Changing to smart meters, just a heads up

victor2

UnsureAboutthis said:

katejo said:

pseudodox said:

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.

My electric smart meter is in a cupboard under the stairs. My gas one is mounted under my front window. My IHD is roughly halfway between them but hasn't yet worked for gas. For electricity, it works most of the time. 

Same for my brother
Even moving the IHD right next to the meters or in between them, t will not work for gas.
The supplier has said in a roundabout way, !!!!!! happens and you have to live with it.

The whole sales campaign/pitch is based around, reading your gas/electric usage at a glance (without touching a button is my interpretation) and then deciding if you need to reduce usage etc. Even the Ofgem link suggests that.

The suppliers including OFGEM need to be clear that IHD's may not work in certain circumstances even when place right next to the meter/s.

The gas meter only communicates with the comms hub, which will be part of, or attached to, the electric meter. The IHD has to be in range of that hub to report from either meter, putting it near the gas meter will not help in any way.

If your supplier is getting smart readings for gas, then the comms from the gas meter to the hub is working. If they are not, there is nothing you can do to make the IHD pick up gas usage.

UnsureAboutthis

victor2 said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

katejo said:

pseudodox said:

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.

My electric smart meter is in a cupboard under the stairs. My gas one is mounted under my front window. My IHD is roughly halfway between them but hasn't yet worked for gas. For electricity, it works most of the time. 

Same for my brother
Even moving the IHD right next to the meters or in between them, t will not work for gas.
The supplier has said in a roundabout way, !!!!!! happens and you have to live with it.

The whole sales campaign/pitch is based around, reading your gas/electric usage at a glance (without touching a button is my interpretation) and then deciding if you need to reduce usage etc. Even the Ofgem link suggests that.

The suppliers including OFGEM need to be clear that IHD's may not work in certain circumstances even when place right next to the meter/s.

The gas meter only communicates with the comms hub, which will be part of, or attached to, the electric meter. The IHD has to be in range of that hub to report from either meter, putting it near the gas meter will not help in any way.

If your supplier is getting smart readings for gas, then the comms from the gas meter to the hub is working. If they are not, there is nothing you can do to make the IHD pick up gas usage.

Cheers. I'm guessing this happens often as there are many that are not happy with these problems. As I said, the suppliers need to be clearly that IHD may not work even when placed right on top of the meters. 

FlorayG

I'm still waiting for a new smart meter from Octopus after changing to them 18 months ago. First of all the tried to get it working remotely then eventually sent out an engineer who said it won't work for the gas anyway because the gas meter is in the garage so easily 50 yards from the electric meter; he told me I need *this* specific one, which in Novemebr when he came was out of stock. I emailed Octopus last week and its still OOS. So meanwhile I can't get on any of their smart tariffs and have to climb on a chair every end of month

Dennis_Richards

Trying to respond to yesterday's (17 Sept) news reports about 'broken' smart meters. I have had a 'smart' meter for 18 months, but it's entirely dumb - it has NEVER sent a meter reading to the energy supplier who installed it. Why? Because the engineer who installed it couldn't get a signal from the data network.

On Monday this week, they attended to 'fix the problem' - but all they could do is it to take out the first meter, and replace it with an almost identical model. But that couldn't get a signal either.

I live in a hilly part of Yorkshire, and my house (approx. 160 years old) has thick walls built from local stone. And the meter is indoors. I can offer them a reliably solid 70 Mbit fiber internet connection - but of course they can't use that.

Martin - please include deficiencies in the data network in your campaign. It isn't always the meter's fault when things go wrong.

Ildhund

Yorkshire is in the Northern region as far as meter communications are concerned, and there they depend on long range radio to connect. The frequency varies, because in parts of North Yorkshire, the one everybody else uses interferes with the RAF Fylingdales early warning radar. You can tell from the communications hub (CH) on top of your meter whether you're deemed to be in the affected area: if it's an EDMI Type 450, you are.

Some enterprising EV owners in your situation have managed to get their meters to communicate by means of Heath Robinson solutions to boost the signal at the meter. The simplest seems to be a dipole (a bit of bent wire) about 71 cm long high up on the side of the house closest to you nearest proper (not Freeview) TV transmitter, some low-loss coax cable (as short as possible) from there down to the meter and another tiny antenna on the end. There are a few threads about it, like this one: There is hope for anybody trying to get a smart meter in a poor signal area. 

If it matters a lot to you to have the meter communicating as intended, you might consider something like this. Some EV owners have saved £'000s by being able to take advantage of special tariffs that demand smart meter data.