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EDF refuses to get my smart meter display working
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Clive Page
Sep 29, 2023, 7:48:14 AM9/29/23
to
Summary of longish saga: in early May we gave in to EDF claiming that our old meters ere past their use-by date, which may well have been true, and got smart gas and electricity meters installed. They provided a Geo Trio II in-home display which worked fine. It gave electricity readings at 30 sec intervals, gas updated every 30 mins, which I gather is normal.
After about 4 weeks it stopped working, but the meter was still giving readings to EDF. Of course their online "energy hub" gives information about 1.5 days in arrears, which is not much use to the consumer try to save money, e.g. to take advantage of these schemes to get paid for turning off expensive appliances at times of maximum demand. I complained and EDF eventually sent a technician. He found the comms module in the meter was faulty, replaced it, and the in-home display worked again. Result.
About a month later it stopped working again. We have had two more visits by technicians who fiddled around and provided 2 more in-home displays, as if that was the fault, which it obviously was not. Today on the phone the EDF customer assistant tried to get the fourth one working (Chameleon TYPE 2). But this also failed to connect properly: for electricity it shows "Supply disconnected" which is obviously stupid, for gas there is no information at all. It is obvious that the comms module in the electricity meter has failed again. She refused to get anyone else to fix it or to refer it to higher authority within EDF and said EDF will send us a letter saying this dispute is unresolved. This seems pretty stupid to me.
We could, I suppose, just change suppliers to a more competent company as tariffs are all much the same these days, but suspect that another company would not agree to fix a defective installation that has been simply abandoned by EDF.
Our best option appears to be to get the Energy Ombudsman involved, as their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
--
Clive Page
After about 4 weeks it stopped working, but the meter was still giving readings to EDF. Of course their online "energy hub" gives information about 1.5 days in arrears, which is not much use to the consumer try to save money, e.g. to take advantage of these schemes to get paid for turning off expensive appliances at times of maximum demand. I complained and EDF eventually sent a technician. He found the comms module in the meter was faulty, replaced it, and the in-home display worked again. Result.
About a month later it stopped working again. We have had two more visits by technicians who fiddled around and provided 2 more in-home displays, as if that was the fault, which it obviously was not. Today on the phone the EDF customer assistant tried to get the fourth one working (Chameleon TYPE 2). But this also failed to connect properly: for electricity it shows "Supply disconnected" which is obviously stupid, for gas there is no information at all. It is obvious that the comms module in the electricity meter has failed again. She refused to get anyone else to fix it or to refer it to higher authority within EDF and said EDF will send us a letter saying this dispute is unresolved. This seems pretty stupid to me.
We could, I suppose, just change suppliers to a more competent company as tariffs are all much the same these days, but suspect that another company would not agree to fix a defective installation that has been simply abandoned by EDF.
Our best option appears to be to get the Energy Ombudsman involved, as their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
--
Clive Page
NY
Sep 29, 2023, 8:02:56 AM9/29/23
to
"Clive Page" <use...@page2.eu> wrote in message
news:knnrro...@mid.individual.net...
We had a similar problem with Octopus. They fitted smart meters in June
which worked perfectly until one day in August when the gas meter stopped
reporting readings every 30 minutes to the in-home device (IHD) console and
to the central database which the Octopus app and web site use. Typically
the meter reading would be updated one every couple of days, at best.
Each time I phoned, they did something remotely which restored normal
behaviour for a few days, after which it would fail. Finally a meter
engineer came yesterday and changed our gas meter from one which used
single-band comms to one which used double-band. The electricity meter (or
at least the hub that both meters talk to) was already dual-band. I wonder
whether there is a similar range problem as there is for 5 GHz wifi as
opposed to 2.4 GHz.
It's early days. If it still works flawlessly after a few weeks, I might say
that they've fixed it.
