Can’t read smart meter

dbrookf
dbrookf Posts: 594 Forumite
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in Energy
My smart meter was working fine with British Gas till I switched over to EDF and now it just tries to connect (unsuccessfully) when I switch it on. EDF is now asking me for a meter reading and says I should press the buttons on the keypad on the smart meter – there is no keypad that I can find on it! On googling how to do this, most posts refer to a keypad! Help!?

Comments

  • stewie_griffin
    stewie_griffin Posts: 1,099 Forumite
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    The Smart meters with keypads are made by Secure and BG don't use these. They either use Landis & Gyr or possibly Elster.

    There should be a button on the meter that you can use to cycle through the display to get the meter reading. If you post what type of meter you have then I'm sure someone will be able to tell you exactly what button(s) you need to press.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,091 Forumite
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    dbrookf wrote: »
    My smart meter was working fine with British Gas till I switched over to EDF and now it just tries to connect (unsuccessfully) when I switch it on.

    Are you referring to the In House Display or the meter itself.

    You need to read from the meter itself. My Gas has a simple black button to liven the display, my elec is permanently scrolling date / time/reading.
    Never pay on an estimated bill
  • dbrookf
    dbrookf Posts: 594 Forumite
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    Robin9 wrote: »
    Are you referring to the In House Display or the meter itself.

    You need to read from the meter itself. My Gas has a simple black button to liven the display, my elec is permanently scrolling date / time/reading.

    Ahhh, maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong! Will check - thx!
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    Hi

    ... and the smart-meter was installed by BG on the grounds that all of this meter reading nonsense wouldn't be necessary!

    Of course, BG will take their responsibility seriously and not claim any installation costs against their smart-metering special project capital account and write the supposed £500(:eek:) cost off as if the unit was a standard analogue meter (as if! ...:rotfl:) ...

    ... Furthermore, either BG or EDF will register the unit as operating in dumb mode to keep the project installation database accurate ... :think::whistle: .. maybe not then ... so that's another £500 in the profit dish over the years for absolutely no deliverable benefit ... great what these smart-meters can do for environmental issues, don't you think!?

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    edited 5 January 2018 at 6:06PM
    dbrookf wrote: »
    Ahhh, maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong! Will check - thx!
    Both gas and electric readings are available on the in house display. The readings on the smart meters are very easy to see.
    British Gas only use Landis Gyr electric smart meters and either L/G or Siemens smart e6 smart gas.They do not use Secure or Elster
    Secure Liberty meters have a keypad and possibly EDF recognise it by its serial number. It could be that this meter has made its way to BG from Ovo etc.
    The readings for Secure meters are on button 9 and button 6 for Eco 7 electric
    First reading on display for an ex BG meter on the electric meter is the "total kwh ", no need to button push.Two pushes of the red button on Siemens e6 type gas meter will show the gas reading in Metric units.
    Approx £212 for one months usage is far too high.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,091 Forumite
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    edited 5 January 2018 at 12:55PM
    House_Martin wrote: »
    Both gas and electric readings are available on the in house display. .

    Are you sure that the BG IHD's provide readings now that OP is with EDF ?


    I rapidly filed my E.on IHD novelty toy. Now with SSE/Flow anyway so I read meters themselves weekly.
    Never pay on an estimated bill
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker
    Robin9 wrote: »
    Are you sure that the BG IHD's provide readings now that OP is with EDF ?


    I rapidly filed my E. IHD novelty toy. Now with SSE/Flow anyway so I read meters themselves weekly.
    Hi

    My initial impression from reading ".. and now it just tries to connect (unsuccessfully) when I switch it on .." related to the IHD considering that you can't switch the smart-meter off.

    Considering the local/remote communication protocols are different, I would have thought that the IHD would continue to work as a basic monitor, only losing the facility to display values based on the correct tariff ... if not then someone's made a pretty serious error in the comms specs ...

    Perhaps the Op could clarify ... (?)

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,606 Forumite
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    edited 5 January 2018 at 1:57PM
    AFAIK some meters communicate their readings direct to the IHD and some get them from the supply company via the meter so when you change suppliers some IHD will manage some functions and others will just stop communicating.

    I've got an SEE Elster smart leccy meter (no gas) and since I've swapped suppliers the IHD still gets meter readings as well as instantaneous and daily consumption but other info like costs and history aren't available any more. I'm not sure that's true for other makes or suppliers.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker
    edited 5 January 2018 at 4:46PM
    matelodave wrote: »
    ... I've got an SEE Elster smart leccy meter (no gas) and since I've swapped suppliers the IHD still gets meter readings as well as instantaneous and daily consumption but other info like costs and history aren't available any more. I'm not sure that's true for other makes or suppliers.
    Hi

    That makes sense because the IHD should be communicating with the smart-meter communications hub, but the smart-meter has no registered working link back to a server to receive cost data from your supplier related to you particular tariff ... this is all covered in the SMETS (specification) documentation.

    There's a simple graphic describing how the comms hang together in this link .. Smart Meters ..

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
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