smart meters

slocumjoseph

Is there any way to trace my smart meter history. I had a smart meter installed before the pandemic. After a few years I was getting constant emails asking me for a meter reading. That shouldn't have been necessary. In October, last year an engineer spent all day replacing everything and I was given another, exactly the same monitor. Neither the old monitor or the new one have shown a connection. So I have no idea what is happening regarding my gas and electricity. I phoned British Gas at the beginning of the year but have only received promises that it's being fixed. Their last communication was in early March and my patience is now exhausted as I still have no way to check my energy use. If I phone them again will it be more empty promises? What should my next move be?

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

Is there any way to trace my smart meter history.

What information are you looking for, specifically?

I still have no way to check my energy use.

Even if the in-home display isn't working, Smart meters can still be read manually in a similar way to reading a traditional not-smart meter. Are you able to do this?

Rodders53

Formal COMPLAINT (written/email) not phone only…

Sign up to the free Bright App to get any readings that the meter has sent to the DCC (who they and BG will interrogate for readings) on a smart phone or tablet. Glow for homes It does not give you the meter readings that BG use for billing but will show the energy used in kWh at intervals down to 30 minutes.

Smart meters still have displays on them that one can take readings from (albeit they may have multiple registers accumulating so you need to know which numbers BG want/will use for billing. Brand new ones almost invariably start at zero and the installer leaves a card with old meter reads and new meter ones on them by the meter.

You would have been wise take and send readings that way when asked… I assume you did and not rely on BG estimates?

In Home Display works via a zigbee RF network (aka the Home Area Network) and needs to be close to the electric smart meter's comms unit. Have you tried it close to the meter? Stone walls, foil backed plasterboard and steel meter cupboards can block those signals and also block the signals used to send data to the DCC via the Wide Area Network (long range UHF radio in North or 2G or 4G mobile phone in the South).

TroubledTarts

Just another thing to check - When the first meter was replaced did you take any manual readings front the meter and also check if a sticker was left on or near the replacemenet meter with the old meter readings written on it.

slocumjoseph

Thanks for those suggestions Rodders53. I live in charity housing with the meters downstairs in a cupboard. The first installed smart meter apparently worked but perhaps that's why they started asking me for readings. If that is the case then having a smart meter installed has been of no benefit whatsoever to me.

Thanks TroubledTarts. I didn't take any readings. I was badgered for a long time before I was finally persuaded by descriptions of all the benefits. Apparently though, it is only benefitting British Gas, the suppliers.

Reed_Richards

I live in charity housing with the meters downstairs in a cupboard.

That probably means that the meter is too far away for the portable device you were given to be able communicate with it. So all the benefits you were sold-on about being able to monitor your energy consumption have not materialised.

After a few years I was getting constant emails asking me for a meter reading

That probably means that your meter is not communicating over the Wide Area Network to report its readings. That network uses a different form of communication to the one between your meter and your portable device. New rules were introduced last month (March 2026) that oblige suppliers to fix faulty meters within 90 days of the fault being reported. If they don't manage to do this then you should get £40 compensation and the supplier may be fined. These rules should cover this fault but not the communication issue with your portable monitor. There are various things your supplier can do to try to fix your lack of WAN communication; what they might do depends on where abouts in the country you live. Anyway, this means that your smart meter is not benefitting British Gas; it's a thorn in their side until they get it working.

 I didn't take any readings.

If your bills are being based on estimates you should check that the estimated reading is close to the actual reading on your meter. If the estimated reading is a lot higher than the actual reading then you have been over-paying. If the estimated reading is a lot lower than the actual reading, you will face a big bill when the actual reading becomes known, which will happen if your meter is replaced and/or the comms problem is fixed.

SAC2334

Your next move will be to work out your true gas and electric meter readings from the install of the first smart meters which was not actually connected to the DCC .

on your second smart meter install you will see a yellow sticky label on the gas meter ( or possibly close to it ) and a card placed near to the second electric meter which has details of how many units you used on the first smart meter .It will show new meter start reading (usually 99999 on gas meters ) and end reading of first smart meter reading which is the important reading . Hopefully the fitters have not dodged this little job and done it properly as they re supposed to do and took the trouble to fill in full details of the first smart meter . Which is date of install ,meter serial number ,old meter reading,new meter start reading and serial number

this will show exactly how many units you used on your first smart meters as you know it started at zero ( 99999 on gas meter actually but they allow one free unit to allow for gas purging ) so now you know how many units used on first smart meters .

Take a reading on the second meters and see how many units it has used so far since installation add the two readings together and that's how much gas/electric you have used from installation of the two meters since your old dumb meters were changed .

The supplier has the end readings of your old dumb meter which hopefully you were accurately billed for .