How long do people find it takes for a supplier's app or web site to record
a day's usage figures? I find that the app typically records usage for 00:00
and 00:30 for day X by about 09:00 on day X+1, but it can then take several
more hours - or even a couple of days - for the full 00:00-23:39 usage to be
reported. The IHD records sensible usage patterns and daily totals.
Sometimes several days' usage all appears at the same time, so you go from
"We are waiting for the results" to sensible kWhr figures for yesterday and
the day before yesterday and the day before that. That delay seems to apply
equally for elec and gas, so is probably different from gas results not
being reported even locally to the IHD.
How do meters send their data from the hub or the IHD back to the central
database? Is it via the house internet or do they use their own mobile-phone
internet connection?
news:knnrro...@mid.individual.net...
which worked perfectly until one day in August when the gas meter stopped
reporting readings every 30 minutes to the in-home device (IHD) console and
to the central database which the Octopus app and web site use. Typically
the meter reading would be updated one every couple of days, at best.
Each time I phoned, they did something remotely which restored normal
behaviour for a few days, after which it would fail. Finally a meter
engineer came yesterday and changed our gas meter from one which used
single-band comms to one which used double-band. The electricity meter (or
at least the hub that both meters talk to) was already dual-band. I wonder
whether there is a similar range problem as there is for 5 GHz wifi as
opposed to 2.4 GHz.
It's early days. If it still works flawlessly after a few weeks, I might say
that they've fixed it.
How long do people find it takes for a supplier's app or web site to record
a day's usage figures? I find that the app typically records usage for 00:00
and 00:30 for day X by about 09:00 on day X+1, but it can then take several
more hours - or even a couple of days - for the full 00:00-23:39 usage to be
reported. The IHD records sensible usage patterns and daily totals.
Sometimes several days' usage all appears at the same time, so you go from
"We are waiting for the results" to sensible kWhr figures for yesterday and
the day before yesterday and the day before that. That delay seems to apply
equally for elec and gas, so is probably different from gas results not
being reported even locally to the IHD.
How do meters send their data from the hub or the IHD back to the central
database? Is it via the house internet or do they use their own mobile-phone
internet connection?
Tim+
Sep 29, 2023, 8:18:20 AM9/29/23
to
transmitted for the IHD and uploads it via your internet. This gives you
more or less real time data for electricity. Gas as you know is only
updated every 30 minutes but you can see the data as soon as it’s
transmitted from your gas meter.
I never found the IHD particularly useful, particularly as the pricing
system couldn’t cope with a variable tariff. Certainly it’s more or less
redundant if you have a Mini.
Tim
--
Please don't feed the trolls
David Wade
Sep 29, 2023, 12:09:50 PM9/29/23
to
https://glowmarkt.com/bright
https://loop.homes/loop-smart-meter-app/
they pull the data from the DCC so about 30 mins delay....
Dave
Jack Harry Teesdale
Sep 29, 2023, 12:53:40 PM9/29/23
to
On 29/09/2023 12:48, Clive Page wrote:
> Summary of longish saga: in early May we gave in to EDF claiming that
> our old meters ere past their use-by date, which may well have been
> true, and got smart gas and electricity meters installed. They provided
> a Geo Trio II in-home display which worked fine. It gave electricity
> readings at 30 sec intervals, gas updated every 30 mins, which I gather
> is normal.
>
> After about 4 weeks it stopped working, but the meter was still giving
> readings to EDF. Of course their online "energy hub" gives information
> about 1.5 days in arrears, which is not much use to the consumer try to
> save money, e.g. to take advantage of these schemes to get paid for
> turning off expensive appliances at times of maximum demand. I
> complained and EDF eventually sent a technician. He found the comms
> module in the meter was faulty, replaced it, and the in-home display
> worked again. Result.
