Annoyance one, was that I would have been fined £30 if I had not been in when the installer arrived (24 hours notice is required to cancel, so you get fined, for example, if you have to rush out for a family emergency, even if you try to tell them).
I turned down the same installation offer a year or so before because of this potential fine.
Immediately after the installer finished (a pleasant person who did a neat job, except**), he said: ‘you will have to keep reading your meters for a while’, or similar words.
As the gas meter had not logged onto the electricity meter at that time (which it did within a day), I thought that was what he meant.
But no:
Months later I am still getting ‘please read your meter’ requests from the company, and I finally got around to contacting* my gas and electricity supplier.
And indeed, said the supplier representative, my gas meter (and maybe the electricity meter?) is still not being read remotely by my supplier.
They continued: that this is a common problem, and that they would log a fault.
So:
The installer knew (and therefore the company knew) even before the installation in my dwelling that there was a system problem that was likely to affect my installation – and nobody warned me in advance.
Following the installation, my electricity supplier knew I had smart meters, and knew they could not read the gas meter, and did nothing whatever – only ‘logging a fault’ after I phoned them.
I have heard nothing since I phoned.
My conclusion is:
The gas and electricity supply has ticked the box next to its government requirement to install smart meters,
and does not give a hoot if they work or not.
Ugh
FYI, here are a couple of promises from my supplier’s website:
No more regular meter readings: Your meter tells us exactly how much energy you’re using and sends us your readings automatically. That means there’s less need for you to submit meter readings, and you’ll get fewer visits from our meter readers.
Accurate statements: We’ll know how much energy you’re using, so there’ll be no need for any more estimated bills, meaning you’ll only have to pay for the energy you use.
BTW, Before allowing the installation, I did at least ask if it was SMETS 2 to ensure it would remain ‘smart’ if I changed supplier, but somehow did not think to ask ‘will it communicate with my existing supplier’. I dread to think what else I should have asked….
*hard in itself as the formerly well-behaved and respected company now hides its phone numbers (and wants everything done though a phone app…. so you want to mine my phone data too? To maybe to sell it on?)
**A neat installation except for screwing an ugly new mounting board partially over two existing and now unused boards – why not take down the unused ones first?
