Not So Smart Meters!!

At the end of last year, I was offered and accepted an appointment to fit smart meters for my gas and electricity. When the fitter arrived he said that the switch would take around 2 hours but after 2 hours+ he said that he had had to put the old gas meter back on again and that he would have to get in touch with the Tech guys. He refitted the old meter and left.
The following day I got an email from the company apologising for the situation and asking me to phone the which I did. Spoke to a manager who explained that the gas meter which is located outside, was probably beyond the 3-4 metre range the Smart meters function at. I accepted that and the guy went on to say that he would send me some sort of display unit which would allow me to keep track on my electricity usage. The unit “should arrive in about 3 weeks” he said. That was almost 5 months ago and despite various ‘chats’ online and calls, I still don’t have the unit.
Nor do I have any sort of instruction leaflet on the actual electricity smart meter itself so when a guy called last night to ask me to read the meters, the old gas one was a piece of cake to read but we hadn’t a clue as to how to read the electric one. The reader, who stayed outside, was of little help and said that most people he called on hadn’t a clue how to take readings from Smart meters. The fitter had advised me that there was no need for electricity readings because they were transferred automatically. I really am a bit lost with all this and would like to know what others would advise about this situation.

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Either the sim is not able to contact the mobile network, or no sim has been fitted - at a guess. Your supplier maybe assumed because you had a smart meter fitted, that it was working and successfully reporting back to the server.

I'm surprised a meter reader didn't know how to read your smart meter, after all it is all they do all day long. I would suggest you post the manufacturers name on the meter - someone is bound to know how to access the reading. My meters just require me to press 9, for a Kw reading, but they can provide lots of other data. The reading flashes up for a few seconds, so I have to be quick, because it cycles on to other readings.

Harry Bloomfield said:

Your supplier maybe assumed because you had a smart meter fitted, that it was working and successfully reporting back to the server.

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Thanks for your reply but sorry but I haven’t made myself clear. My smart meter was arranged and fitted by my supplier(EDF).

Harry Bloomfield said:

I'm surprised a meter reader didn't know how to read your smart meter, after all it is all they do all day long. I would suggest you post the manufacturers name

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The meter reader wouldn’t come in because of the Covid situation.
Do you know if there is a 3-4 metre limit from the CU to a gas box outside for a smart metre to work properly?

There is a distance limit yes, as the gas meter doesn't have a permanent electricity supply so only talks locally to the electricity meter at short range and much lower power, and the electricity meter can then send on the readings for both. This range limit has also caused my gas meter to not reliably send in readings.

Early riser said:

Do you know if there is a 3-4 metre limit from the CU to a gas box outside for a smart metre to work properly?

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The limit would be from the electricity meter (not the CU) to the gas meter, and it wouldn't be a hard number but would depend on the radio propagation conditions between the two meters.

The issue is that long range communications is far more power hungry than short range communication. For an electricty meter that is a non-issue, the power needed for smart meter comms is still bugger all in electricty distribution terms, but for a gas meter power is a big problem.

The result is that gas smart meters don't "phone home" directly, they use short range low power radio to talk to the electricity meter which then sends both the gas and electricity readings out to the smart metering infrastructure.

Early riser said:

The meter reader wouldn’t come in because of the Covid situation.
Do you know if there is a 3-4 metre limit from the CU to a gas box outside for a smart metre to work properly?

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I would guess that would be a try it and see if they communicate situation - depends on distance, walls separating them and their composition.

Early riser said:

a 3-4 metre limit

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It's far more than that - my gas meter is in an outside cabinet, the electricity meter inside, with about 10m distance and several walls between them. Both smart ones and no problems with communications.

At my old place, they refused to fit a smart gas meter as it was on the other side of the house to the electric one. Maybe 7-8m direct line, but diagonally thru the building, past 3-4 solid walls...

Didnt even try, just said it was too far and only fitted the electric one.

Not sure why you were having trouble reading it, mine was pretty streightforwards.

Mine was fitted 18 months ago and neither has worked since been fitted, both going to be replaced this week, hope the power or gas doesn't go faulty with the time this has taken to be fixed.