Help needed; smart meter malfunction resulting in shock bill

mbmonty · 14 April 2018 at 7:53PM

Cindyeliza wrote: »

Hi everyone!
First time posting and hoping someone can help! Sorry if I!!!8217;m doing it in the wrong place etc...
So I!!!8217;ve been with EDF for just over 2 years and we got a smart meter installed in November 2017. When we got the meter installed we got told it was working fine and all our readings will be taken automatically from then on forward. Skipping ahead to March I get a bill for my electricity but not my gas usage. So I contact them to be told I haven!!!8217;t provided a meter reading... I explain that it should already be done but they say they!!!8217;re not getting anything on there end! So I provide a meter reading manually which results in a bill of nearly £400!! I should add that in these 5 months my smart meter has to me been working fine! It!!!8217;s been showing me my daily gas usuage and I!!!8217;ve been completely within my payment and none the wiser I was putting myself in debt otherwise I would have upped my Direct Debit amount!! I have even offered to take a picture of the smart meter to prove that it!!!8217;s given me false information, as it!!!8217;s saying I!!!8217;m using £3 a day max for gas but they don!!!8217;t want it.
Obviously I!!!8217;m furious and have raised a complaint but I have no been told the most they can offer me is £50 credit... which to me is not good enough at all!! I!!!8217;m planning on taking it further, however I want to know is it worth it? Where do I stand in this situation?
Their argument is that sometimes the signal doesn!!!8217;t work and the smart meter isn!!!8217;t always correct, and that is in the t&c!!!8217;s but surely if I!!!8217;ve been told for 5 months that I!!!8217;m within my usuage and had no contact from them to say they were unable to take the reading then they have caused me to be in this situation? I have to also add that this has happened at the worst possible time of year as it was during the !!!8220;beast from the east!!!8221; where it was -7 here!! They have also offered me a payment plan but I really don!!!8217;t want that, I don!!!8217;t see how this is my fault?
Someone please help and tell me if I!!!8217;m wrong? I!!!8217;m actually scared to put my heating on!
Thank you!!

And they wonder why people are reluctant to have these dumb meters and their toy attachments!

I thought the whole idea of the stupid inhouse toy was that it displayed how much you owed in real money not kWh or M3 to the power of Pi divided by your collar size!

My advice to the OP, fight them ALL the way, then when you hit deadlock go for the independent energy ombudsman, I think that costs them about £350, so even if they do not rule in your favour you have cost the energy company some money for messing you around.

The whole point of those stupid meters was supposed to be no surprises, not 5 months of racked up bills and all the anxiety that brings.

I think you can reasonably argue that if their kit had been working properly you would have adapted your usage and so not incurred such a huge bill. Therefore it is their fault because their kit did not work and had it worked you would have cut back.

Is this not the whole selling point of the dumb meters?

spiro · 15 April 2018 at 9:06AM

mbmonty wrote: »

I thought the whole idea of the stupid inhouse toy was that it displayed how much you owed in real money not kWh or M3 to the power of Pi divided by your collar size!

The IDH is designed to show how much you are using in both kWh and £s is it not designed to show how much you owe. That is what your bill/statement shows.

mbmonty · 15 April 2018 at 10:34AM

I beg to differ

Smart_Meter_Brochure wrote:

To look at the energy you're using right now, select Instant.

Press it again to see Cumulative - the energy you've used so far.

Then press it one more time to see Predictive - what you're expected to use in the future

Maybe you have a cheap naff version or maybe you never tried pressing the buttons!

Here is a video that explains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJD_qIf_KEc

Also, the situation of the OP is exacerbated by the fact that they did not bill for 5 months, that they had no input at their end for 5 months and did nothing to alert the customer.

The whole justification for these dumb meters was that energy companies would be more responsive as they could see what was going on at any given time.

If my energy company pulled a stunt like this I would have no problem arguing for a substantial credit due to their incompetence and negligence.

spiro · 15 April 2018 at 4:41PM

mbmonty wrote: »

I beg to differ

Maybe you have a cheap naff version or maybe you never tried pressing the buttons!

Here is a video that explains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJD_qIf_KEc

Also, the situation of the OP is exacerbated by the fact that they did not bill for 5 months, that they had no input at their end for 5 months and did nothing to alert the customer.

The whole justification for these dumb meters was that energy companies would be more responsive as they could see what was going on at any given time.

If my energy company pulled a stunt like this I would have no problem arguing for a substantial credit due to their incompetence and negligence.

How often you get a bill depends on your bill/payment method. If you pay on bill then you typically get a bill every 3 months, if you pay by DD you just get a statement and the frequency of these varies.

mbmonty · 15 April 2018 at 6:05PM

Yes but none of them are 5 months and all my previous points give OP reason to dispute.

I think it is fundamental that their equipment works and is accurate, it is their responsibility to make sure it does.

In the past when they have had a faulty timer on Eco7 I made that argument and won, there is no way I would have allowed bill to go so high but due to their faulty kit unreasonable bills were created.

I was a fool and just paid them, blaming it on a new property, then I turned everything off, even when I said I felt kit was faulty they did not act responsibly. They refused to put in clone meter thing.

Then a meter reader came and he had this red stick that illuminated when he put it over the night wire.

That confirmed the fault and we then had the fun of negotiating the rebate etc.

trickytree1963 · 15 April 2018 at 9:05PM

All these answers are just taking the topic off point, the key is what reading did you give your supplier OP and was it in m3 or kWh? Have you got a bill you can share us with the reading on or a picture of the meter reading you use?

All the stuff about IHDs is not relevant that is not a METER!

mbmonty · 16 April 2018 at 12:19AM

Valid point

However, if you were to ask most people who were not in industry or lurking in forums, they would think the IHD was their Smart/Dumb meter, they would think that the Energy company was doing what it said it would be doing, i.e. reading it automatically, be acting responsibly by contacting their customer at the earliest opporunity if not getting readings.

The whole point of these damn meters was that faulty readings by consumers would be a thing of the past.

If the OP was going to come back I think they would have by now.

This is what happens when you create a forum with a default setting that does not subscribe the OP to the thread.

MeterMan · 16 April 2018 at 8:43PM

3 quid a day for 5 months... its roughly 90 quid a month, so a bill of 400quid doesn't sound too bad.

Have you been paying direct debits on top of this?
Whats the current gas meter reading in m3?

I will try to help, but I am of the opinion that you have used the gas.

Help needed; smart meter malfunction resulting in shock bill

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