Smart meter & 2 suppliers

Largs

Hello.  Wonder is someone could help.  My property is supplied by EDF (gas) and Octopus Energy (electric) and the smart meters work as they should.

At my dad's property, EDF (gas) meter has stopped communicating and the electric meter with British Gas works as it should.  These are all 2nd generation smart meters.

Following several visits from EDF Contractors and me complaining, EDF have said the gas must move to BG or the electric must move to EDF for both meters to communicate.

I don't understand why there can only be one supplier for his meter to work when my set up (2 suppliers) works.  Does anyone know at all?

Many thanks.

wrf12345

Can't he just manually submit the gas readings? The gas meter communicates with the electric meter which then communicates with the system so presumably both companies have access to the electric meter readings, which would then give the gas readings but it does seem a bit hit and miss with gas readings.

Scot_39

It's a classic multivendor chain problem.  Is device A or B at fault ?  We think - or can prove device A is to spec - is device B ours - no - are we going to fix it - no.

But even when the 2 meters are with the same supplier - these problems can and do occur.

And some last for many months - and recur.

It is patently absurd that suppliers issue contracts that are reliant on accurate smart metering - and then expect people to accept - "awaiting fix from manufacturers" type responses - to benefit from the deal - when faults can last for prolonged period.

On a standard flat rate tariff - submitting a monthly manual reading - as many utitlies now require - isn't too painful - for those able to.

But for those on some of the more advanced multirate / EV deals - relying on smart 1/2 hourly data for accurate billing - the tech needs to work.  Not part time - but all the time - and repaired quickly when they don't.

Perhaps - only being able to recover a notional fee - or even zero - without a fully functioning meter - all paid for outof tgeir ebit profit allowance (not other customers) would encourage a more pro-active stance.

I like my smart meter.  But I know others who have had issues impacting billing. And some would love to go back to old dumb metering.

To me the situation is becoming more farcical by the day. As Ofgem - who must surely be aware of the multitude of isues - just recently began pushing the idea of variable rate / time of use tariffs as the next great solution to lower average pricing and peak demand.  But if going to do so - they need to be far more on top of these sorts of underlying techincal issues.

Every single one of the c4m smart meters not operating as smart - on WAN - or reports of problems with HAN gas or IHD to comms hub etc - just gives others good reason - to resist smart adoption.

Until Ofgem / DCC etc forces suppliers to prioritise fixes to these problems - they have little chance of moving the argument forward with many doubters.

MeteredOut

I'm gas with EDF and electricity with Octopus - 30 minute data flows to Octopus OK (or it did until the start of this week when it stopped -  issue currently with Octopus to solve), but I'm still on the old billing system with EDF so I can't say if the gas readings flowed there ok - I still manually submit gas readings.

But, I can't see how a supplier can/should be able to force you choose a single one for both gas and elec.