>
> About a month later it stopped working again. We have had two more
> visits by technicians who fiddled around and provided 2 more in-home
> displays, as if that was the fault, which it obviously was not. Today
> on the phone the EDF customer assistant tried to get the fourth one
> working (Chameleon TYPE 2). But this also failed to connect properly:
> for electricity it shows "Supply disconnected" which is obviously
> stupid, for gas there is no information at all. It is obvious that the
> comms module in the electricity meter has failed again. She refused to
> get anyone else to fix it or to refer it to higher authority within EDF r
> our old meters ere past their use-by date, which may well have been
> true, and got smart gas and electricity meters installed. They provided
> a Geo Trio II in-home display which worked fine. It gave electricity
> readings at 30 sec intervals, gas updated every 30 mins, which I gather
> is normal.
>
> After about 4 weeks it stopped working, but the meter was still giving
> readings to EDF. Of course their online "energy hub" gives information
> about 1.5 days in arrears, which is not much use to the consumer try to
> save money, e.g. to take advantage of these schemes to get paid for
> turning off expensive appliances at times of maximum demand. I
> complained and EDF eventually sent a technician. He found the comms
> module in the meter was faulty, replaced it, and the in-home display
> worked again. Result.
>
> About a month later it stopped working again. We have had two more
> visits by technicians who fiddled around and provided 2 more in-home
> displays, as if that was the fault, which it obviously was not. Today
> on the phone the EDF customer assistant tried to get the fourth one
> working (Chameleon TYPE 2). But this also failed to connect properly:
> for electricity it shows "Supply disconnected" which is obviously
> stupid, for gas there is no information at all. It is obvious that the
> comms module in the electricity meter has failed again. She refused to
> and said EDF will send us a letter saying this dispute is unresolved.
> This seems pretty stupid to me.
>
>
> We could, I suppose, just change suppliers to a more competent company
> as tariffs are all much the same these days, but suspect that another
> company would not agree to fix a defective installation that has been
> simply abandoned by EDF.
>
> Our best option appears to be to get the Energy Ombudsman involved, as
> their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working
> in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace
> it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience
> of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
>
>
Energy suppliers are incentivised by the government to install as many
> This seems pretty stupid to me.
>
>
> We could, I suppose, just change suppliers to a more competent company
> as tariffs are all much the same these days, but suspect that another
> company would not agree to fix a defective installation that has been
> simply abandoned by EDF.
>
> Our best option appears to be to get the Energy Ombudsman involved, as
> their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working
> in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace
> it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience
> of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
>
>
smart meters as possible, however there is no requirement to ensure they
actually remain operative, good luck with the Energy Ombudsman.
You may be better off e-mailing your MP and/or OFGEM
Robin
Sep 29, 2023, 5:27:32 PM9/29/23
to
On 29/09/2023 12:48, Clive Page wrote:
>
>
> Our best option appears to be to get the Energy Ombudsman involved, as
> their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working
> in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace
> it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience
> of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
>
Often works. Free to you. And doesn't close of your other options. But
> their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working
> in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace
> it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience
> of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
>
I'm puzzled why EDF won't replace the comms module again if that'd fix
it given a reference to the Ombudsman costs them (from memory) £340
whatever the outcome. Maybe their letter will explain.
--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 3:02:35 AM9/30/23
to
On Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:48:08 +0100, Clive Page wrote:
> Summary of longish saga: in early May we gave in to EDF....
I had a brief stint at DCC last year on the service desk in Nottingham. A
wonderful working environment, nice bean to cup coffee machine, lots of
natural light, pleasant view out the windows.
But... it's a shambles. EDF have to go through DCC to get anything done.
You then have myriad different companies that DCC will ping your ticket to
after some basic troubleshooting. An online tool will test your equipment &
90% of the problems come back with an E21 error (communication fault).
A side note on the recruitment process which left me speechless. A video
interview with a lovely lady in South Africa, with scripted questions an an
instant decision on the call afterwards. Judging by some of the people I
saw come through I think the only critera for success was speaking legible
English.
