Seven Trent water meter not so smart

tfspark

With only two of us living in our property now we decided to have a water meter fitted.

Contacted Severn Trent and they fitted one on 22nd August.

I asked the fitter what app I could use to monitor my water usage. He told me there is no app. The meter is smart in that it sends the reading in but I can't see them. Not that smart then?

Logging into my account my usage tab shows I have a metered supply with a reading of 0000.

I understood that this meter sent readings in several time a day so was expecting my usage tab to update accordingly.

When nothing changed I Whatsapped Severn Trent and was told it would update on the first of the month. Still nothing has changed and usage still shows a reading of 0000.

So how smart is this thing? I thought the whole point was to be able to monitor your water usage on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. If the only way to do that is to physically read the meter then that kind of defeats the object for me.

I'd be interested in anyone elses experience of Severn Trent 'smart" water meters?

bagand96

The point of it is that it can send Severn Trent readings remotely without the need for a meter reader or the customer having to do it.

They do however show use when I log into My Account. There's a section where I can see graphs of my use in Litres by Day/Week/Month/Year. (My account is on the new portal with an account number starting A-)

The account only shows readings every 6 months, which is when they generate a bill.

Lorian

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6615023/severn-trent-smart-water-meters-disappointment/p1

Swipe

And the stupid design means that the dial's red digits are obscured by the radio transmitter when reading it manually, rendering it useless for monitoring small scale usage.

Mee

Swipe said:

And the stupid design means that the dial's red digits are obscured by the radio transmitter when reading it manually, rendering it useless for monitoring small scale usage.

Don't tell me - it's an old style Diehl water meter. They replaced my meter with a so called 'smart' Diehl water meter that doesn't even allow me to access readings and obscures the red digits.
Installing meters that are not fully readable visually should be banned. More aspects of water meters need regulating and I said so in the recent consultation on the water industry. 
Just had to get that off my chest...😁

tfspark

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm still a bit confused as to how this smart water meter reports meter readings.

Am I correct in thinking that readings only appear on my usage tab every six months?

If so is it only one reading with six months usage or is it lots of readings showing daily, weekly monthly usage?

Just seems really odd that I get readings only every six months.

Swipe

It doesn't report them. It only updates every six months because the meter reader only comes out to scan it twice a year. It's only smart for the Severn Trent meter reader when using his reading device. You can submit your readings manually, but be warned, that will generate a new bill.

tfspark

Swipe said:

It doesn't report them. It only updates every six months because the meter reader only comes out to scan it twice a year. It's only smart for the Severn Trent meter reader when using his reading device. You can submit your readings manually, but be warned, that will generate a new bill.

I’m getting conflicting information. 

So my smart meter doesn’t report meter readings like a smart gas or electric meter? It’s only smart for the benefit of a meter reader?

If you follow this link https://www.stwater.co.uk/wonderful-on-tap/green-recovery/smart-metering-project/

that clearly states that the meter sends data every hour. 

How we'll collect data from the meter

Your smart meter will take a read every hour and will send this information to use once a day in line with our Privacy Policy.

I live in Leicestershire so expected one of these smart meters to be fitted. 

Swipe

It depends on the type of meter you have. From the details in your first post it sounds like you may have an old style Diehl meter i.e. one with a radio transmitter that the meter reader scans with their hand held device so they don't have to pop the lid and bend over to read it. If it looks like the picture below, then that answers your question. If not, then it's maybe a question for Severn Trent as to why it's not showing you the readings. 

tfspark

This is the type of meter that we had fitted.

The Cyble 5 unit can operate in both AMR (automatic meter read) where a meter reader scans it. Or AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) where it sends data to the water company.

I'm guessing STW are using AMR at the moment.

x44

Its going to be epic when my area T.Water starts on smart meters.

My meter is down a deep hole on my front drive and as the cover seals on all the meter chambers have failed the hole/meter chamber is always full of water - some 3ft plus deep.

The meter reader even comes round with a stirrup pump to suck all the water out to enable them to read them.

Quite how a 'consumer level' electronic meter is going to survive sumberged 24/7/365 down at the bottom let alone be capable of transmitting anything out escapes me!