Energy company demanding new meter

FreeBear

Bendo said:

FreeBear said:

Newbie_John said:

Based on your nickname I would have assumed you'd be all over a smart meter, so many cool things, so many automations, so many possibilities, so much info, so many statistics.
It really is a cool gadget.

Would have been better if the government had mandated a P1 port like they have in other countries. Simply plug a cable in, and have instant access to live data. Instead, we have to jump through hoops to get a device (such as a Hildebrand or Octopus Home Mini) paired with the meter. With the OHM, gas data is always out of date, sometimes as much as 6 hours..

Short of having the gas meter need to be plugged in, I can't think of any other technical solution to that problem. Although it should be reporting in every 30 mins, if it's 6 hours behind then something isn't working properly.

Data is being recorded every 30 minutes. I can see it on the Bright app just fine. The bottleneck will be the Octopus server and hinky programming their end. Maybe I should just fork out for a Hildebrand Glow, pair it with my mqtt server and cut the cloud.

casjen

MP1995 said:

gadget88 said:

I got one of these letters 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6401140/smart-meters-e-on-sneaky-new-end-of-meter-life-tactic/p1

They later denied it but I moved supplier. Anybody else been forced onto a smart meter? I heard you can ask for evidence to say it’s not working 

Were you expecting unwavering support for not getting a smart meter when this is a money saving site and smart meters save money?

Regardless of your stance on smart meters ..they do not in themselves save you money. It still (like with a normal meter) needs human thoughts and actions to decide on what cost plan you adopt to make any saving.

Netexporter

casjen said:

MP1995 said:

gadget88 said:

I got one of these letters 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6401140/smart-meters-e-on-sneaky-new-end-of-meter-life-tactic/p1

They later denied it but I moved supplier. Anybody else been forced onto a smart meter? I heard you can ask for evidence to say it’s not working 

Were you expecting unwavering support for not getting a smart meter when this is a money saving site and smart meters save money?

Regardless of your stance on smart meters ..they do not in themselves save you money. It still (like with a normal meter) needs human thoughts and actions to decide on what cost plan you adopt to make any saving.

True. But you can't act on those thoughts if you don't have a meter that will give you access to cheaper energy tariffs.

MP1995

casjen said:

MP1995 said:

gadget88 said:

I got one of these letters 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6401140/smart-meters-e-on-sneaky-new-end-of-meter-life-tactic/p1

They later denied it but I moved supplier. Anybody else been forced onto a smart meter? I heard you can ask for evidence to say it’s not working 

Were you expecting unwavering support for not getting a smart meter when this is a money saving site and smart meters save money?

Regardless of your stance on smart meters ..they do not in themselves save you money. It still (like with a normal meter) needs human thoughts and actions to decide on what cost plan you adopt to make any saving.

They do and this is a money saving site so anything that saves money should be promoted imo.

If your argument is about anything that needs human thoughts and actions then 99% of all the money saving tips throughout this forum would be useless. 

Newbie_John

Anyway, I can't believe in 2024 we're still having this conversations.

Getting a smart meter was one of my best decisions last year - it instantly explains you what's running, how much things cost, what happens at night, what's the difference between Eco mode on appliances and quick or normal..
As well as the financial aspect - as soon as you understand where you money goes - it opens the hidden world of smart tariffs allowing you to significantly cut costs down - my yearly bills were £2000-£3000 for electricity (no gas, 3 bed), this is this year so far:


January looks off - I was away for 3 weeks and my wife doesn't care about when to run heating 😅

Spoonie_Turtle

The facts of the matter are that your electricity meter has a certification period, and the supplier has to replace it with a new one before the certification period expires.  They also have to replace any meters that are faulty or broken even if it's long before the end of the certification period.

Gas meters don't have a set certification period but as above they of course have to be replaced if they become faulty or unsafe.

[The supplier *can* also choose to replace their meters at any point if they want, but they should be honest about why or at least not make any false assertions or claims.]

So for your electricity meter OP, the certification date will be somewhere on it (month and year).  Then find the model in this list https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schedule-4-uk-nationally-approved-electricity-meters and you'll be able to work out when your meter's certification expires.

Mike360

gadget88 said:

I got one of these letters 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6401140/smart-meters-e-on-sneaky-new-end-of-meter-life-tactic/p1

They later denied it but I moved supplier. Anybody else been forced onto a smart meter? I heard you can ask for evidence to say it’s not working 

Meters reaching 'end of life' and being replaced is quite common. It happened to me with my gas one. The new one was a 'smart meter' type, but mine was put in dumb mode so it acted like the meter that it replaced and not like a usual smart meter which was good as I'm not interested in having smart meters. People can request this as well if they are not tied into a smart meter only tariff.

GingerTim

Mike360 said:

gadget88 said:

I got one of these letters 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6401140/smart-meters-e-on-sneaky-new-end-of-meter-life-tactic/p1

They later denied it but I moved supplier. Anybody else been forced onto a smart meter? I heard you can ask for evidence to say it’s not working 

Meters reaching 'end of life' and being replaced is quite common. It happened to me with my gas one. The new one was a 'smart meter' type, but mine was put in dumb mode so it acted like the meter that it replaced and not like a usual smart meter which was good as I'm not interested in having smart meters. People can request this as well if they are not tied into a smart meter only tariff.

Though do remember that all 'dumb mode' means is that the smart meters are not used for billing, it still remains connected to the network for software updates etc.

Ildhund

GingerTim said:

Though do remember that all 'dumb mode' means is that the smart meters are not used for billing, it still remains connected to the network for software updates etc.

A smart gas meter can only connect to the network via a smart electricity meter. When the time comes for the electricity meter to be exchanged for a smart one, the gas meter should stop being dumb. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I do wonder if the companies were as bothered about end of life meters before the fines for not installing enough smart meters were introduced...

That said OP the tariffs that require 30 minute readings can be very beneficial in reducing your bills depending upon your lifestyle.

Our smart meter doesn't connect to the network, if it did i think our bill (we are electric only) for the last 2 1/2 years would have been down from £1400 a year to maybe £900, some posters here on smart tariffs put their average (electric) unit rates at around half the cap.