Anyway this will get pinged off to O2 (or Arqiva if you're north of
Sheffield), who'll come back & say 'nowt to do with us' it may then get
pinged of to CGI, who look after the data side of things.
Eventually it will end up as "comms hub needs disconnecting for 30 minutes,
then try it."
Problem is, they didn't think to put a reset switch on the Comms hub, so a
metering contractor needs to come and do it, and there are nowhere near
enough, so it's a long wait for a visit.
They'll come, look at it, know it's fucked, but still have to sit in the
van for 30 minutes to confirm fuckedness.
They'll then swap the meters which will take weeks to fully connect with
DCC.
Then you may get lucky or not.
Whilst I was there I handled hundreds of tickets from the Energy companies
and one stood out amongst all of them for getting tickets raised and
accounted for around 75% of all of them.
Octopus.
If you want to get your Smart Meter sorted, just switch to them. I was with
E.On Next (nPower) after a previous supplier folded, meter stopped working.
They just fobbed me off asking for updates. Working there I was able to
search my MPN for a ticket, they'd never raised one.
I lasted 2 months.
Now, that lovely office, what's that name on the sign? That will indicate
why it's such a shitshow.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/joCYgi4fdVkHeccZ7
> Summary of longish saga: in early May we gave in to EDF....
I had a brief stint at DCC last year on the service desk in Nottingham. A
wonderful working environment, nice bean to cup coffee machine, lots of
natural light, pleasant view out the windows.
But... it's a shambles. EDF have to go through DCC to get anything done.
You then have myriad different companies that DCC will ping your ticket to
after some basic troubleshooting. An online tool will test your equipment &
90% of the problems come back with an E21 error (communication fault).
A side note on the recruitment process which left me speechless. A video
interview with a lovely lady in South Africa, with scripted questions an an
instant decision on the call afterwards. Judging by some of the people I
saw come through I think the only critera for success was speaking legible
English.
Anyway this will get pinged off to O2 (or Arqiva if you're north of
Sheffield), who'll come back & say 'nowt to do with us' it may then get
pinged of to CGI, who look after the data side of things.
Eventually it will end up as "comms hub needs disconnecting for 30 minutes,
then try it."
Problem is, they didn't think to put a reset switch on the Comms hub, so a
metering contractor needs to come and do it, and there are nowhere near
enough, so it's a long wait for a visit.
They'll come, look at it, know it's fucked, but still have to sit in the
van for 30 minutes to confirm fuckedness.
They'll then swap the meters which will take weeks to fully connect with
DCC.
Then you may get lucky or not.
Whilst I was there I handled hundreds of tickets from the Energy companies
and one stood out amongst all of them for getting tickets raised and
accounted for around 75% of all of them.
Octopus.
If you want to get your Smart Meter sorted, just switch to them. I was with
E.On Next (nPower) after a previous supplier folded, meter stopped working.
They just fobbed me off asking for updates. Working there I was able to
search my MPN for a ticket, they'd never raised one.
I lasted 2 months.
Now, that lovely office, what's that name on the sign? That will indicate
why it's such a shitshow.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/joCYgi4fdVkHeccZ7
Tim+
Sep 30, 2023, 3:55:55 AM9/30/23
to
reset the comms unit is to pull the main fuse. Very bad planning! Mind
you, does a reset *ever* fix a comms issue? Didn’t for my meter.
Anyhow, my company (Octopus)did get me sorted in the end.
Andy Burns
Sep 30, 2023, 4:02:35 AM9/30/23
to
Guppy wrote:
> that lovely office, what's that name on the sign? That will indicate why
> it's such a shitshow. https://maps.app.goo.gl/joCYgi4fdVkHeccZ7
Yep, I guessed right!
> that lovely office, what's that name on the sign? That will indicate why
> it's such a shitshow. https://maps.app.goo.gl/joCYgi4fdVkHeccZ7
Andy Burns
Sep 30, 2023, 4:05:08 AM9/30/23
to
Tim+ wrote:
> Guppy wrote:
>
>> I had a brief stint at DCC last year
>
> Interesting reading.
