I can’t read the article as it’s behind a pay wall.
If it makes you feel better, my most recent gas meter is saying that I used 300m³ of gas in 1 day in the last month, at a time that my boiler was broken. Smh.
Ofgem complaint being generated as we speak.
I have a feeling we are going to see more of these kinds of stories in the wake of the horizon scandal, as a way to generate clicks for “technology screwed me over, so we must go back to *tradition*”
Meanwhile my energy company refuses to stop contacting me to insist I switch to a smart meter, despite multiple requests from me.
This happens irrespective of the type of meter.
I don’t get the hysteria on smart meters, they are actually very useful to get actual demand, and even be able to quickly spot potential potential issues that cause use of power/gas unexpectedly.
The people I know who same to hate them are the ones who never provide actual readings and underpay monthly
Scottish power did this to me twice. First time, it took a complaint and a referral to the ombudsman to deal with it. They didn’t even bother to respond to the complaint.
Second time was much like the first, and the ombudsman made them give me £150.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for a third time!
I care less about this and more about the fact we have more sustainable electricity sources but prices just keep going up.
I have a couple of beefs with smart meters. I have an old electricity one, and it is apparently impossible to change the tariff, since I changed provider about ten years ago. So it has to show the wrong charges in perpetuity. What a rubbish design.
I also have a new heating one, and it bothers me because though it shows a bar-chart of daily usage, it does not display the actual KWH used as a number, except for the current and previous days. So as I want to model my usage and keep my own records it means I have to note down the reading every day.
This is why I refuse to get a smart meter installed. I am sick of hearing the crazy stories about things going wrong and stupidly large bills. I don’t care if I have to read my meter once a month, I take a picture on my phone, I have proof of date, number everything. It takes 2 minutes to punch the numbers in on my suppliers website.
One of the biggest scams by Energy Suppliers bribing, oops sorry lobbying politicians to make it law to have a smart meter. Things to note, savings made by job losses of meter readers will not be passed onto consumers with lower energy costs but will end up in dividends and bonus to executives. Data of energy usage will be sold to all that are interested and profits will not be reinvested but siphoned off again. With so much data diseminated it will only be a matter of time before a security breach allows nefarious agents to use information to target homes where indications show no occupants during the day. Will Energy companies accept any blame for such breaches or resulting thefts to households, I think you have a better chance winning the lottery.
The problem is when the companies refuse to accept the smart meter is at fault.
Our smart meter was showing we were using £60k+ of gas per hour, when we spoke to EDF they said the smart meter was correct and if we withheld payment they would take legal action. Shockingly it was eventually discovered the smart meter was at fault.
This was obviously a ludicrous amount for the smart meter to be out by, but it would be a lot harder to prove there’s an issue with smaller amounts.
Point being, EDFs initial response is quite reminiscent of the Post Office’s approach to the issues with horizon, that being a refusal to accept the possibility of a fault and jumping straight to threatening legal action.
It didn’t charge you, it read someone else’s charges. Smart meters monitor, they don’t process payment.
Oh this is going to get worse when the UK shuts down 3G networks. A lot of smart meters will stop communicating as they use 3G.
Wait till they find out what their hacked router has been used for for the last ten years
My meter was swapped on the database with the empty house opposite.
It took 4 months for British gas to get round to actually sending someone to physically check despite me sending photos.
This will be the biggest issue. Stuff goes wrong, but if it takes several hours on a phone and 4 months to resolve that is where the problems will lie.
While all cloud/computing/smart systems do make things easier, if they awry, they really shit the bed and cause severe chaos.
I sort of want one, just for the data (bit of a geek), but I only ever hear horror stories about them. Should I steer clear?
I’m 14 months into a complaint with Octopus, that I had to involve the Ombudsman over, for a faulty smart meter inaccurately reading gas use. Even when we had the mains supply turned off it would sporadically read use.
About 20 years back a device called a Wattson came out on a couple of tech sites. 2 years later most major energy firms had copied this idea and added in WiFi firmware for “cost management”. I still use my Wattson and refuse to let firms use their “unbiased” tech.
The problem with smart meters is the same problem with any technology driven process in the UK….not enough laws or controls in place.
I like my smart meter BUT the law should be changed so that if there is a problem..the DEFAULT is that the computer is WRONG & the customer is right with massive fines to the companies who fuck up. And not fines that they can just pop in as a business expense.
So if a customer complains the smart meter is faulty it is up you the company to prove that it isn’t & if it is compensation is paid in multiples of the actual cost to the customer.
