prpr
Well-Known Member
Agreed. The man who looked at mine very obviously lied to me when he said they can start to mis-read when they're that old (it was from 1987), as I'd already done the research last year.
Smart meters, less smart companies
- Thread starter Ex Libris
- Start date
antipodean
Active Member
I have had Ovo chasing me claiming that my lecky meter is out of calibration for about 3 years now. I just keep ignoring the letters they send every quarter.
Are you sure?
'My energy company told me that my meter is unsafe and I need a smart meter' - Which?
Which? helps you to understand why your supplier keeps telling you to get a smart meter
Gas and electricity meter certification expiry dates?
Octopus Energy have contacted me wanting to fit smart meters.
forums.moneysavingexpert.com
EEPhil
Number 28
According to British Gas
www.britishgas.co.uk
Meter replacement
When your gas or electricity meter reaches its best before date we are required to replace your meter.
everthewatcher
Forum Supporter
They don't have a certification period as such - it's up to the suppliers to decide that a meter may need replacing. This can be down to any reason but if they find a particular model of meter proving to be unreliable they're expected to replace them all.
FWIW Octopus in all their emails have used the singular 'meter' and never 'meters'.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
My aunt had to have a smart electricty meter installed when she last changed tarif. She lives in a block of 45 retirement apartments and all the eletricity meters (there is no gas in the place by design so no-one leaves the gas hob on and blows the place up) are in one meter room on the ground floor that is built into the hillside. The room is entirely underground and lined completely with 6 inch thick concrete walls, ceiling and floor. I refer to it as the nuclear bunker but the door would let it down for that purpose. Unsurprisingly there is zero mobile signal in there and none of the smart meters in there work. They keep sending people to try to fix the smart meter for my aunt, I've been there a couple of times when they came and tried to explain the problem and suggest a relay or a micro basestation or something, but all they ever do is say their job card tells them to swap the smart meter so that's what they're going to do. All totally pointless.
everthewatcher
Forum Supporter
It might be interesting here (GU4 7ES).
The 4G signal so weak indoors that the mobile data dongle Vodafone sent me after they ceased my FTTP in error wouldn't connect reliably even in the loft. Then the meters are in the garage with a workbench below so to protect the electricity meter and main fuse I've put a cabinet around them with a bit of steel sheet on the door for use as a magnet board.
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TimK2015
Forum Supporter
Anyone know how smart water meters work? Yorkshire Water changed mine from an ordinary meter about a year ago. On their website I can see my daily usage and some days are estimates as they didn't get data for that day. Is there some form of battery that gets charged somehow?
prpr
Well-Known Member
Presumably via the HAN to your so-called $mart electricity meter, in the same way as a gas meter does.
EEPhil
Number 28
I don't know, but my gas smart meter is battery powered and I was told (and forgot) how long the charge was expected to last. Then "they" will magically be notified and will come and replace the battery or, more likely, the meter.
prpr
Well-Known Member
I believe it's accepted as being 10-15 years. We shall see.
The latter I believe. I think the battery is permanently installed. More unnecessary technological churn, which we, of course, end up paying for one way or another.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
My understanding is the smart water meter network is totally independent.
EEPhil
Number 28
I don't feel like crawling in the cupboard to look at the gas meter to check. I think I looked after it was installed and possibly obtained a manual - but my filing system is cr@p. I'm reasonably sure the battery is replaceable - but they won't do it. They'd rather replace the meter using the excuse of recertification.
everthewatcher
Forum Supporter
The one here under Thames Water has an internal battery and is read by either a hand-held reader or kit in a van that drives past.
[Edit] It's in a pit in the footpath that's for most of the year usually has water covering the meter so which would be a challenge for a smart meter RF-wise.
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No.
It's a separate system entirely... and probably differs with supplier company.
Arqiva are heavily into this (after all broadcast TV/Radio transmission is coming to an end of life). https://www.arqiva.com/utilities/water-metering
Here's my supplier's info page
Upgraded water meters | Anglian Water Services
Through new technology water meters can now monitor household usage, hour by hour.
www.anglianwater.co.uk
Installing meters in our region | Help | Thames Water
Learn more about what getting a smart water meter fitted at your property means for you and your water bill, and how they help us find and fix leaks.
I'd not class the remote-reading by drive meters as truly "smart" (they just make meter reading faster / easier). Smart allows the customer to access regular (hourly?) data as well.
Our meter is also under (rain)water too a lot of the time. At least the cover is recycled rubberised plastic.
everthewatcher
Forum Supporter
Ta for the Thames Water link - I'm in one of their smart meter roll-out areas (Guildford).
TimK2015
Forum Supporter
I don't have a smart electricity or gas meter so it must be an independent system.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
That wouldn't necessarily matter if some of your neighbours have smart meters. Your gas meter can talk to your neighbours' electricity meters. And when 2G is switched off and all the modems in electricity meters stop working, you only need some of them upgraded to 4G and the remaining electricity meters can report through the upgraded ones. In the North (a line across the country roughly at the Humber) it's a totally different system using a low frequency radio network, nothing to do with mobile networks. I don't know which scheme my parents and aunt are on.
But this is irrelevant because when the smart electricity and gas combined system was designed, they didn't provide anything in the system for more meters. This to me shows total stupidity on the part of the designers, it's obvious you should provide a slot for water meters and then I would have added a 4th slot for unforeseen meters. Oil heating tank level perhaps?
As the Thames site FAQ says:
Our smart meters transmit data in two stages. First the meter communicates with the nearby signal booster every hour. The signal booster is a small box close to the meter which has to be within 2 metres of it to be able to send us your readings. This then transmits the readings every 6 hours to the masts receiving the readings (so we only send information in batches rather than constantly transmitting information).
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Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
Cambridge Water want to change my meter because they say it is unreadable. It's in a box in the neighbour's drive, and I checked and it is easily readable. This is just dials to read by eyeball or a camera. They want to book an appointment with me to fit a new one. It's in the drive, they can just turn up and do it. Also if it needs a relay box within 2m they're out of luck, it's about 4m to the nearest house and that isn't my house so good luck with that.
On the 20 year old estate estate that I live on, there are water meters of the type you describe in the access road and they were used initially to supply readings. Subsequently Severn Trent installed a device called an EverBlu Cyble that attaches to the water meter under the sink just before the stopcock. This can provide a meter reader with readings by attaching a device to a special socket that was installed on the outside wall. However I think it is now capable of transmitting the readings directly to the supplier but I don't know the exact method used.
Because we have two water meters there was an interesting discussion when a water leak occurred in the pipework between the two meters. Initially Severn Trent didn't want to tell me where the leak was but i managed to persuade them to tell me the exact location which turned out to be on manifold that also supplies the neighbours.I then argued that I was only responsible for the pipework after the manifold and It was their responsibility which they eventually accepted.