New smart meter……huge shock.

Well good luck next winter then! I guess you need to contact them as it's obviously a fault.

Our Smartmeter installation was a disaster. It uninstalled our central heating (In January!). We ended up after three different installation engineers with EDF removing it and reinstating our old meter plus giving us £80 for the upset.
Good luck!

What a shock! I had a letter from my new supplier yesterday urging me to have a smart meter fitted, but I can't decide whether to or not. It seems to me to be a help to know what we are using, but I've read of so many problems like those above that it is off-putting.
I will be interested to read what others on here think.

We finally got our own electrician in. He said that the Electricians posting forums were full of the problems with Smart Meter installations.
It never occurred to me that there'd be forums for Electricians but why not, we Grans have one!

I had a letter as well….i don’t think I’ll bother to have a Smart Meter. If the only advantage is knowing how much you’re using, I know that anyway because I read the meters regularly…

£64689.0 in one night??? ? Clearly an error but nevertheless upsetting and now needs resolving. I've heard of so many problems with smart meters and have resolved to avoid having one installed for as long as possible.

If you already being careful in your power usage what good is a smart meter to you? I’ve no intention of having one ever also if you change suppliers they often aren’t compatible with another company.

Yes, I tend to agree, Crazy. I read my own meters too, so do we really need a smart meter, especially as there seem to be so many problems with them?
So I will ignore this letter I think.

We’ve had one for a couple of years, the actual display is switched off in a cupboard. The biggest benefit is not having to manually read the meters every month and email them in. I manage the dual fuel account online so can see any huge disparities.

Having a smart meter fitted was a condition of the fixed rate tariff I signed up for at the start of the fuel price rises. At first I kept looking at it, but now I ignore it, although no doubt I'll keep checking once the heating is on.

Another reason not to have one.

Jaxjacky

We’ve had one for a couple of years, the actual display is switched off in a cupboard. The biggest benefit is not having to manually read the meters every month and email them in. I manage the dual fuel account online so can see any huge disparities.

This is why I had one installed, Jaxjacky, and I have no regrets. Both my meters are in awkward places so I’m spared that chore and I’ve insisted on my direct debit being for the exact amount each month, rather than what the company chooses to collect to allow for higher winter usage.

We can’t get any reliable signals here. Mobiles from all providers are unreliable, aerials never worked, broadband drops out. You get the picture?
Our energy provider insisted a meter would work….hours of wasted time - it wouldn’t work.
They still send emails & texts re installing one! Just messaged again to tell them to stop.
They don’t “save” energy, they are often unreliable and saving a 2 second meter reading each month is not even worth the mention.
Inexplicably. Suppliers were set government targets for installations…that’s all they care about.

We don't have one. Mr Dog is against them for engineering-related reasons I can't now remember, but is adamant that they don't benefit the customer and will put meter readers out of work.

I am happy not to have one for the meter readers alone. I don't know how many there are left, but I think ours is read annually, and if we all go to smart meters they would be out of a job.

Sago

We reluctantly had a smart meter fitted yesterday, I was curious to know what had been used overnight so clicked on this morning to see we had spent, it was £3.59 on electricity and £64689.0 on gas, this is somewhat a shock as we haven’t been aware of using any gas since the meter was fitted!

Assuming it is accessible, the first thing I would do if I were you is to read your actual smart meter. My bet is on that being correct, and that it is just the display you are using that is not working properly for some reason.

That would very my starting point.

We’re going to resist having one fitted as long as we can, we’re pestered often by our supplier.
Can’t remember last time we actually saw a meter reader? I assume it’s because I sometimes submit my meter readings by photo on the app??

Because I cannot read the outside meters because of my sight problems I had a smart meter installed before Covid. It is great. I get accurate readings each month.

tanith the first generation of smart meters were not compatible if one changed companies but the present generation are fine.

Our meters are still checked annually, despite us having a smart meter. I’m certain of this as my electricity DD notification was huge last month so I queried it and was told when I rang that the meter reader had misread it! ? Phew!

I think ours is estimated for three quarters and read on the fourth. Mr Dog reads it and checks against the bill to avoid a discrepancy like yours, Ashcombe.

It's good to know that meter readers will still exist though (even if they can't all read the meter accurately )

That’s interesting Sago I recently had a bill for £6000 for gas from EON next although I ve paid by DD every month When I challenged this it was put down to £600 now I m challenging that as apart from half an hour cooking lunch time ( normally some kind of stir fry for one ) and a ten minute shower each day I have nothing else uses it

I have avoided having a Smart Meter.

I have been sending in monthly readings by email.

Nobody has been to read the meter since some time before the pandemic started.

Thus far they have always accepted my reading, which is, in fact, always an honest reading.

I won't get a smart meter fitted in our residential property but I did have one fitted in one of our rental properties. This is the only one I have had problems with. It won't read the gas because the meters are too far apart and when I change tariffs to benefit the tenants, it takes months for things to work again. This causes great problems as I have to split the bill for the tenants to pay us back so last year, we were very out of pocket. By the time we realised, I didn't have the heart to claim back the difference because fuel prices had skyrocketed!

I got a stupidly large bill once.

An economy 7 meter has three readings,

Total Units. five digits,
Day Units, five digits,
Night Units, five digits

So if it goes over 99999 for any the next unit is 00000

Access by pushing a button to move through.

Otherwise the display shows the current one.

So I do meter reading without touching the button by reading Night reading just before changeover time and day reading just after changeover time.

However, a meter reader needs to press the buttons,

So three mistakes are common.

Record the Day and Night readings the wrong way round.

Use the Total reading instead of one or other of the Day reading or Night reading.

Both of the above.

I don’t have a smart meter either stardreamer I send in my monthly readings and have even sent photos when they queried my reading
I asked for a smart meter some months back (as my eyes are poor) but the attempt of putting it in was aborted as their own service went down I got £30 back for my trouble and
they ve never suggested I have one since
So I still don’t know where my £6000 or even £600 bill comes from ???