Smart meter billing errors - is this likely to be a widespread issue

m_tim_c

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81745486#Comment_81745486

[It would be nice if the forums supported some kind of markup language, rather than trying to manage the quotes for the user]

I estimate that I get a short power failure about once per year. If these can trigger the type of failure observed, (see comment to Scot_39, below), and they remain unnoticed by supplier and customer, then the failures could be fairly common. Given how hard they are to spot, the number of instances that I've seen on the EON forums leads me to believe that there could well be a significant (say 10k+) number of instances like this.

dunstonh

I estimate that I get a short power failure about once per year. 

We get about a dozen a year (typical rural property). We had a couple of hours of brownouts the other night. Brownouts are becoming more common than they used to be.

and they remain unnoticed by supplier and customer, then the failures could be fairly common. 

Its possible but I would like to think that the customer would spot the big increase in cost when the bulk of their usage has moved from offpeak to peak. Then again, we know from these forums that many consumers have absolutely no understanding of their energy use, let alone how it is costed and billed.

m_tim_c

Scots_39 said

How long did the power go off for ?

Based on the, possibly erroneous, Glowmarkt data from DCC, the power failure was about 4 days long, with a brief restoration in the middle. That is an exceptionally long outage and, if it's relevant, would reduce the prevalence.

At the time SMETS 2 was being rolled out, I was trying to put what's now BG's Hive into shape. I was concerned about the cash that went to Capita to build the network (£11bn), nominally to airgap from the internet. Meanwhile, many of the meters come from Chinese firms.

I've not yet got a clear view from Ofgem, Citizen's Advice, or OPSS on whether any actor is responsible for assuring the continued correct operation of the billing process. A bit annoying as deliverables for Hive included a couple of patents on such matters.

m_tim_c

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81868163#Comment_81868163

Indeed. People who post here could be in the top 1% of competence / interest in checking bills. My concern is with the less able. In their interest, I'd like to nail who is responsible for spotting such errors, quantify the error rate/cost, and get some action to reduce them.

Phones4Chris

@m_tim_c The question here is did they correct the bill for you?

They know the readings got reversed (whatever the cause).

I suspect the "explanation" given was BS as I've known a number of smart meters that get power cuts and never encountered this "issue", and as others have explained there are very good reasons why that's extremely unlikely to ever happen because of a power cut. The problem usually arises when the supplier had got them mixed up.

What make and model smart meter is it just for reference?

If they didn't fix your bill, raise a FORMAL complaint.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81868382#Comment_81868382

The consumer is the first point of responsibility in these cases, just with all bills, bank and credit card statements etc. the customer should make sure they know where their money is going and what for. A cursory glance at an energy bill once a month is the absolute minimum and would allow 99% of billing issues to be detected very quickly. So if you want to nail anyone, it is the person who never looks at their bills.