MSE News: Faulty smart meters to be tackled and automatic compensation paid for problems

Ildhund

MattMattMattUK said:
It was a fundamental design flaw in the spec demanded by the government that makes battery replacement difficult ... 

There is another aspect to the battery replacement difficulty, which I haven't had confirmed by a reputable source: meter engineers have for some time not been allowed to carry spare gas meter batteries around in their vans. The ban is I think imposed by the engineers' employers, fearful of HSE displeasure should a battery fail and cause a potentially catastrophic fire on board. The prohibition doesn't stretch to batteries installed in meters, whether new or replaced. I suppose there is a process for refurbishing meters whose only flaw was a flat battery. Perhaps someone in the know could confirm or refute this.

QrizB

Ildhund said:

MattMattMattUK said:
It was a fundamental design flaw in the spec demanded by the government that makes battery replacement difficult ... 

There is another aspect to the battery replacement difficulty, which I haven't had confirmed by a reputable source: meter engineers have for some time not been allowed to carry spare gas meter batteries around in their vans. The ban is I think imposed by the engineers' employers, fearful of HSE displeasure should a battery fail and cause a potentially catastrophic fire on board.

If true, it would be bizarre; meter batteries are primary lithium cells, which (when new and properly packaged) generally have a lower risk of fire than the rechargeable batteries in the gas engineers' phones and laptops.

It's not like it's a van full of batteries, after all. It would be half a dozen in a box.

moneysaver

MattMattMattUK said:

moneysaver said:

Scot_39 said:

moneysaver said:

Why is there no mention in the news(or Martin getting on to this scandal) that a gas smart meter works on an internal battery & everyone with this type of meter is going to experience failure at sometime.(approx 10yrs)

 About 5yrs ago when my gas meter's internal battery was getting near to depleting my readings went crazy, some days it was registering 100's of units other days it was normal readings. It took me 6mths to convince my supplier the meter was giving false readings. The meter got taken away for a "check" and I eventually got the meter changed but it took me a year to sort out the usage as the supplier had to estimate all my usage from when I noticed the fault. They eventually based it on my previous years of usage. I am not conviced it was financially fair for me but this was the only option.

When I asked about what happens to the old meter they said it gets thrown away.( lots of gas meters going to landfill) Why can these meters not get a battery that can be changed by a qualified engineer?

Moneysaver

Many modern electric meters only have 10 yr certified lifespans too.

Any 2g/3g comms hubs fitted in the last 2 years even less as all will need replacing by 2033 and the telefonica (02 parent) 2G signal goes, just as 3g already has or is going soon. 
Mobiles already on 5g in much of uk, technology changes , things move on.

Some old analogue electric had 40 yrs - and suppliers appeared in no rush to replace them at that precise boundary. 4x longer than many modern meters.  The phrase built-in obsolescence used to be common for this trend in past.
  
The real cost of smart meter hardware vs old meter isn't just in the initial roll out to our homes  - its in the ongoing regular replacement cycle.

Good information and it seems like this smart meter push is costing a fortune as well as a lot of used meters going to landfill after only 10yrs.

So glad you never picked up on my bad use of English.

Moneysaver

They will not go to landfill, there is already a recycling program in place for all energy meters. 

For smart electricity meters the meter's lifespan is estimated at twenty years, the same as a dumb meter, though as Scot points out some early comes hubs will need replacing sooner. For gas meters they are engineers for twenty years but depending on location the battery I side them may fail after as little as five years, though current estimates for most are 12-14 years. It was a fundamental design flaw in the spec demanded by the government that makes battery replacement difficult and lacking redundancy, which would have saved money overall, but increased the cost of the unit 34p at point of purchase.

Only going from what I was told 5yrs ago from my supplier who changed the meter. Things must have moved on from there, which is a good thing. Doesn't take away the fact they must have been getting dumped up until then.

Moneysaver

QrizB

moneysaver said:

Only going from what I was told 5yrs ago from my supplier who changed the meter. Things must have moved on from there, which is a good thing. Doesn't take away the fact they must have been getting dumped up until then.

