Smart meter incompatibility and chaos

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  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    edited 19 March 2017 at 9:30PM
    I had smart meters installed by British gas when I had the Cheap Energy Club fix which finished in Feb 2017. As soon as my account was switched to a new supplier the in-home display stopped working. British Gas confirmed this is the case. Like you, I thought that when I changed to another provider the only thing which would cease would be the auto reading of the meters. I assumed the in home display would carry on working and I could simply read my meters from it.

    Since this didn't happen it put me in a difficult situation. My meters are outside and high up so I needed to climb a small ladder and press the button to see the meter reading display. With my previous dumb meters I could read from ground level. Now I have dumb meters again it is so much easier to read them. I'm not having smart meters again until they work with all providers.

    I installed an app on my phone (Pixometer) which lets me hold my phone up to the display and takes a reading for me and photographs it for reference.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    edited 21 March 2017 at 11:48PM
    scgf wrote: »
    I had smart meters installed by British gas when I had the Cheap Energy Club fix which finished in Feb 2017. As soon as my account was switched to a new supplier the in-home display stopped working. British Gas confirmed this is the case. Like you, I thought that when I changed to another provider the only thing which would cease would be the auto reading of the meters. I assumed the in home display would carry on working and I could simply read my meters from it.
    When you say the in-home display stopped working what exactly do you mean? Do you mean the display went blank and showed nothing, or what? The information from my supplier is that the display will not only lose the remote reading but also the financial information like unit cost for gas and electricity because this depends on the contract with your provider. So anything £ dependant will not appear. However, they assure me that information like kWh and other non financial data will continue to be monitored because it's supplier-independent. They also assure me that meter readings will still appear on the display. So are they correct or is the display left void of any information at all?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    The display went into search mode, looking for a connection. Naturally at this point no information from the meter is available. British Gas confirmed that when a customer leaves, all wireless functionality on the smart meter ceases and therefore there is no longer anything for the in-home display to connect to.

    This is what a British Gas representative said in response to my query:

    "The Smart monitor at your property is a British Gas monitor which is connected to the British Gas meters. As you've switched to new suppliers, the meters are now working as credit meters without the Smart features. Hence, the Smart monitor will not display any information as it gets the details from the communication hub fixed next to the electricity Smart meter."
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,696
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    When you say the in-home display stopped working what exactly do you mean? Do you mean the display went blank and showed nothing, or what? The information from my supplier is that the display will not only lose the remote reading but also the financial information like unit cost for gas and electricity because this depends on the contract with your provider. So anything £ dependant will not appear. However, they assure me that information like kWh and other non financial data will continue to be monitored because it's supplier-independent. They also assure me that meter readings will still appear on the display. So are they correct or is the display left void of any information at all?
    Your supplier speak with forked tongue. ;) Some will and some will not continue working, there is no guarantee.
  • molerat wrote: »
    Your supplier speak with forked tongue. ;) Some will and some will not continue working, there is no guarantee.
    So, if I can't trust my supplier, is there some place or organisation that will give me information about what happens to in-home energy displays when you switch? Rather than give me vague words suggesting some or all of the display may or may not work when you switch supplier, does anyone actually know the facts rather than just spread rumours?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    Well British Gas confirmed their in-home display will stop working and it has been the case for me. So that's a definite and not 'vague words'. The communication hub connected to the the smart meters shuts down when you switch provider.
  • scgf wrote: »
    Well British Gas confirmed their in-home display will stop working and it has been the case for me. So that's a definite and not 'vague words'. The communication hub connected to the the smart meters shuts down when you switch provider.
    Could you please define stop working? Does it mean
    - the display is totally blank and displays nothing at all
    - the display gives only a message saying something to the effect "I've stopped working"
    - if something else what exactly does the display show when you press the various buttons

    Could you be specific as to what, if anything, your in-home display shows (or showed) to the customer after switching supplier?
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,587
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    This is what was said in post #54

    The display went into search mode, looking for a connection. Naturally at this point no information from the meter is available. British Gas confirmed that when a customer leaves, all wireless functionality on the smart meter ceases and therefore there is no longer anything for the in-home display to connect to.

    Which seems pretty clear to me. Different meters, made by different manufacturers and configured to suit different supplier's networks and protocols will probably either lose or retain different functionality. So you would have to either ask your provider what it will do when it's a dumb meter or try it out for youself
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552
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    edited 22 March 2017 at 10:52AM
    I get a meter reader in January, once a year.
    Is that so hard?

    If I cared, which I do, I submit the readings once a month.

    What's so smart about having a smart meter?

    If it works, don't fix it.

    By the looks of things, it doesn't work yet, and they install it.

    What if we make Science A Levels a compulsory job requirement at Ofgem?
  • matelodave wrote: »
    This is what was said in post #54

    The display went into search mode, looking for a connection. Naturally at this point no information from the meter is available. British Gas confirmed that when a customer leaves, all wireless functionality on the smart meter ceases and therefore there is no longer anything for the in-home display to connect to.

    Which seems pretty clear to me. Different meters, made by different manufacturers and configured to suit different supplier's networks and protocols will probably either lose or retain different functionality. So you would have to either ask your provider what it will do when it's a dumb meter or try it out for youself
    Let's just make sure I understand:
    1 Before the switch the in-home display was connected wirelessly to the in-house meters without any problem
    2 Then you switched and the existing meters remained unaltered in situ at your home.
    2 Suddenly the in-home display was unable to communicate with the in house meters even though nothing had physically changed on them and the day before it connected without a problem.

    As you suggested I've already asked the question of my current provider and they say the in-house display will continue to work although it will no longer show any financial data like costs which are specific to my contract with them. However molerat already assured us :
    "Your supplier speak with forked tongue"
    So you're telling me there's nothing or no one we can rely on to tell us correctly what will happen to our in-house display when we change provider? We can only "try it out for ourselves" as you say. Presumably this means we have to go and switch provider just to find out the effect on our in-house displays? If so, does OFGEM have a regulation which allows us to go back to our original provider without penalty if we don't like the results of the display test?
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