Smart meter with gravity fed system

[Longshanks]

Hi

My mother-in-law wants a smart meter fitted. (Husband died recently and living on her own etc)

She still has the old, gravity fed, system. Would that be compatible with the new meter?

Thanks

 

[Murdochcat]

I do not understand the question

 

[DP]

What makes you think not?
A meter just records the units used
BUT I will not be getting a smart meter because when there is an issue, one needs plenty of time and patience to get the matter resolved like when the battery dies and no gas to appliances. Gas Transporter will not deal with it. Your service provider may not always be easy to reach

I could be wrong. Going by issues I am familiar with and aware of some folk had.

 

[Longshanks]

I do not understand the question

Would the supplier insist on combi boiler fitted before smart meter installation.

Message ends.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

She still has the old, gravity fed, system. Would that be compatible with the new meter?

A gravity system, has absolutely no relevance to Smart meters, or their operation. Point is, Smart meters open the door to numerous special tariffs, not open with a dumb meter..

Transporter will not deal with it. Your service provider may not always be easy to reach

I was a very early adopter, I have had zero similar issues. I can be in touch with my energy provider within an hour, if I should need to. Even better, my energy supplier can be advised immediately my supply is lost, by the Smart meter.

 

[Murdochcat]

Would the supplier insist on combi boiler fitted before smart meter installation.

Message ends.

What’s the boiler type got to do with a smart meter ?

 

[Longshanks]

What’s the boiler type got to do with a smart meter ?

No idea. Twas why I posed the question.

 

[helplessowner]

Would the supplier insist on combi boiler fitted before smart meter installation.

No.
The smart meter replaces the current meter, type of boiler is immaterial.

 

[Madrab]

She still has the old, gravity fed, system. Would that be compatible with the new meter?

Yes - smart meters, like normal dub ones only record the amount of gas the property uses be that a boiler/fire/ cooker. It doesn't care what kind they are.

Do note though, smart meters aren't all they are cracked up to be, according to reports there are currently ~4 million new series 2 (SMET2) types that don't work properly or at all.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Not working at all sounds like "free gas" to me. That's a wager I would take!

 

[Madrab]

Not working at all sounds like "free gas" to me. That's a wager I would take!

Apologies, I should maybe have clarified, not working as in - not as a smart meters or actually giving incorrect and in some cases higher readings, ergo inflated bills.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Why is a smart meter more likely to systematically over-count volume used than a non-smart one?
What makes it smart is, it being connected to a modem, rather than the actual mechanism used to count the volume, right?

 

[Mottie]

Do note though, smart meters aren't all they are cracked up to be, according to reports there are currently ~4 million new series 2 (SMET2) types that don't work properly or at all.

I recently had one replaced due to age at my workshop. It was a Pre-pay one that a previous tenant had fitted. It was showing around £40 credit when the screen went blank. When they fitted a new one, the engineer read the old one with a laptop to credit it on to the new one and it had over £200 more on it than what was showing. I didn’t complain- still got around £100 left on it as I rarely use it these days.

 

[Madrab]

What makes it smart is, it being connected to a modem, rather than the actual mechanism used to count the volume, right?

Fundamentally yes though wish it was as simple as that. It uses those electronics to store and send those readings every 30mins and also manage its comms etc ... that has found to sometimes be inconsistent, incorrectly logged, information is corrupted, network issues (HAN failures) etc, due to environmental issues to name one highly unpredictable reason. Not to mention the multitude of hardware problems and failures with the new units from multiple manufacturers with no apparent standard approach.

As it's supposedly smart there is no interaction with the customer, so it misses the no checks and balances, until someone notices it and the customer is overcharged. Then it can be seriously difficult to get it all corrected.

Don't get me wrong, there are a large number of smart meters that work fine and customers are more than happy with them but as far as I'm concerned, as a gas engineer, if I was supplied and installed hardware that had a 30% failure rate, I'd stop using it till it was sorted out. That just far to high to be acceptable.

 

[helplessowner]

A "smart" gas meter can't be fitted sithout a smart electric meter, as the gas meter sends readings via the electric one.
As far as I can see, the thing that is most reported as having stopped working is the in-room display rather than the meter itself.
As the in-room display is the bit that supposedly encourages you to change your habits in order to save energy, seems a bit pointless.
I keep getting asked by my supplier to have smert meters installed, but I can't see any particular benefit (I'd still want to read the meters myself each month) so see no reason to have the aggravation of switching.
When the installers ask why I don't want one, I tell them the initial TV adverts which more or less said "get a smart meter and you will save money" annoyed me so much that I no longer believe anything they tell me.
Bit worrying when the smart meter installer agrees with that comment.....