Smart Meters
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Yes it s hit or miss if the valve shuts off.I don't know why people are banging on about batteries failing which may cause the valve to shut. For the last 15/20 years, prepay gas meters have had batteries in them, they do sometimes fail, they do sometimes shut off the gas and sometimes they don't shut off the gas.
I have seen over the last 6 years that smart gas meters where the battery has failed has also not closed the valve, causing unregistered gas to pass, but im sure no one is bothered by free gas.
Its extremely common to see occupiers with gas prepayment meters (where the battery has failed and the valve has remained open) to keep it quiet once they realise their gas is "free " and do not need to keep feeding the meter with tenners they can t afford.
it can go on for years and years. And it does, very often
From what I have seen over the years getting the money repaid, and it could be thousands, is difficult.Tenants move on or change the account holder, rather than accept a repayment debt of up to £16 a week . A new tenant will move in and quickly realise their heating is free so keep quiet and will not call the supplier .The old George Wilson prepay meters carried on recording usage even with a failed battery and these meters at least know how much has been swindled.
Yanking out the batteries on these sort of meters is a well known fiddle with the occupiers of course pleading ignorance about why the battery is missing
I can see a huge loss of revenue coming up with smart prepayment revenue s on gas accounts in the future especially when customers move from say BG to some little supplier who do not have enough staff to run a RPU office
Credit smart gas meter customers will also have problems but at least the supplier is more likely not to lose too much revenue and will accept estimated losses0 -
Theres been a number of reports of failed batteries on smart meters.Although here it relates to mainly the GCHQ involvment there is mention of battery failure it could possibly be a timebomb and if meters' start going down during the main roll out bad publicity could quickly bring an end to that.
British Gas customer Martin Thompson had a nightmare experience after a smart meter was fitted at his home in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.On two occasions – in March last year and January this year – the meter stopped working, turning off the gas on cold days.
The first failure was blamed on a software fault. The second time, an engineer said the meter’s 3.4 volt lithium battery, which claims a life of 100,000 hours, was flat after just 18,648 hours.
British Gas insists there is no evidence of a widespread problem with meter batteries.
But technology expert Nick Hunn, of WiFore Consulting, said: ‘This sort of incident should be ringing alarm bells.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3501918/GCHQ-steps-fear-11bn-smart-meters-installed-millions-homes-hacked-leading-gas-supplies-cut-off.html
With the prepayment version Southern Gas network informed me it was the frost that kills them when the problem arose after two years.British gas smart display shows nothing related to battery conditon and its impossible to tell if this is relayed back to their systems in the event of a problem beginning to arise.
It may be that this type of battery simply goes dead,but without any display information its possible to know at first glance.The home owner might not think that the meter is the problem when the supply cuts off and not realise theres a cut off valve involved.Its a here and now problem when this does arise and "free gas" is no argument to no supply.If theres no power to communicate with the gas meter its dead and the supplier cannot release the valve by remote command requiring a prompt callout.As the number of smart meters installed outnumbers old style but similar battery operated prepayment meters suppliers could have a problem with a two year life of the battery.The prepayment version doesn't need a tranceiver connection twenty four hours either.
People can be left with no heating hot water or cooking gas even worse at a holiday period.
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I can vouch its pretty rare to find a dud gas smart meter battery. I ve been visiting them for many years now since they were first installed and I ve not seen many "blank screens " which is the indication the battery has died. When this happens if it is smart, the supplier is aware and gets a new battery quickly on its way , if its become dumb then 24 hrs later a new battery can be quickly installed as soon as the occupier contacts the supplier. BG work this efficiently.
I don`t think that suppliers such as Iresa, Bulb , Green Energy etc will move very quickly somehow. You would be lucky for Iresa s small squad in the call centre to answer the phone.
As Meterman has commented, batteries in gas prepayment meters have been around for many years, (approx 15 at least), failing sometimes,and leaving customers without heating before smart meters gas meter came on the scene
When a battery fails its supposed to shut the gas off completely, which is good . It is the lesser of the two evils.
Electric heating is available for emergency heating, no one can rely on gas central heating boilers to function 100% of the time and they certainly don`t
.I see very elderly or disabled and infirm customers all the time with prepayment gas meters .I usually recommend them to get the meters exchanged to credit meters so they do not have to rely on someone to go to the paypoints to top up on their behalf.
Maybe suppliers should think twice in installing these meters at all for these sort of vulnerable customers.They are not suitable0 -
I would be very concered,The previous link to the OVO mentiones that the engineer was not answering the phone was that because of having to attend meters with similar problems already? With these types of meters service is all important and moving outside the big six suppliers I would be worried about these being attended to promply if they fail.The only alternative is a second cell but theres no guarantee that won/t be dead also when required or the best answer the valve will remain open in the event of failure.If attended quickly the loss of free gas would be minimal.
