Smart meters, less smart companies

EEPhil said:
Edit: It is not a pressurised system.
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Then the main stop cock would not have helped for some time, the entire hot water header tank in the loft would have to drain down through the hot cylinder before the leak stopped. What would have helped is the airing cupboard usually has a valve to stop the header tank supplying the hot cylinder. And you really ought to get your stop cock fixed. Or at least find where the one in the road is for your house, though that may also have seized.
 
EEPhil said:
It is not a pressurised system.
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Are you sure? I presume you have a combi boiler, hence the gas usage on-demand, so the water is at mains cold-water pressure, as opposed to the lower pressure you would get with a header tank system.
 
prpr said:
Are you sure? I presume you have a combi boiler, hence the gas usage on-demand, so the water is at mains cold-water pressure, as opposed to the lower pressure you would get with a header tank system.
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It could have used gas once the hot cylinder temperature dropped and needed to be brought back up to temperature. But that would have required the hot water to be timed to be on in the afternoon, which is often not the case with a hot cylinder since there is an assumption it will last until early evening.
 
prpr said:
Are you sure? I presume you have a combi boiler, hence the gas usage on-demand, so the water is at mains cold-water pressure, as opposed to the lower pressure you would get with a header tank system
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Now that you mention it, I'm not so sure.
Owen Smith said:
It could have used gas once the hot cylinder temperature dropped and needed to be brought back up to temperature. But that would have required the hot water to be timed to be on in the afternoon, which is often not the case with a hot cylinder since there is an assumption it will last until early evening.
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No cylinder here. Much preferred a cylinder and insisted on one at my old house.
 
National Grid said:
We became aware of the power cut at 5:36pm Sat 12 Sep 26 which
impacted 30 properties in your area. We successfully restored power to
everyone by 2:11am this morning. [Sunday 13th]
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Great, guess that's messed up the smart meter. It doesn't appear to be sending the half-hourly data. Oddly enough data has been sent (after the event) for the usage during the power cut. Latest data available 1am (GMT) on Sunday, then - nothing. I can see some fun coming when, if it doesn't recover by the proper meter reading dates (25th/28th), I have to complain to Gritish Bass that the meter's stopped working.
 
EEPhil said:
Great, guess that's messed up the smart meter. It doesn't appear to be sending the half-hourly data. Oddly enough data has been sent (after the event) for the usage during the power cut. Latest data available 1am (GMT) on Sunday, then - nothing. I can see some fun coming when, if it doesn't recover by the proper meter reading dates (25th/28th), I have to complain to Gritish Bass that the meter's stopped working.
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Well, I guess if the meter has stopped working you pay nothing ... :rolleyes:
 
antipodean said:
Well, I guess if the meter has stopped working you pay nothing ... :rolleyes:
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Either they'll estimate the bill or ask me to read it. (I'm likely to be pro-active and read it anyway- just in case). The meters are still showing the values - it just looks as though the values are not being uploaded. Oddly, I've got an electricity "export" reading of 0.3kWh although I have no form of generation connected to the system.
 
EEPhil said:
It doesn't appear to be sending the half-hourly data.
Click to expand...
Looks as though it might be working, but is very sluggish in uploading the data.
Of course I'll still need to read the meters. 1st October VAT on electricity goes to 0%, and 14th Oct my fixed tariff changes. The smart meter is that dumb that it doesn't (well, not so far) do proper readings on tariff change days. Crawling about on the floor into a cupboard to read the gas meter is not my idea of fun!
 
EEPhil said:
Looks as though it might be working, but is very sluggish in uploading the data.
Of course I'll still need to read the meters. 1st October VAT on electricity goes to 0%, and 14th Oct my fixed tariff changes. The smart meter is that dumb that it doesn't (well, not so far) do proper readings on tariff change days. Crawling about on the floor into a cupboard to read the gas meter is not my idea of fun!
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That is a very unlucky time for your fix to end, did you see the doom and gloom Martin Lewis was saying last night on ITV3? jump in October with an almost 25% jump again in January. You can expect no fixed deals now that are lower than the present cap.

