Smart Meters Supplier IHD Customer Exploitation

indefatigablesaver

Just switched from Octopus Energy to another of the large ‘big six’ established energy suppliers.

Have come across a new potential and massive potential waste of IHDs that may be being sent to landfill prematurely resulting in customers being encouraged or feeling their only solution is to pay for extortionately priced replacements. This seems it is waiting for a class action case and or regulator action to compel suppliers to ensure IHDs are working.

It appears based on my experience that suppliers (after bricking IHDs from SMETS2 meters when switches take place) may then be routinely trying to absolve themselves of their responsibilities to fix the IHD connectivity issues that arise as a result of a switch (due to settings only the IHD/meter which only they as supplier can resolve).

They try to ask customers to prove their supplier issued IHD is less than 1 year old or they encourage them to buy a new one. Even when an IHD is clearly serviceable and less than 1 year old, many customers will not have evidence of this and I would expect more elderly customers would be even less likely to have evidence of this as they are known to prefer telephone to email when interacting with companies.

The supplier will then refuse to help without customer evidence of the age of the device (even when a customer tells them the IHD is significantly less than a year old and communicates clearly issue only arose around the time of their switch of supplier) unless the customer purchases a new IHD for £49.99 plus postage - which seems an extortionate price when a cheap mobile costs about £10.

Apparent appalling waste of what are perfectly serviceable IHDs and also seems like a way large energy suppliers may also be systematically exploiting elderly customers!

QrizB

Duplicate of your post on another thread, and still erroneous.

See:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81701127/#Comment_81701127

indefatigablesaver

I’m pleased that this issue isn’t affecting everyone. That doesn’t mean it’s not widespread or systematic.   

Keen to hear if anyone else similarly affected by IHDs being bricked after switch or suppliers refusing to fix them?  

Citizens advice suggests that not all suppliers will help maintain IHDs that are potentially serviceable and so this may well be a widespread problem if others have experienced my issue.  

New thread as potentially new issue being brought to light - though related to other thread - which others may have experienced.

MikeyPGT

Mine packed in after a month.  To be honest it was neither use nor ornament for the few weeks it actually worked.  

molerat

I switch mine on every morning to take meter reads for my own records, don't really even need to do that as my supplier takes a read at 1am every day and it is shown on their app and web page.  The IHD has worked fine since switching away from the supplier that installed the meters.  For day to day loading use I still have my good old Eon Energy Fit clamp meter which I have had since at least 2014 and is accurate enough when compared to the IHD.

MattMattMattUK

indefatigablesaver said:

Just switched from Octopus Energy to another of the large ‘big six’ established energy suppliers.

Have come across a new potential and massive potential waste of IHDs that may be being sent to landfill prematurely resulting in customers being encouraged or feeling their only solution is to pay for extortionately priced replacements. This seems it is waiting for a class action case and or regulator action to compel suppliers to ensure IHDs are working.

It appears based on my experience that suppliers (after bricking IHDs from SMETS2 meters when switches take place) may then be routinely trying to absolve themselves of their responsibilities to fix the IHD connectivity issues that arise as a result of a switch (due to settings only the IHD/meter which only they as supplier can resolve).

They try to ask customers to prove their supplier issued IHD is less than 1 year old or they encourage them to buy a new one. Even when an IHD is clearly serviceable and less than 1 year old, many customers will not have evidence of this and I would expect more elderly customers would be even less likely to have evidence of this as they are known to prefer telephone to email when interacting with companies.

The supplier will then refuse to help without customer evidence of the age of the device (even when a customer tells them the IHD is significantly less than a year old and communicates clearly issue only arose around the time of their switch of supplier) unless the customer purchases a new IHD for £49.99 plus postage - which seems an extortionate price when a cheap mobile costs about £10.

Apparent appalling waste of what are perfectly serviceable IHDs and also seems like a way large energy suppliers may also be systematically exploiting elderly customers!

That seems to be an incredibly hyperbolic post, especially the idea that somehow IHDs failing is specifically exploiting the elderly. 

EssexHebridean

I think as a starting point, some factual evidence to back up the claims might be of use - without that, it's just theory and scaremongering. 

I am another customer who still has a functioning IHD in spite of the property no longer being with the supplier that issued it (SMETS2 meter). 

matelodave

My IHD was supplied with the smart meter in May 2017 and since then I've been with four or five different energy suppliers (presently with OFTH) and its worked faultlessly for the whole of that period telling me how much I'm using and allowing me to check my consumption back around 12 months.

There was a period when the cost data from a supplier wasn't available, but that was only one supplier who have since gone bust.

Using the Bright app I can check my half hourly data on any day, right back to around 2021 if I so wish

indefatigablesaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81701927#Comment_81701927

Not scaremongering, and no I'm not alone, see below

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6642032/ihd-from-eon-next

New supplier tried to flog me a £50 new IHD and didn't even enquire if account/address was on priority services register (as was the case).

