General Chat

Well, an hour later - not only was my gas reading 240 uits over what it should have been, my electricity bill (they never sent me electricity bills) was 300 units over reality!
...and these readings were taken a month after their final bill.

I'm expecting a lovely 'wodge' to appear in my bank account within 2 weeks :-D :-D

Well, last week I received my final bill from British Gas - ultimately, owners of my 'smart' meter, and able to read my meter from afar.
They estimated my final bill in February, so they could charge me a 'reasonable' amount until I left.
Then, they 'read' my meter in April, for the final bill. I received a paper bill on Saturday.

I read my meter today, for my new supplier.
My new gas reading is 240 units below the reading my last supplier gave my new supplier!
Why, when the old provider 'read' my meter, are they 240 units over what my meter actually reads?
That, I believe, is over £90 in money!
They're actually charging /have charged me £67.50 final bill, according to the paper bill, and £60.66, according to my (now closed) online account, based on their wrong reading.

I have had a couple of unintelligable 'do not reply' emails from them.
One said they couldn't take £67 out of my account, and I was likely to receive a court summons.
Another said they couldn't take £67 out of my account, but managed £21, and thanked me.
The money was in my account, so I reported both as scams! :-D :-D

Looks like another hour long wait for a phone to be answered, by someone who has no idea what is going on, is on the cards for tomorrow :-|

...and I may have to phone both companies :-| :-| :-|

Brian, they tried to whack my monthly payments up by £20 a month, but I was previously in credit, so I spent hours on the phone - mainly waiting for it to be answered - and asked them why, when it would only end up with my demanding ALL my credit back in April.
After much 'debate', (basically me calling them thieves under my breath) and explaining that I was in a smaller house, it was coming up to Spring, where I would use less heating, anyway, so could they give me a logical reason to up my paymets, instead of upping the payment, the previous payment was reduced by £2 a month.
Which was confusing - but nice :-D

We have a SMETS1 installed by EE but having changed suppliers I now have to read the meters and email the readings in.
Present supplier is British Gas dual fuel paid by monthly DD but when I sent in the readings at the end of last month the bill told me I was underpaying but when that went onto the online account it told me I was overpaying, but they still whacked up the DD by £40 so I am expecting to show a sizeable overpayment at the end of the contract next month.
And as for their quote for a new contract from 1/6, the unit charge for both gas and electricity have jumped up but apparently I then get "25 days free fuel", whatever that means, so comparison with other quotes is practically impossible.

maggiewinchester, I reckon they wouldn't because it would show them to be worse than us.

Oh, the irony!
'Use this to lower your electricity usage, but first waste electricity by plugging it in'!
:-D :-D :-D :-D
ZZzzz I'd love the Government to set themselves targets, and show us how successful they've been!
They can start with their utility bills, then their expenses.

Yes Joan, we have changed the light bulbs and tubes for other reasons, we don't leave anything running so we don't need to see how much electric is being used, we can't cut down on what we use because we have done the years ago. What ever we are using is only on for the duration of use.
PS. So the gadget you used for reading what was being used needed electric.

Blackmail, bullying, meeting government targets, I don't see it any other way, what happened to choice?

According to OVO SMETS1 smart meters can now be upgraded to SMETS2 using a free software upgrade. SMETS2 meters support supplier switching for best deal using, say, USWITCH. SMETS2 does not use 2G.

The current govt target is to have all premises connected by 2024. At some point SMETS2 will not be optional. Most likely means of enforcement will be that premises not SMETS2 connected will be stuck with the highest tarif.

Yes.

I was talking about you flauting your opinion as fact, RTR, and gave my brother's lack of internet as an example - you 'knew' Somerset had the internet, therefore my brother 'did' have the internet, and by that reckoning, we were both too stupid to realise.

I was not saying he couldn't have a smart meter, because he didn't have the internet - yet again, do you think I'm so stupid I think the internet is needed for a smart meter? Weirdly, I knew it before you voiced your opinon as fact.
I may not like technology, but I still know about it. I don't like maths, but I can still add up - and I don't even need a calculator!

It's also a good idea not to twist what someone's said just to suit your narrative.
Even more stupid when it's written down!!

Rollo really can’t see when the conversation goes sideways a bit, unless he is the one that did it.

I said Maggie that the majority of the population in Somerset can pick up Internet with a mobile phone. Then of course the option of Internet using an usp such as EE, Sky etc.

By area is another matter. There is little commercial reason to offer 4g Internet to Exmoor, Chew Lakes, Mendips though 2G coverage should OK if patchy.

Pre lockdown I often visited Clevedon, Weston, Minehead, East Coker and so on and was able to get a connection for my satnav. In any case as I keep telling you SMETS2 does not use the Internet.

Are you sure about internet connections in Scotland?, and whether the 'dedicated network' really can reach 99%
Got a 'handy rellie' involved in Scottish Power with inside information?

The reason I ask is, a couple of years ago, RTR you insisted there was no way my brother in Somerset didn't have the internet.
He still hasn't got it!

It's not good spouting off opinion /thought as fact.

The problems with signal strength do not apply to SMETS2.
If you were advised recently that SMETS and Economy7 would not work together then what was being proposed used one of the stock of SMETS1 devices. AFAIK this practice should have ceased.

https://octopus.energy/blog/solving-smart-meter-issues-octopus-energy/
https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/customer-hub/becoming-a-dcc-user/

In the short run it is up to the consumer to choose SMETS2 or not.
In the long run everybody will be using SMETS2.

Other communications technologies soon for the chop include the POTS / PSTN telephone system (2025) ISDN and mobile phone 3G (from 2021). The demise of 3G will complicate running "burner" phones and make life a little easier for A12.

20% of target RTR you hit the nail on the head there.

I didn’t need to read your posts about SMETS 1 & 2 as I was already very aware of the issues over the two.

Argyllgran wasn’t told that the meter didn’t work with storage heaters. The issue was the poor signal.

Is that free phase or phase three?

If you read my posts and joind up the dots or just googled you would be aware that (a) SMETS1 was a flop, lack of a stable/any connection using the phonenetwork being a major factor (b) SMETS2 does not use wifi or the phone networks but has its own dedicated network which can reach 99% of the country. SMETS2 also works ok with Economy7 and Night Storage Heaters - see OVO web site. The power companies are not finding retail sales very profitable and are pulling out eg SSE has sold its retail arm to OVO and /or reducing costs. One sure way to do this is SMETS2. BritishGas has imposed a brutal new contract on its service engineers.

SMETS2 for three phase is also available for your business or home should you need it.

.

It's the simple life for me!

ArgyllGran - you rebel, you!! :-D :-D :-D

I don't know about doctors. But if you had actually read the thread one of the things you would have come across was my saying how I loved technology (not) and how it seemed to be affecting my visit to the dentist.

By the by, I don't live in an office, nor do I live in London, but am aware offices have had air conditioning for yonks.