My son has a smart meter, the display does not work, it's blank. He has asked for it to be changed but the suppliers refuse saying that it still works. Last moth his electricity bill was twice the normal, suggesting that something is amiss, but their is no way of checking the transmitted data against reality. Can the supplier be forced to change the meter as this one is clearly faulty as the display does not display. The display not working may be a symptom of deeper PSU issues within the meter. TA!
Has he pressed the button to wake it up? https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/c...s the button on the,number from left to right
@Bob Rathbone - might be worth registering with Loop meantime: https://loop.homes/in-home-display/ well worth doing anyway tbh. Can also download all historic data to analyse yourself if you feel that way inclined.
Get him to demand that they fit a non smart meter. Tell them that he will get his own meter fitted, which you can do.
Brilliant idea - do more work to get rid of all the information the smart meter provides via freely available 3rd party apps as linked to above. Well done.
Of course it is a good idea to get rid of smart meters. I have no need for any apps tracking my usage etc. It is very easy to just read my meter and know how much I am using, if I can be bothered.
But that is not the ask here @arrow - @Bob Rathbone stated, “Last moth his electricity bill was twice the normal, suggesting that something is amiss” and the smart meter will show half hourly consumption providing exactly the data required to start troubleshooting.
We all know something is amiss. The thing that is amiss is a faulty smart meter, if he did not have one he would not have had the problem in the first place.
Interesting thread, what I am not sure about is how the supplier can read it but the user can't? I would have thought the user could also log in to some display site and read the power being used, I can do that even without a smart meter. it shows usage, also other pages so one has a reasonable idea what one is using. I will admit it needs one to also read displays elsewhere, the iboost does not link to PC I need to read on the unit. Be it a plug in meter or a overall display today we have a good idea that things are using. My tumble drier for example shows a graph on the plug in meter. Other than main isolator off, I have never seen zero usage, be it items on stand-by or fridge, freezer etc, there is all ways some power being used. But what is the point in a meter you can't read? I can see the argument you can read it with your phone so you will be on a waiting list as non urgent, but if you can't read it then it needs to come out.
It sounds like the LCD display is broken @MGW, but far more useful information is available via Loop anyway.
Strange, I can't read mine on my phone either. Oh, of course, I don't have smart meters (and no intention of getting them!)
Octopus have a good, simple advice page about such problems with the 'smartmeter' display and as others here have said you should still be able to track your real time use via your suppliers web site. In fact Octopus actually say that the user interface is not actually necessary. https://octopus.energy/ihd-smart--meter-display-screen-help/ I find that interesting the use of a Trojan horse meter.......oops, sorry: 'smartmeter' is being sold to the gullible as an "easy way to track your electricity use and save money". If you have to go online or use an app because the display is broken it actually makes it more trouble than checking a good old fashioned dumb meter which, in my case, I can do literally in seconds. What isn't good about the Octopus web site is that, as with so many web sites, when there is what might be a serious consumer/user problem the advice dries up. As in this case, where a meter might be faulty, the links about what to do in such circumstances ends in an all too familiar information cul-de-sac. Such faults just don't happen so why accommodate them with an expensive to run helpline or online 'agents'? To deal with such problems you are forced to try to contact them by 'phone. The fun of that just never starts. Before doing that I would suggest the OP's son checks the tariff he is on and that he has not been put on the weaselly named 'standard rate' after the previous tariff expired. That can cause a big jump in costs. Also get proof of the energy use spiking, particularly if it was obviously out of normal range for the period concerned. It would give him the leverage needed to get an expert in to check the meter.
I have just had to walk down the steps into my flat yet again to read the meter, I did the normal thing, went down turned on whatsapp, and took photo to be sent to wife, but it said and I did see rEd when I realised I had to go back down. It seems I now have two meters the second one is for export, I can see the point of having it all in one meter, but they do need to work. The on line version is not really good enough.
On the contrary, there is far more data available online (ie all of it). There is literally zero reason to manually inspect a functioning smart meter.
Thank you all for your replies, my concern was that either the wrong bill had been sent or the smart meter was transmitting incorrect information, this would also be shown on any app relying on that data.
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