They weren't being landfilled even then, though. Your fitter will have taken the old meter away and, being charitable, might have placed/thrown it into a skip. S/He won't have known what happened to it after that.

Horanski

Hi there, just a point to note.  Your article (and the legislation to which it relates) is about smart meters which are the on the wall (usually) gas and electric meters.  The picture in your article shows an In Home Display (or IHD) which is a device displaying data sent to it from the meter.

These devices often come under criticism for not working properly, displaying wrong tariffs etc - in 99% of cases where this isn't 'working' it is because the meter at the wall isn't transmitting data properly (which the legislation is designed to tackle) or the IHD hasn't been commissioned by the meter installer correctly.

 

tc251

Like many others I appreciate how Martin explains issues clearly to enable all to understand and aims to educate. However no matter how many times he and others talk about Smart Meters it doesn't seem to get through.  Too many people don't understand the difference between a Smart Meter and the In House Display Unit. So here we are with people being told about compensation for faulty Meters and a picture of guess what? an In House Display Unit.  Can see all the power providers really loving explaining the difference, with people quoting Martin Lewis had a picture of a Meter like mine.  Please continue the education.

debitcardmayhem

To be honest the clowns at Smart Energy GB are actually the ones to blame, have a look at their website , you cannot see a meter anywhere on the home page, toys , sorry displays are front and centre. Why can’t they say hey look this is a meter and show gas and electric meters. Then say and this is a DISPLAY, which occasionally talks to your meter via a comm hub , oh and often doesn’t always work. In some cases the real meter(s) go wrong or the comms hub does too, but the plastic toy(display) might tell you but might not. Look in you meter cupboard often and check they are working, whilst there take readings for your own purposes. If the ad comes on the telly tell your cat/dog/goldfish this is a load of ……🤬
Better still turn it off.

Upsetgrandma

MSE_Petar said:

Faulty smart meters are to be tackled as part of a new industry review, the Government has announced. It's also been confirmed that you'll be able to get automatic compensation from your energy supplier for certain smart meter problems starting early next year.

Read the full story:
'Faulty smart meters to be tackled and automatic compensation paid for problems'

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

I've had a faulty smart meter for over 3 months.  The meter was installed by E-On but my account is now with EDF.  I sent numerous emails to them and phoned them several times - their customer service is appalling.  I made an official complaint and it was ignored.  I eventually spoke to a very helpful lady who got it sorted for me and gave me £30 in compensation.  As soon as I can move to Octopus (49 days before end of contract I believe) I will.

Upsetgrandma

moneysaver said:

Why is there no mention in the news(or Martin getting on to this scandal) that a gas smart meter works on an internal battery & everyone with this type of meter is going to experience failure at sometime.(approx 10yrs)

 About 5yrs ago when my gas meter's internal battery was getting near to depleting my readings went crazy, some days it was registering 100's of units other days it was normal readings. It took me 6mths to convince my supplier the meter was giving false readings. The meter got taken away for a "check" and I eventually got the meter changed but it took me a year to sort out the usage as the supplier had to estimate all my usage from when I noticed the fault. They eventually based it on my previous years of usage. I am not conviced it was financially fair for me but this was the only option.

When I asked about what happens to the old meter they said it gets thrown away.( lots of gas meters going to landfill) Why can these meters not get a battery that can be changed by a qualified engineer?

Moneysaver

My "smart" gas meter which I now know was battery powered gave up after less than 2 years. It's now been replaced so let's see how long this one lasts.

SJ01

My complaint is that I had a smart meter fitted several years ago and then kept changing energy suppliers. I am now with EDF and asked for a monitor so I could see how much we are spending on electricity and gas. EDF supplied one but it won’t work and they now say it isn’t compatible with the old smart meters. This is frustrating, this is the only reason I had a smart meters fitted so we could keep tabs on our usage. Anything we can do about this anyone.