Changing to smart meters, just a heads up

UnsureAboutthis

My sibling changed his meters, gas and electricity,  2 months ago.
The IHD was not initially activated and he had to chase the supplier.
They eventually sent an engineer out - and activated one electric but said gas
will start "displaying in an hour or so".
It never did, even when the IHD is placed right next to the meters and the supplied said "it happens."

Therefore, if you are going for a smart meter, be very aware that your IHD may never work if that is the main reason you are going for a smart meter/s.  My brother went for the smart option and the main reason was re IHD and seeing what he was using. He also did not get the dual-display IHD as they were out of stack, ie dual display on one screen as he is not great with gadgets and just wanted to make it easy to see on one screen rather than having to press buttons

FYI, he has as I have for him rebooted, unplugged, moved around, and moved right next to the meters the IHD but it won't show the gas reading.

Having Googled it, we are clearly not alone.

cannugec5

I have a smart meter that has never functioned as smart, so they never gave us an IHD as it would have been pointless. (Am waiting patiently for a new meter…). 

However I have read on this forum many times that there are several apps that do the same job. Perhaps your sibling can do without the IHD and download an app instead to get the functions he desires. 

Reed_Richards

A smart meter is not "smart" if it cannot communicate via the WAN and you have to read it yourself and submit the readings.  IHDs are "sold" in the advertisements as a means of monitoring your instantaneous power usage.  If the IHD can communicate with the comms hub (via the LAN) then it can still do this.  So there is every point in still having an IHD.

dunstonh

The IHD supplied by EDF never worked for me.  However, I wasn't disappointed as it was rubbish. I bought a third party one with far more detail and that worked fine.

UnsureAboutthis

The main reason they got the smart meter was the IHD dual display. They never got the dual display, ie simultaneous dual display, nor do they get a gas reading in any setting.
A quick look on Goolge, there are many that get this problem or worse and the customers are fobbed off.

They also had their readings mixed up, EG, their electric bill money was not being taken every month and they were being shown a false credit on their paper billing. Their son noted this and had to contact the supplier twice to get it sorted. 

Anyone thinking of going  the smart  meter route - read about the problems on the net and if you are still happy, go for it.

An app as stated by a poster above work for many but not all and the main selling point we have noted is the IHD. This is often the thing that does not work. IMO, the supplier should make clear IHD's may not work from the outset.

Having said that, many people go for the option and don't have a problem.

EssexHebridean

For those with Octopus also be aware that their excellent "Home Mini" device can supply far more detailed information about your use directly to the app and online account - which is far more useful than a little screen in the kitchen or wherever will ever be! Hopefully more suppliers will start doing similar devices. 

BarelySentientAI

UnsureAboutthis said:

Anyone thinking of going smart route - read re problems on the net and if you are still happy, go for it.

Anyone thinking of getting a smart meter - ignore at least 95% of what is written online - it's conspiracies, false information and (occasionally wilful) misunderstanding.

EssexHebridean

BarelySentientAI said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

Anyone thinking of going smart route - read re problems on the net and if you are still happy, go for it.

Anyone thinking of getting a smart meter - ignore at least 95% of what is written online - it's conspiracies, false information and (occasionally wilful) misunderstanding.

You missed out the malicious fearmongering!  

FreeBear

EssexHebridean said:

For those with Octopus also be aware that their excellent "Home Mini" device can supply far more detailed information about your use directly to the app and online account - which is far more useful than a little screen in the kitchen or wherever will ever be! Hopefully more suppliers will start doing similar devices. 

Have had a Home Mini for a couple of months now. Not that impressed with it... Having to use a third party integration to pull data from Octopus so that it can be displayed in Home Assistant is a convoluted way of doing things. Would have been much better if the Home Mini could spit out data via MQTT like the Hildebrand Glow does. Unfortunately, Octopus don't appear to have much interest in supporting MQTT, nor are they willing to share source code to allow others to develop the capability. Shame really, as the Home Mini uses an ESP32 at its heart with a second device to handle the communications with the meter(s).

Bigphil1474

We had smart meters fitted by Eon, and we got a nice little IHD which we used for a week and put in the drawer. Unfortunately our gas meter is too far from our electric meter (?) so isn't particularly smart, and doesn't submit any readings. This also means that our energy provider (Sainsburys) aren't billing us for any gas we use except when we submit a reading manually. I generally used to just check the account online against my own readings and then submitted a manual reading if it was to my benefit. Now it's a bit of a pain, because they fitted the gas meter quite low down which wouldn't be a problem if it was smart, but does mean crawling round on all 4's so I can see the display and press the right button. The leccy side is fine, and glad I had it fitted.

pseudodox

I keep seeing people saying their smart gas meter does not work because it is too far from the electric meter.  Can anyone give examples of how far apart they are because that is one aspect of having SMs myself that I think could be an issue, as the meters are diagonally opposite across a large garage.  And I am in a mobile phone signal iffy blackspot ("now it works, now it doesn't" scenario) & the garage is the lowest part of a townhouse built into a hillside.  The only part of the garage that a signal might transmit through is the front access metal roller door And the chances of an IHD toy working are probably zilch unless it sits next to the meter, which would hardly fulfill the "see at a glance" usage output.

Really do not understand why meters have generally been put in the most inconvenient sites - in garages, cellars, understair cupboards, under kitchen sinks, in boxes outside - with access for many being difficult unless you are 3ft tall, 7ft tall or a contortionist.