Smet2 meter Frozen with Tomato Energy

sfrazi

My smet2 smart meter(not IHD) has been frozen on the same reading for over a week. My energy supplier is Tomato Energy who are saying they don’t come out and to contact the supplier who installed the smart meter( that was over 5 years old so doubt that supplier will take ownership). Has this happened to anyone else? Is there anything I can do to reboot the smart meter?

QrizB

Smart meters are not user serviceable.

Tomato Energy are your supplier and they are responsible for your smart meter. They need to fix it.

You've told them that it's faulty. Keep a record of having told them and leave it to them to sort out.

sfrazi

Thanks. That was my understanding but my worry is they are and will continue to drag their feet on the issue. Is it usually the case that if it gets fixed the usage will update to reflect what’s been used whilst frozen or will I essentially end up with ‘free’ energy.

QrizB

I wouldn't expect the meter to catch up.

Tomato's back end systems are a little bit odd and I can't say exactly how they'll deal with this, but you'll either get estimated bills or no bill at all.

Are you on a standard flat-rate tariff or have you got one of Tomato's smart time-of-use deals?

sfrazi

I have a time of use tariff. I also have an export tariff with scottish power as I have solar panels and 10kwh battery. Unfortunately at this time of the year I make more in export than I import hence if the meter isn’t catching up then I’m losing money each day. Speaking to Tomato energy I’ve no confidence they will fix it any time soon. They don’t seem to have procedures in place to deal with these sorts of issues. 

QrizB

You might possibly be able to persuade Scottish Power to come out and reboot/replace your meter. It's worth trying.

In parallel with that, you need to make a formal complaint to Tomato and then, if they don't sort it out within eight weeks, take your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman.

sfrazi

Thanks, I’ll try Scottish power, you never know. I sent a complaint through yesterday my worry is that that 8 weeks + time with ombudsman will take me through peak export period and not sure I’ll get reimbursed for that. What’s view on switching out to a more respectable TOU tariff provider, would the switch go through if meter isn’t working and not sending readings out?

QrizB

If you want to leave there's no harm in trying a switch to see what happens?

Swipe

Contact TE again insist that it is their responsibility and when they refuse to address it, ask for a deadlock letter. Once you have that, you can go straight to the ombudsman without waiting.

HillStreetBlues

Swipe said:

Contact TE again insist that it is their responsibility and when they refuse to address it, ask for a deadlock letter. Once you have that, you can go straight to the ombudsman without waiting.

Not sure what would come first, the 8 weeks or TE sending the deadlock letter.