart meter: Gas on second floor, electricity on ground

thelawnet

EDF replaced my electricity (on ground floor in communal area) with a smart meter, but not the gas , which is prepayment, and on the second floor (my flat), the meter installer said 'we need to get a separate company to fit an extender'.

Since then EDF's customer service have claimed that it's in fact impossible to fit a smart meter due to the distance between gas and electricity.

Any thoughts whether they are telling the truth or whether I can get my meter replaced?

lr1277

I am in a similar position. I live in a block of flats on the 1st floor. The electricity meter is on the ground floor in a cupboard under the stairs. The gas meter is outside, say 20-40 feet away. My installer said the same thing about the distance between the two meters. So I have an electricity smart meter but a dumb gas meter, and need to continue to provide readings for  the gas meter. Also in my case due to the poor mobile phone reception in said cupboard, the meter only sends one reading a day and not one reading every so many minutes. So the little visual display gizmo is useless to me unless I am comparing on a daily basis.

There is a website which covers earning rewards from credit cards etc to use on travel called HeadforPoints where this was discussed.

Apparently it might matter if you are in the north of the country or the south. Also trials are underway for new technologies that should get over this problem. Here is the thread:

https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/smart-metres/

HTH

Scot_39

The gas meter communicates over HAN the same network as an IHD to the comms hub - normally phyically mounted on the electric meter.

The default only good for 10-15m in clean air - add a door or wall or 2 and its mors like a few m.

There's a second stage dual band version that extends this but again for communal to flat probably a stretch.

The third uses the power cables - a bit like an Ethernet network extender plug - to provide a remote han adaptor - designed for flats etc.

In theory these - wired to meter and plug in module in home -  being tested in uk last summer - search for althan.

E.g.

https://althanco.com/

And the how it works link on that page

It says mass roll out started Oct 2023.

But it needs a meter end and home end - so not sure if only for new meters only ir if retrofitting to older.

A quick google showed Octopus had a waiting list form.

https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/smart-meter-booster/

And Ovo said they and others were trialling as early as Jan 2023.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/alt-han

But not seen posts here of users with them.