Batteries are a problem although not the only reason and cause the inconvenience of waiting in for an engineer to attend.In the event of failure the customer should be given the priority not be denied supply0 -
I wonder why it is that the more info I read regarding smart meters & their effectiveness, the more I am thinking no way Jose.
Why on earth would I exchange reading my meters monthy (what I do now) for a meter that I am unlikely to be able to read & could leave me with no heating when I need it (365 days a year)1 -
That may spur them to be a bit quicker to fix it possibly.The only alternative is a second cell but theres no guarantee that won/t be dead also when required or the best answer the valve will remain open in the event of failure.If attended quickly the loss of free gas would be minimal.
Batteries are a problem although not the only reason and cause the inconvenience of waiting in for an engineer to attend.In the event of failure the customer should be given the priority not be denied supply
Or they may simply know its failed from a certain day/time and just do an estimate use until its repaired, the same way they would I guess do an "estimate use" if for instance it was an older dial or similar and it decided it had wanted to go to the great meter recycler in the sky...
To be fair they are not too difficult to read, I think 80% of the issue is the lack of information (so it seems) on figuring out how to get a reading. Suppliers are keen to give you a nice book or pdf on the 'IHD' but not a lot on the meter itself it seems.I wonder why it is that the more info I read regarding smart meters & their effectiveness, the more I am thinking no way Jose.
Why on earth would I exchange reading my meters monthy (what I do now) for a meter that I am unlikely to be able to read & could leave me with no heating when I need it (365 days a year)
The other issue I have noted really is it is not obvious what is being displayed on some of the smart meters and the speed at which it will loop through each section is far far too fast for some, that I can understand.
Its not actually completely clear on mine what it is actually telling me on some screens, and I'd consider myself reasonably intelligent enough to read the icons and the preceding text. Mind you mine has other issues anyway so that's not too relevant here.
It is re-assuring in a way to read that as you're quite likely to know the 'real world situation' as I suspect (similar to reviews in general online) you tend to see more negative than positive simply as if people are happy not that many tend to write this, whereas if there are issues you get more response.House_Martin wrote: »I can vouch its pretty rare to find a dud gas smart meter battery. I ve been visiting them for many years now since they were first installed and I ve not seen many "blank screens " which is the indication the battery has died. When this happens if it is smart, the supplier is aware and gets a new battery quickly on its way , if its become dumb then 24 hrs later a new battery can be quickly installed as soon as the occupier contacts the supplier. 0 -
Great reading all the discussions on Smart Meters so let me add my comment. I have had many disagreements with Energy Suppliers over the so-called FIXED Direct Debits as if, like me, you send in meter readings and if your contract starts in the Autumn your account will suddenly be in debit, because you use more energy in the winter. The Energy Companies immediately put up your Direct Debit in spite of the fact that you have budgeted for the whole year and as Spring and Summer come your consumption goes down and you end up all square. Their argument is that FIXED does not mean the monthly payment is FIXED only the Tariff! Smart Meters allow them even more latitude as you have no control over the meter readings. Other comments are quite correct, Smart Meters are not cheap and we all pay for them either by increasing the cost of the first x number of units or by a daily charge. The only people who really benefit from Smart Meters are the Energy Companies but they charge the consumer for the meter on the pretext that it benefits the consumer.0
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Hi
What I wanted to do was to bring some of the serious concerns around the installation of Smart Meters to the attention of the public, and as a result hopefully encourage you to do a little research before you give consent to having a Smart Meter installed (as in most cases the energy providers/government don't give full disclosure of all the facts).
There have been many worrying concerns raised by
residents in countries where smart meters have already been introduced. Concerns have related to them making people sick, being responsible for causing fires in homes, increasing energy bills for customers (contrary to the sales pitch), exposing our homes to cyber-attacks and invading privacy in our homes. There is a growing body of evidence against the use of smart meters that I would like to encourage you to look into before giving your consent to a Smart Meter.
You can currently choose to say NO to having one installed, but the Government were making provisions for energy suppliers to force customers to keep smart meters once installed - called the “no backward step” policy.
Many people have not even heard about smart meters and are not aware of their possible dangers - I find it shocking that the UK government would want to take away the ability for people to choose to get rid of a smart meter if their inherent risks become manifest.
Below I have provided some links to videos/website that give another viewpoint on Smart Meters, so please try and find some time to do little research of your own (get the information from sources other than the energy companies, even martin lewis doesn't seem to want you to know the full story) and then decide for yourselves if you want a Smart Meter, or perhaps get rid of a smart meter, and change back to an Analogue Meter.
I am not allowed to copy links apparently so try the following:-
stopsmartmeters.org.uk
Have a look at an article on smart meters at mercola.com (takebackyourpower film)
And search on youtube etc.0 -
another load of rubbish from another conspiricy theoristNever under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers1
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Everyone has their own opinion, if the public get the chance to look into the evidence for and against the use of smart meters, they could then make their own informed decision on whether its right for them and the environment . At the moment I don't think people are getting the option.0
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