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Smart? Meters
Saturday, 4 November 2023 02:37 pmThe energy meters in our house were replaced with Smart Meters in January 2019.
That was the last month when SMET1 meters could be installed, so of course nPower installed SMET1 meters.
Bulb offered us a much better deal, with green electricity, than nPower, so of course we switched as soon as we moved to the house.
But SMET1 meters didn't support changing suppliers, so we lost the smart display that showed how much energy we are using and the meters couldn't phone our usage back to Bulb.
The pandemic stopped work on upgrading the SMET1 meters; though I can't see why as it is outside and supports remote software updates.
Then Bulb went bust and we had to wait until Octopus was allowed to take over.
In March we did get an update; the electricity side works and the smart display show current gas usage as well as electricity, but the gas usage doesn't appear on the Octopus website or our bill.
In June I sent them photos of the smart hub and the gas meter showing every serial number and device ID, in case there was something missing in the setup somewhere; they promised that the smart metering team would take a look and get back to me.
I've just chased them up, only to be told that there is an industry-wide problem and they hope to be able to roll out a fix "next year".
Once this is finally fixed there may be a new problem to worry about.
Smart meters use 2G or 2.5G phone technology to phone home (and vehicle airbags use 3G) which phone operators would like to shut down to reuse the radio airspace for 4G and 5G https://www.techradar.com/news/2g-may-not-be-switched-off-in-the-uk-for-another-decade - so smart meters will need to have their phones replaced.
I wonder how much cheaper this will all be than having someone come round to read the meter a couple of times a year ?
That was the last month when SMET1 meters could be installed, so of course nPower installed SMET1 meters.
Bulb offered us a much better deal, with green electricity, than nPower, so of course we switched as soon as we moved to the house.
But SMET1 meters didn't support changing suppliers, so we lost the smart display that showed how much energy we are using and the meters couldn't phone our usage back to Bulb.
The pandemic stopped work on upgrading the SMET1 meters; though I can't see why as it is outside and supports remote software updates.
Then Bulb went bust and we had to wait until Octopus was allowed to take over.
In March we did get an update; the electricity side works and the smart display show current gas usage as well as electricity, but the gas usage doesn't appear on the Octopus website or our bill.
In June I sent them photos of the smart hub and the gas meter showing every serial number and device ID, in case there was something missing in the setup somewhere; they promised that the smart metering team would take a look and get back to me.
I've just chased them up, only to be told that there is an industry-wide problem and they hope to be able to roll out a fix "next year".
Once this is finally fixed there may be a new problem to worry about.
Smart meters use 2G or 2.5G phone technology to phone home (and vehicle airbags use 3G) which phone operators would like to shut down to reuse the radio airspace for 4G and 5G https://www.techradar.com/news/2g-may-not-be-switched-off-in-the-uk-for-another-decade - so smart meters will need to have their phones replaced.
I wonder how much cheaper this will all be than having someone come round to read the meter a couple of times a year ?