Indeed.
> It really does seem astonishing that the only way to
> reset the comms unit is to pull the main fuse.
I can see why they don't wish to allow the customer to turn off the
meter though ...
> Guppy wrote:
>
>> I had a brief stint at DCC last year
>
Indeed.
> It really does seem astonishing that the only way to
> reset the comms unit is to pull the main fuse.
meter though ...
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 4:07:06 AM9/30/23
to
On Sat, 30 Sep 2023 09:02:23 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:
> Yep, I guessed right!
I have some sentimentan attachment, as that was the HQ of Capita's main IT
Supplier ComputerLand where I worked.
Capita had a policy of "We like them, let's buy them."
So that's what they did with CL.
This trolley dash approach ultimately led to where they are now.
> Yep, I guessed right!
I have some sentimentan attachment, as that was the HQ of Capita's main IT
Supplier ComputerLand where I worked.
Capita had a policy of "We like them, let's buy them."
So that's what they did with CL.
This trolley dash approach ultimately led to where they are now.
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 4:20:53 AM9/30/23
to
On Sat, 30 Sep 2023 09:05:04 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:
> I can see why they don't wish to allow the customer to turn off the
> meter though ...
It's not the meter though, even though the term is "Smart Meter", the
> I can see why they don't wish to allow the customer to turn off the
> meter though ...
actual meters are still very dumb, all the smarts are done by the Comms
Hub, which is a separate unit atop the electric meter. This is where the
reset button should be. This is a pretty much standard one. I even remember
that the O2 (South) ones have a GUID starting with 88. Arqiva use their own
network ooop North.
https://imgur.com/DWnGWpJ
Ringway Manchester has just done a video on the Arqiva Masts that I think
are freaking out 5G nutjobs.
https://youtu.be/DQ6qZ-J4-TY?si=jB9aBNsV1EfC9DMm
From memory the lights mean:
SW - Software running - booted OK?
WAN - Connected to O2/Arqiva
MESH - Used when signal is poor, a MESH Network is a connection between
neighbours to piggyback off a better signal.
HAN - Home area network, I think it means it's talking to your IHD, but
there is other stuff that I never learned.
GAS - Known as GPF - Gas Proxy Function, the Gas Meter is talking to the
Hub. Separate suppliers? Good luck with that.
Like I said before, go with Octopus for a fighting chance of fully working
smarts. Seeing as all Suppliers are pretty much on price cap, I can't see a
reason not to.
Referal codes too for £50 quid each credit. <hint>
Brian Gaff
Sep 30, 2023, 4:47:19 AM9/30/23
to
No, but I have had the talking display for several years and though the
meter itself died in less than a year, they promptly fitted a new one.
The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system so it
occurred to me that interference from other devices on the same band may
shorten its range as sometimes happens with Wifi from a next door property.
Have you tried the display right up against the meter to see if it comes
alive then?
Brian
--
--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
meter itself died in less than a year, they promptly fitted a new one.
The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system so it
occurred to me that interference from other devices on the same band may
shorten its range as sometimes happens with Wifi from a next door property.
Have you tried the display right up against the meter to see if it comes
alive then?
Brian
--
--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
Andy Burns
Sep 30, 2023, 4:51:30 AM9/30/23
to
Guppy wrote:
> It's not the meter though, even though the term is "Smart Meter", the
> actual meters are still very dumb, all the smarts are done by the Comms
> Hub, which is a separate unit atop the electric meter.
Yeah, I'm still used to my SMETS1 meter where the comms bit *is* inside
> It's not the meter though, even though the term is "Smart Meter", the
> actual meters are still very dumb, all the smarts are done by the Comms
> Hub, which is a separate unit atop the electric meter.
the elec meter, as expected it went dumb when I left e.on
EDF claimed that they (presumably DCC in practice) would be able to
upgrade the firmware to make it talk again, but so far no news is bad
news ...