Edit. After reading " tariff update days" in Rodders53's post I am now thinking your deal might not be ending. What are "fixed tariff changes" ? I assumed fixed tariff meant a consistent price for the length of the contract without any variation except maybe for usage at the time of day.
 
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EEPhil said:
Looks as though it might be working, but is very sluggish in uploading the data.
Of course I'll still need to read the meters. 1st October VAT on electricity goes to 0%, and 14th Oct my fixed tariff changes. The smart meter is that dumb that it doesn't (well, not so far) do proper readings on tariff change days. Crawling about on the floor into a cupboard to read the gas meter is not my idea of fun!
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Nah, it'll do the readings fine.
And store them.
Sending the Gas to Electric Comms Hub may be dicey and ditto both Gas & Electric from Comms to DCC and then DCC to Supplier for the final billings...

But it should all get there in the end (barring a Gas meter battery dying completely).

Not bothered looking at my (electric only) meter for ages. Octopus apply the reads from midnight on tariff update days perfectly well; and are due to swap my comms hub for a 4G one any time now.

On a different smart meter note: Anglian swapped our water meter head in the service strip outside on Monday for a smart one that will (when enabled/connected) provide hourly readings. That'll save me kneeling on the ground and baling out the rainwater to try to see the digits. I'll miss the annual meter reader, though.
 
Rodders53 said:
On a different smart meter note: Anglian swapped our water meter head in the service strip outside on Monday for a smart one that will (when enabled/connected) provide hourly readings. That'll save me kneeling on the ground and baling out the rainwater to try to see the digits. I'll miss the annual meter reader, though.
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But if the new smart water meter is underwater like the old one the RF connection is unlikely to work.
 
trog said:
That is a very unlucky time for your fix to end, did you see the doom and gloom Martin Lewis was saying last night on ITV3? jump in October with an almost 25% jump again in January. You can expect no fixed deals now that are lower than the present cap.
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No, missed it on ITV1. Also missed him supposedly on GMB today.
Did an approximate calculation based on projected rise/fall in price cap over next year and, although the fix offered by British Gas looks ropey compared to the current variable rate, factoring in the ups and downs of the VR (which BG don't do), it looks like a 23 month fix (with the free option to switch to another BG fix if lower later) is the best I can do. Might qualify for the winter fuel allowance this year as well. Will still probably cost me more this year compared to last year unless the government finds more loose change down the back of the sofa!
 
EEPhil said:
No, missed it on ITV1. Also missed him supposedly on GMB today.
Did an approximate calculation based on projected rise/fall in price cap over next year and, although the fix offered by British Gas looks ropey compared to the current variable rate, factoring in the ups and downs of the VR (which BG don't do), it looks like a 23 month fix (with the free option to switch to another BG fix if lower later) is the best I can do. Might qualify for the winter fuel allowance this year as well. Will still probably cost me more this year compared to last year unless the government finds more loose change down the back of the sofa!
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So my first assumption was correct and your deal is ending. In my last 2 deals I have gone for 2 years over 1 year fixes and although slightly more expensive rates they have both worked out far cheaper. I still have a year left on my Outfox Energy 2 year fix and hopefully Trump and Putin will have taken a bullet to the head before then and the world can return to normality.
 
Cambridge Water haven't read my water meter the last two bills. I wrote the last one off as a mistake. This time I contacted them to ask why and it has been marked as faulty because it is unreadable and has gone onto the list to be replaced. I asked how long the list was and they wouldn't say but admitted the backlog is lengthy, I suspect measured in multiple years. Mine has been on the list 6 months and is still nowhere near the top for example.

So I went out to the box in the drive that the meter is in and found it is only unreadable because the display is covered in limescale. There has always been a very slow leak on it (on the supply side fortunately for me) since it was fitted in the late 1980s so limescale builds up. I cleaned the limescale off the display and now it is perfectly readable and appears to be working fine, the reading has gone up since last time it was read but is 10 cubic metres less than the estimate which is about £45 back on my account. I took a photo and Cambridge Water have accepted that as a reading and corrected my bill. I'm now waiting for an answer if my meter has been taken off the list as being faulty and whether they will read it in 6 months.

I have to say so far I've been impressed by their customer service. This is all from the web contact form initially that turned into email for all the subsequent exchanges.
 
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