My Smartmeter

[#1]

My British Gas (BG) Smartmeter monitor has been very good over the last 3 years  and it polls every hour to give me some pretty good information, that I view on my tablet and on the monitor.

However, at midnight on the 31st July, the BG monitor  lost its connection, to the meters, so I did  re-boot and moved it nearer the  meters. No joy, so I emailed BG and was told to do what I had already done and to wait for re-connection.... have a guess how long?

Waiting for connection....

[#2]

My Smart Meter system lost contact with nPower last year for a couple of weeks.

It's been ok since.

[#3]

I find going online gives us a lot more data than our local hand-held device, but I guess it depends on the supplier.

[#4]

@Strat  Go to the top of the PN class  I attach the BG reply below...

Two weeks....maybe more

[#5]

I also have one with british gas also i noticed british gas are saying one of the reasons they now putting their leccy prices up soon is down to the role out of free smart meters lol......... so much for being free.

[#6]

14 Days! How many ISP could get away with that by saying to their customers to wait 2 weeks for your laptop to re-connect! Well we know the answer is none as it is simply unacceptable, so why should BG say that this should be an acceptable norm. I'd be on the phone if it were me, but thankfully I'll never have one of those devices installed through choice.

[#7]

Safe to say the majority of us here @St3 knew back then that they were not going to be free and that we would end up paying for them. Not everything is free as is sometimes bandied about. 

[#8]

Ours didn't work for the first 6 months never mind two weeks!

[#9]

Mine have been working fine..apart from those couple of weeks.

However it took nPower over a year before they started collecting data online and I had to continue sending readings in or the meter reader visited.

[#10]

As long as your gas & electric is still working, just leave it, if they've rolled out firmware OTA that's bricked them, the SIM card's crapped out in the meter or something else has happened along those lines, then they need to fix it themselves, you've done your duty in reporting the error, and it's up to them to sort it...

[#11]

Why do you think they have "Smart Meters?". Not for your benefit.

Firstly they don't have to have people come and check your meter, so I can spot a few redundancies there, it allows remote (I believe) shutting off the service, so no need to break into your property, and get a court warrant if you don't pay. You can't delibately overread your meter if you suspect the prices are about to increase (look at British Gas in the news).

At least you get a handy gizmo to tell you how much you're using and should help to save the planet. I wonder what it would come up with? Wash less, not use the heating when you're cold, eat takeaways every day instead of using your own food in your cooker? The list goes on 😄

[#12]

We had a meter reader here last week asking for a gas reading.... I said we have smart meters here, why would you need to take a reading? I didn't get a straight answer as normal! he just did one of those silly shoulder raised giggles and departed.

I see people saying they turn up to check on the product with various reasons quoted. theft and safety being the main topics.

What I can say is he was only intrested in looking at the gas meter even though we have the electric and gas with Ovo

[#13]

Not bashing anyone who uses one but my place of residence does not have one fitted and I do not want one. Telegraph has an article on 6 reasons to say no. 

The Government had originally said that every household would be set up with a smart meter by 2020 - and nearly seven million have been installed so far - but in June the Government subtly downgraded this requirement. Now every home will be "offered" a smart meter by 2020, with no obligation to take one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/six-reasons-say-no-smart-meter/

[#14]

@30FTTC06 are you on OVO with the smart app?

What is OVO  like... as I may switch at the end of my contract in October if BG can't do a good new rate.

[#15]

From today's FT concerning this week's British Gas report and accounts...

In a breakdown of its costs, British Gas said that while the cost of wholesale electricity has fallen by 21 per cent since 2014, the cost of “government mandates and policy” has risen by 104 per cent, and the cost of transmission, distribution and metering has risen by 10 per cent. 

The government policies include several subsidy schemes for renewable energy to help meet the UK’s carbon emissions reduction targets, and the installation of digital smart meters in homes.