British Gas Smart Meter - possibly not working (and broadband password!)

Suzycoll

hi all

I have recently read and seen some news articles about smart meters stopping working. This prompted me to look at my own smart meter.

It was installed about 18 months ago because my gas meter was not working ( I did not have a choice if to have one or not).  It  has previously been working fine.

When I looked at it now it seems to be registering the electric but not the gas readings? The only thing I have gas is central heating. I haven't had it on much but have used it a few times recently and put it on to test and bleed radiators.

Surely, if it was broken it would not be registering the electric readings ? 

I changed my broadband provider in October .Does the smart meter need a broadband password ?(I cant remember putting a password in at all).

If it does:

1...do I need to change it ?
3...how do I do it ?

Thanks in advance 

Reed_Richards

Smart meters do not use broadband.  Your gas meter needs to communicate with the comms hub mounted on top of your electricity meter and if the two meters are too far apart this may not work.  

p00hsticks

Are you looking at the gas meter itself or the readings on the IHD or as reported on the providers website ? 
There's a difference between the meter completely not working (i.e. not recording your gas usage) and it not sending readings to the hub....

EssexHebridean

Take a look at the actual gas meter and see what the reading is there - you may need to press a button or two, Google is your friend for finding out how to access the readings on your particular meter.  Compare those readings with what are shown in your supplier’s app or on your last bill - do they look about right? Are the readings in the app or on the bill shown as “estimated” or “actual”/“smart”?

if everything seems about right above, then no need to worry, but good practice going forwards is to take a reading for your own records once a month and keep that noted somewhere. That way if either meter or the comms hub fails you have a set point with an actual reading you can refer to to avoid the risk of getting over-estimations on use from your supplier until the problem is fixed. 

Don’t worry too much what the IHD shows - it’s not important when it comes to what you are billed. 

mmmmikey

Hi, in case you're not familiar with the jargon...

IHD = In House Display which is the little colouful display that sits on the kitchen windowsill or wherever and tells you how much you're using now and so on, it's the gizmo that Albert Einstein gets so excited about in the adverts

The smart meter itself is just a special type of electricity / gas meter that is installed where your old meters were in the meter box or cupboard

The comms hub is a little gizmo that's connected to the top of the smart meter and in some cases it's difficult to see where the smart meter ends and the comms hub starts. The comms hub is a bit like a special broadband hub but it uses a different type of wireless connection and allows the gas meter and electricity meter to connect to the IHD and also sends the readings back to the supplier