Chris Green
Sep 30, 2023, 5:03:08 AM9/30/23
to
Brian Gaff <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:
[snip]
then! Our meter is in a detached garage which is 50 meters or so from
our house and the signal would have to go through several brick walls
to reach anywhere useful.
--
Chris Green
·
[snip]
> The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
> is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system so it
> occurred to me that interference from other devices on the same band may
> shorten its range as sometimes happens with Wifi from a next door property.
So we don't have a hope of anything useful working with a smart meter
> is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system so it
> occurred to me that interference from other devices on the same band may
> shorten its range as sometimes happens with Wifi from a next door property.
then! Our meter is in a detached garage which is 50 meters or so from
our house and the signal would have to go through several brick walls
to reach anywhere useful.
--
Chris Green
·
Robin
Sep 30, 2023, 5:23:53 AM9/30/23
to
alternative HANs from https://althanco.com/ which were due to start this
year. But I don't know how far (sic) they've reached in the wild.
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 5:30:43 AM9/30/23
to
On Sat, 30 Sep 2023 10:01:28 +0100, Chris Green wrote:
> So we don't have a hope of anything useful working with a smart meter
> then! Our meter is in a detached garage which is 50 meters or so from
> our house and the signal would have to go through several brick walls
> to reach anywhere useful.
There is an option of an external antenna but even this sometimes fails to
> So we don't have a hope of anything useful working with a smart meter
> then! Our meter is in a detached garage which is 50 meters or so from
> our house and the signal would have to go through several brick walls
> to reach anywhere useful.
connect.
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 5:34:44 AM9/30/23
to
On Sat, 30 Sep 2023 09:51:26 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:
> EDF claimed that they (presumably DCC in practice) would be able to
> upgrade the firmware to make it talk again, but so far no news is bad
> news ...
They had perfected a solution for CoS on SMETS1 when I was there.
> EDF claimed that they (presumably DCC in practice) would be able to
> upgrade the firmware to make it talk again, but so far no news is bad
> news ...
There is another layer of completely different service providers for
SMETS1. IIRC they contain a bog standard mobile phone sim card that can
fail.
Good luck.
The Natural Philosopher
Sep 30, 2023, 5:35:51 AM9/30/23
to
On 29/09/2023 17:53, Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:
>
> Energy suppliers are incentivised by the government to install as many
> smart meters as possible, however there is no requirement to ensure they
> actually remain operative, good luck with the Energy Ombudsman.
>
It's the same with windmills , solar panels electric cars, heat pumps..
>
> Energy suppliers are incentivised by the government to install as many
> smart meters as possible, however there is no requirement to ensure they
> actually remain operative, good luck with the Energy Ombudsman.
>
> You may be better off e-mailing your MP and/or OFGEM
--
There is nothing a fleet of dispatchable nuclear power plants cannot do
that cannot be done worse and more expensively and with higher carbon
emissions and more adverse environmental impact by adding intermittent
renewable energy.
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 5:39:01 AM9/30/23
to
On Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:48:08 +0100, Clive Page wrote:
> We could, I suppose, just change suppliers to a more competent company as tariffs are all much the same these days, but suspect that another company would not agree to fix a defective installation that has been simply abandoned by EDF.
Switch to Octopus, as documented elsewhere. EDF won't be the issue, DCC
analysts will be batting your ticket back and forth out of their queue as
being too difficult to sort. A common trick is to update the ticket and
send to the comms or data provider & hope the night team can sort it when
it gets batted back.
Octopus have a more robust approach with DCC to get tickets resolved.
Guppy
Sep 30, 2023, 5:54:44 AM9/30/23
to
On Sat, 30 Sep 2023 10:35:46 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> You may be better off e-mailing your MP and/or OFGEM
>
> You may be better off pissing upwind.