After many many phone calls and repeatedly being advised (wrongly) that I needed to fork out £50 for a new IHD, my new supplier eventually admitted they had bricked my brand new IHD (that Octopus had supplied less than 1 year previously) but that they couldn't fix the problem because the reason is they don't support that IHD (and might not ever as they couldnt give me a timescale for when they might ever support it)! They also continued to insist (wrongly) that they had no requirement to fix the problem (despite the fact the issue was entirely caused due to the switch and not a problem with the IHD itself).

They continued to advise me (wrongly) to purchase a new IHD and asked me to prove when I had received the last IHD (which I challenged as most customers will not have any record of when they receive such a device from a supplier).

They also (similar to the post linked above) wrongly stated they had records of when an IHD was installed (no such database exists) there is clear systematic evidence by looking a my post and that of lotus-eater that big six suppliers are conflating the smart meter install database with an IHD install database. This is wrong as IHDs are not always supplied when smart meters are installed e.g. where installation is for new-build/vacant property. IHDs may also be supplied or re-supplied after initial smart meter install (such as if one breaks or is broken by supplier).

Multiple accounts online with the same story (see above) suggest to me this a systematic attempt to not meet obligation to fix/replace IHDs less than a year old (since many people will not be able to prove the age of their IHD). Suppliers should not be allowed to ask for such evidence unless all suppliers that provide IHDs are required to send postal/electronic dated correspondence with date IHDs are supplied and re-supplied or unless a central database is maintained (currently only a database of meter install date exists).

After a frankly ridiculous time on the telephone and multiple complaints about the way in which new supplier communicated with me (which was appalling compared to what I had become accustomed to with Octopus) my new supplier eventually asked me to buy my own IHD with the promise they would credit my account for the cost - which they did.

Had I been a more vulnerable customer there is no way I would have got the just outcome here (despite being on the priority services register - see principles 1 and 2 below.

So clearly evidence here of a big 6 supplier:

Failing principle 1.

1. Not offering effective troubleshooting of IHD problems (first option was to try to flog new IHD before even properly troubleshooting and accepting they had bricked my IHD).
2. Not ensuring customer service agents are trained to offer support in cases of a faulty IHD (see previous point)
3. Not promoting the Citizens Advice IHD help pages on the supplier’s website, in addition to relevant troubleshooting guides (rather I referred them to these and showed how they were not meeting their own or citizen's advice standards) - i.e. if your supplier breaks you IHD during a switch they should fix it. if your IHD is less than a year old they have to help you with any problems - repair or replace it for free.

Failing principle 2.

1. Not identifying whether the customer may benefit from an Accessible IHD, including checking their Priority Services Register status - they did not ask this despite several communications - I brought this up after getting nowhere.
2. Offering customers in vulnerable circumstances and customers who are on the Priority Services Register a replacement IHD for free or at the lowest possible cost - replacement IHD was only offered for free after many many hours of complaining and after supplier belatedly admitted they had bricked IHD.

Qyburn

Considering how much publicity the IHD gets, I really think it should be an ongoing obligation, not something the supplier can wash their hands of after 12 months.

indefatigablesaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81701869#Comment_81701869

Research evidence is quite clear elderly are more likely to trust individuals and organisations making them more vulnerable to scams or exploitation such as:

• organisations pointing them towards costly IHD replacements at customers' expense rather than checking with customer if they are on priority services register first and therefore entitled to free replacement.
• organisations lying to multiple customers (as evidenced by multiple posts on forum) that they have records IHD is older than customer states or that customer isn't entitled to free replacement based on their records, they have no such records but are deceiving customers systematically when smart meter install date on database is >1 year ago. As per the above more vulnerable customers will be far less likely to push back against this.

It's quite clear here from two separate threads relating to this issue springing up just a few weeks apart that this is not a "one off", there are multiple instances of customers of big six energy suppliers having their old IHD/alternative bricked when they switch and they are then told the only solution is for them to fork out for a new IHD, despite both the citizens advice "Fixing problems with your smart meter’s in-home display" advice and Government "Smart meter In-Home Display" replacement principles suggesting the suppliers should be doing more, especially if customers are vulnerable, if IHD breaks as a result of a switch, or if last IHD was supplied less than 12 months ago.

MSE's own page on the issue says within 12 months one should get a free replacement and also after 12 months most suppliers claim they will give vulnerable customers or all customers a replacement free of charge.

However multiple cases documented on this forum of big six suppliers not offering a replacement free of charge when:

1. first/last IHD/equivalent device supplied is less than 12 months old. Multiple cases of suppliers misleading customers and falsely stating they have a record of an IHD being supplied by another supplier more than 12 months ago (no such database exists - only a smart meter install database), and of suppliers doing so to clearly try to get out of offering free replacement.

2. customers are on priority services register (by not routinely asking customers about this). Even when their own supplier commitment is to replace IHD free of charge for "vulnerable customers".

3. the switch has caused the IHD to stop functioning. Such as by not making a proper effort to troubleshoot why IHD isn't working and instead first pointing customers to extortionate IHD replacements even when it is made clear to the supplier the issue arose only after switching and that IHD is very new.

Therefore recurrent issue is that supplier has bricked IHD due to settings issues that only the supplier can fix or due to the new supplier not supporting the existing IHD (even when supplied in last 12 months) and of supplier trying to get customer to pay for extortionate replacement in this situation!