There’s too much of this “new tech will makes things cheaper better faster ” in this country when all it does is end up with us spending days on hold to understaffed call centres, soon to be days arguing with chat bots. What we see of companies refusing to accept that they’ve made a mistake and problems go on for years to fix & when they finally DO fix them you get “here’s £50 credit for the year of your life we wasted “
Rather bother once a month and send a reading than deal with this sheit
I had loads of problems getting my gas smart meter installed and now I’m sure it’s not charging the fixed fee
Meter readings being automatically transmitted rather than relying on manual readings is BRILLIANT for customers. Multiple estimate readings cause havoc with budgeting especially with the recent tries. However, what is really not quite right is the patchwork quilt of systems behind that needed to get you a bill. The MIL had a smart meter installed and she is with the original supplier for this area. She received a bill which was massive because the final meter reading of the old meter (taken manually as it was removed) was logged in the system with the decimal point in the wrong place and it reported 10x power used. Somewhere, a data entry person had to type that in or the engineer got it wrong. With the articles issue, the distance of the meter had nothing to do with it, a typo will have lead to her getting registered to the wrong meter.
My issue with the energy companies is that they can charge me for what I’ve used down to the last half an hour with the smart meters. So why do I have to build up a credit with them?
At least it was working of a sort. Got family who are still waiting 8 months later for their electric and gas provider to fix their smart meter.
It probably wasn’t the device. It was probably that her account on the suppliers central system (CRM) had inaccurate information and linked the account to the wrong meter. The same issue could have happened before smart meters.
My provider was constantly sending me emails and texts to upgrade my meter, so I called them to make it clear that I did not want a smart meter and to stop bugging me about it.
CS person said “I can take you off the list, but I have to put a reason for not wanting to upgrade.”
Me: “My daily work involves IOT devices.”
CS: “Understood, you’re off the list, have a good day.”
Ours barely works, constantly loses connection and Eon. Tell us they have to come out and fit a new one. Apparently they work on wireless data, which is great, when you don’t live in the middle of butt f no where
Well, unlike my situation where I moved in to a property, and wasn’t able to access the meter until 2 months after I moved in (it’s a locked room within the apartment block)
Submitted the reading and was billed for over 100m3 of water.
Took a reading the next month and I’d used 3m3
Contacted support and they were adamant that the smart meter sent a reading automatically.
Now I’m sitting here with a Thames water guy who is here to replace it because suddenly they’ve found that the smart meter is actually broken and isn’t sending them readings.
Anyone that has used software, or indeed been involved with software development and support knows that more than 99% of it is based on hope rather than engineering. Its all teetering unstable bits on top of teetering unstable bits. Its amazing any of it works.
On that basis wouldn’t it be neat if the people who sell it had to take some responsibility for its performance?
Maybe it’s a good thing ours won’t work with our consumer unit and we have to do monthly meter readings.
Seems most companies are inept and trying to explain is impossible.
31 comments
I can’t read the article as it’s behind a pay wall.
If it makes you feel better, my most recent gas meter is saying that I used 300m³ of gas in 1 day in the last month, at a time that my boiler was broken. Smh.
Ofgem complaint being generated as we speak.
I have a feeling we are going to see more of these kinds of stories in the wake of the horizon scandal, as a way to generate clicks for “technology screwed me over, so we must go back to *tradition*”
Meanwhile my energy company refuses to stop contacting me to insist I switch to a smart meter, despite multiple requests from me.
This happens irrespective of the type of meter.
I don’t get the hysteria on smart meters, they are actually very useful to get actual demand, and even be able to quickly spot potential potential issues that cause use of power/gas unexpectedly.
The people I know who same to hate them are the ones who never provide actual readings and underpay monthly
Scottish power did this to me twice. First time, it took a complaint and a referral to the ombudsman to deal with it. They didn’t even bother to respond to the complaint.
Second time was much like the first, and the ombudsman made them give me £150.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for a third time!
I care less about this and more about the fact we have more sustainable electricity sources but prices just keep going up.
I have a couple of beefs with smart meters. I have an old electricity one, and it is apparently impossible to change the tariff, since I changed provider about ten years ago. So it has to show the wrong charges in perpetuity. What a rubbish design.
I also have a new heating one, and it bothers me because though it shows a bar-chart of daily usage, it does not display the actual KWH used as a number, except for the current and previous days. So as I want to model my usage and keep my own records it means I have to note down the reading every day.
This is why I refuse to get a smart meter installed. I am sick of hearing the crazy stories about things going wrong and stupidly large bills. I don’t care if I have to read my meter once a month, I take a picture on my phone, I have proof of date, number everything. It takes 2 minutes to punch the numbers in on my suppliers website.
One of the biggest scams by Energy Suppliers bribing, oops sorry lobbying politicians to make it law to have a smart meter. Things to note, savings made by job losses of meter readers will not be passed onto consumers with lower energy costs but will end up in dividends and bonus to executives. Data of energy usage will be sold to all that are interested and profits will not be reinvested but siphoned off again. With so much data diseminated it will only be a matter of time before a security breach allows nefarious agents to use information to target homes where indications show no occupants during the day. Will Energy companies accept any blame for such breaches or resulting thefts to households, I think you have a better chance winning the lottery.
The problem is when the companies refuse to accept the smart meter is at fault.
Our smart meter was showing we were using £60k+ of gas per hour, when we spoke to EDF they said the smart meter was correct and if we withheld payment they would take legal action. Shockingly it was eventually discovered the smart meter was at fault.
