Source
r/UKPersonalFinance•
IanCal

Smart meter apparently broken - not able to get any readings from it, rights on billing?

Hopefully this fits with the general theme of ukpf, though I know it leans on the legal side.

I had new smart meters fitted last year. The IHD worked for gas, but not for electricity. That was annoying but my electricity use was broadly flat so it wasn't that interesting. Maybe October I noticed the electricity one had started working at some point, but the gas one had stopped. As we headed into winter I wanted to track things more as, well, winter and heating & very expensive gas.

I told my supplier and they said it had dropped off the network in Sept, so I'd have to look at the meter itself. When I did, I got garbled things on the LCD then just nothing.

My best guess and working assumption is it's totally broken, and nobody can get a reading from it.

I let them know, because I'm not trying to steal gas, and it'll maybe move towards replacing the meter.

My question around this is what rights do I have about bills? I'm OK paying for the gas I've actually used, though annoyingly I have absolutely no idea what I'm using at all, but wouldn't be happy assuming we used the same as last year (for example) as we've been consciously trying to use less. Are there other ways of figuring out how much we've used for them?

I can't find any useful info on this tbh, everything is about back billing limits and how to report faulty meters.

Posted Dec 7, 2022, 11:55 AM UTC

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marktuk18•

Just to be clear, are you taking the reading from the meter itself? It will be in a meterbox or cupboard somewhere and is physically connected to the gas pipe. The display they give you when they fit a smart meter is just an in home display, it's not the meter itself.

EDIT: Read the post again and it seems you are. I am perplexed that the meter itself is broken and your energy provider doesn't seem to care.

At a guess in this situation I imagine they can estimate and providing they can prove it's a fair estimate you'd have to pay it i.e. they can reference your historical usage. Problem with that is you could be making an effort to use less and you won't be saving anything.

I do think you should get on to the energy company and demand the meter is fixed, and if it isn't get in touch with the ombudsman.

EDIT2: Also it's possible the mechanical part of the meter is still recording your usage, and they might be able to take a reading from it when they come to fix it.

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IanCalOP13•

!Thanks, yeah my guess is it's a rare thing, and individual support people probably don't care so much as it's not like it's an urgent problem (I have gas). I have had a few replies after pretty much exactly a week so I think there's a 7 day target for responses (/ it gets escalated after 7 days).

I do think you should get on to the energy company and demand the meter is fixed, and if it isn't get in touch with the ombudsman.

Thanks, I'm going to give this more of a push to get sorted. If they want to take longer I'm OK with that as long as they take on the cost of the gas, otherwise I'm flying blind.

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deadeyedjacks577•

Gas Meter typically outside, talks to Electricity Meter inside, which then talks to mobile network to send data to central data system, In Home Display gets data from Elec meter via Zigbee.

LEDs on Elec meter will show whether there's connectivity between meters and networks, so take and post a shot of that.

Does your energy providers app / website show Elec and/or Gas readings daily or hourly ?

Does a third party app such as Loop show the data from the central data system ?

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IanCalOP13•

!Thanks I hadn't realised there was that setup for the connection.

On top of the elec meter is the thing I think you're talking about which has "SW", "WAN", "MESH", "HAN" and "GAS". Everything except for MESH flashes once every five seconds which according to https://forum.ovoenergy.com/smart-meters-136/aclara-smets2-smart-meter-communication-hub-lights-what-do-the-flashing-sequences-indicate-8534 suggests is what I'd expect if this works just fine.

Does your energy providers app / website show Elec and/or Gas readings daily or hourly ?

No, they have nothing since September (their website and what the support has said so far). This also matches exactly what's in Loop, which also shows a few days in the months up to then are missing a bit of data (missing rather than 0).

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deadeyedjacks577•

Super, so that implies meters and IHD are communicating and Meter is at least attempting to send data over WAN.

What's the mobile signal like in your house? Poor or patchy ?
Is IHD showing daily / hourly Elec and/or Gas consumption ?

If neither IHD nor WAN are getting your data, then yes, I'd raise it as a meter fault with your energy provider.

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IanCalOP13•

Depends on the network - but data is fine for electric so I think it's something wrong with the meter itself (particularly given that the screen also doesn't work).

Is IHD showing daily / hourly Elec and/or Gas consumption ?

Electric only, which matches loop and online. Nothing for gas.

If neither IHD nor WAN are getting your data, then yes, I'd raise it as a meter fault with your energy provider.

Yeah, I'll chase it up more with them.

Thanks for help narrowing things down.

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deadeyedjacks577•

Ah, so you and they are seeing your elec usage ?

If it's gas only, then that's likely poor comms between the two meters.

NB you can still read the meters manually and submit manual readings if desired.

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mistressoftheempire4•

Someone else posted this exact question earlier this week of you want to search for it.

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IanCalOP13•

Thanks, sounds like estimate -> negotiation may be the path :/

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