Smart meter doesn't send info to supplier

Gromit1234

I was forced to have a smart meter for electricity by Ovo last year, after a short time the meter stopped sending info. It was installed in a cupboard / alcove and I guess that the signal wasn't strong enough. After several visits to sort it out Ovo gave up and told me to send manual readings. In August I switched to Octopus because they were one of the few that accepted manual readings. I've had endless problems with Octopus sending the correct bills, 8 bills between Aug and Nov and £130 courtesy refund for my wasted time. They seem to have got the hang of sending correct bills now so I'll stick with them. What concerns me is that suppliers insist on a smart meter so if I want to switch in the future I'll have a problem, any one had a similar problem

QrizB

Yes, roughly 10% of smart meters don't communicate regularly. You might have one of those.

There are ways around it - external antennas, for example - but I suspect those are currently low priority with the installers. Once pretty much everyone has a smart meter, they might come back to those 10% and try to get them speaking to the network.

bob2302

Gromit1234 said:

What concerns me is that suppliers insist on a smart meter so if I want to switch in the future I'll have a problem, any one had a similar problem

Do they insist on a *working* smart meter though?  A lot of this is about meeting targets for smart meter installation.

Scot_39

QrizB said:

Yes, roughly 10% of smart meters don't communicate regularly. You might have one of those.

There are ways around it - external antennas, for example - but I suspect those are currently low priority with the installers. Once pretty much everyone has a smart meter, they might come back to those 10% and try to get them speaking to the network.

Chances are the 4g comms hub will happen before market gets anywhere near 100% smart saturation.

Trials of which have recently started in parts of UK.

Let's hope its better tested for building compatibility and local wan 2g south / radio signal north network support than the current role out was.

I know one person already back on dumb gas after 3 attempts at smart - the last a dual band han upgrade - in a modern small 3 bed semi - and one asking for similar after just one failure at his supplier.