This was obviously a ludicrous amount for the smart meter to be out by, but it would be a lot harder to prove there’s an issue with smaller amounts.
Point being, EDFs initial response is quite reminiscent of the Post Office’s approach to the issues with horizon, that being a refusal to accept the possibility of a fault and jumping straight to threatening legal action.
It didn’t charge you, it read someone else’s charges. Smart meters monitor, they don’t process payment.
Oh this is going to get worse when the UK shuts down 3G networks. A lot of smart meters will stop communicating as they use 3G.
Wait till they find out what their hacked router has been used for for the last ten years
My meter was swapped on the database with the empty house opposite.
It took 4 months for British gas to get round to actually sending someone to physically check despite me sending photos.
This will be the biggest issue. Stuff goes wrong, but if it takes several hours on a phone and 4 months to resolve that is where the problems will lie.
While all cloud/computing/smart systems do make things easier, if they awry, they really shit the bed and cause severe chaos.
I sort of want one, just for the data (bit of a geek), but I only ever hear horror stories about them. Should I steer clear?
9% of smart meters don’t work properly/faulty.
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67591320](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67591320)
I’m 14 months into a complaint with Octopus, that I had to involve the Ombudsman over, for a faulty smart meter inaccurately reading gas use. Even when we had the mains supply turned off it would sporadically read use.
About 20 years back a device called a Wattson came out on a couple of tech sites. 2 years later most major energy firms had copied this idea and added in WiFi firmware for “cost management”. I still use my Wattson and refuse to let firms use their “unbiased” tech.
The problem with smart meters is the same problem with any technology driven process in the UK….not enough laws or controls in place.
I like my smart meter BUT the law should be changed so that if there is a problem..the DEFAULT is that the computer is WRONG & the customer is right with massive fines to the companies who fuck up. And not fines that they can just pop in as a business expense.
So if a customer complains the smart meter is faulty it is up you the company to prove that it isn’t & if it is compensation is paid in multiples of the actual cost to the customer.
There’s too much of this “new tech will makes things cheaper better faster ” in this country when all it does is end up with us spending days on hold to understaffed call centres, soon to be days arguing with chat bots. What we see of companies refusing to accept that they’ve made a mistake and problems go on for years to fix & when they finally DO fix them you get “here’s £50 credit for the year of your life we wasted “
Rather bother once a month and send a reading than deal with this sheit
I had loads of problems getting my gas smart meter installed and now I’m sure it’s not charging the fixed fee
Meter readings being automatically transmitted rather than relying on manual readings is BRILLIANT for customers. Multiple estimate readings cause havoc with budgeting especially with the recent tries. However, what is really not quite right is the patchwork quilt of systems behind that needed to get you a bill. The MIL had a smart meter installed and she is with the original supplier for this area. She received a bill which was massive because the final meter reading of the old meter (taken manually as it was removed) was logged in the system with the decimal point in the wrong place and it reported 10x power used. Somewhere, a data entry person had to type that in or the engineer got it wrong. With the articles issue, the distance of the meter had nothing to do with it, a typo will have lead to her getting registered to the wrong meter.
My issue with the energy companies is that they can charge me for what I’ve used down to the last half an hour with the smart meters. So why do I have to build up a credit with them?
At least it was working of a sort. Got family who are still waiting 8 months later for their electric and gas provider to fix their smart meter.
It probably wasn’t the device. It was probably that her account on the suppliers central system (CRM) had inaccurate information and linked the account to the wrong meter. The same issue could have happened before smart meters.
My provider was constantly sending me emails and texts to upgrade my meter, so I called them to make it clear that I did not want a smart meter and to stop bugging me about it.
CS person said “I can take you off the list, but I have to put a reason for not wanting to upgrade.”
Me: “My daily work involves IOT devices.”
CS: “Understood, you’re off the list, have a good day.”
Ours barely works, constantly loses connection and Eon. Tell us they have to come out and fit a new one. Apparently they work on wireless data, which is great, when you don’t live in the middle of butt f no where
Well, unlike my situation where I moved in to a property, and wasn’t able to access the meter until 2 months after I moved in (it’s a locked room within the apartment block)
Submitted the reading and was billed for over 100m3 of water.
Took a reading the next month and I’d used 3m3
Contacted support and they were adamant that the smart meter sent a reading automatically.
Now I’m sitting here with a Thames water guy who is here to replace it because suddenly they’ve found that the smart meter is actually broken and isn’t sending them readings.
Anyone that has used software, or indeed been involved with software development and support knows that more than 99% of it is based on hope rather than engineering. Its all teetering unstable bits on top of teetering unstable bits. Its amazing any of it works.
On that basis wouldn’t it be neat if the people who sell it had to take some responsibility for its performance?
Maybe it’s a good thing ours won’t work with our consumer unit and we have to do monthly meter readings.
Seems most companies are inept and trying to explain is impossible.