Looking for the Usenet 'Like' button.
>> You may be better off e-mailing your MP and/or OFGEM
>
> You may be better off pissing upwind.
Clive Page
Sep 30, 2023, 6:50:20 AM9/30/23
to
On 30/09/2023 09:47, Brian Gaff wrote:
> No, but I have had the talking display for several years and though the
> meter itself died in less than a year, they promptly fitted a new one.
> The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
> is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system so it
> occurred to me that interference from other devices on the same band may
> shorten its range as sometimes happens with Wifi from a next door property.
> Have you tried the display right up against the meter to see if it comes
> alive then?
Yes, one of the four in-home display units that they successively supplied did keep telling me to move it nearer to the meter, and the EDF customer service people also said that. So I moved it just a few inches from the meter, but it still did not work.
> No, but I have had the talking display for several years and though the
> meter itself died in less than a year, they promptly fitted a new one.
> The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
> is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system so it
> occurred to me that interference from other devices on the same band may
> shorten its range as sometimes happens with Wifi from a next door property.
> Have you tried the display right up against the meter to see if it comes
> alive then?
It is rather odd: the latest display is giving some information on electricity but never on gas, but still displays the message "supply disconnected" every few seconds.
I didn't know it cost them £340 when a customer refers a case to the Energy Ombudsman - so it's odd that they thought that a better option than trying to repair it. It also odd that, having pretty good evidence that it was the comms unit in the meter that was faulty, they kept sending out technicians who basically just provided us with a different in-home display, just in case I suppose. But if any of these people were competent they wouldn't be in this business I suppose.
--
Clive Page
Chris Green
Sep 30, 2023, 9:48:07 AM9/30/23
to
suppliers off trying to install one for us though.
--
Chris Green
·
Tim+
Sep 30, 2023, 9:53:10 AM9/30/23
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enable access to smart tariffs. Might have trouble linking with a smart gas
meter if that’s in your house but as gas isn’t priced half hourly it
doesn’t really matter.
The Natural Philosopher
Sep 30, 2023, 9:54:57 AM9/30/23
to
On 30/09/2023 11:50, Clive Page wrote:
> It also odd that, having pretty good evidence that it was the comms
> unit in the meter that was faulty, they kept sending out technicians
> who basically just provided us with a different in-home display,
> just in case I suppose. But if any of these people were competent
> they wouldn't be in this business I suppose.
Pay peanuts, get monkeys
> It also odd that, having pretty good evidence that it was the comms
> unit in the meter that was faulty, they kept sending out technicians
> who basically just provided us with a different in-home display,
> just in case I suppose. But if any of these people were competent
> they wouldn't be in this business I suppose.
The bean counters step in do the absolute mininum training and send the
guys out. In the end wasting far more money than skilled and experienced
staff would cost
--
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and
wrong.
H.L.Mencken
Andy Burns
Sep 30, 2023, 3:30:41 PM9/30/23
to
Chris Green wrote:
> Brian Gaff wrote:
>
>> The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
>> is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system
current meters use zigbee
> So we don't have a hope of anything useful working with a smart meter
> then! Our meter is in a detached garage which is 50 meters or so from
> our house and the signal would have to go through several brick walls
> to reach anywhere useful.
Zigbee is a mesh protocol, if you wanted you could install on or two
devices which include repeater functionality (e.g ikea sell a repeater
in a 13A plug, or their smart bulbs act as repeaters) if there are
suitable intermediate locations?
> Brian Gaff wrote:
>
>> The usual problem with the in home displays, apparently is that its range
>> is low. I don't know if its using Bluetooth or some proprietary system
> So we don't have a hope of anything useful working with a smart meter
> then! Our meter is in a detached garage which is 50 meters or so from
> our house and the signal would have to go through several brick walls
> to reach anywhere useful.
devices which include repeater functionality (e.g ikea sell a repeater
in a 13A plug, or their smart bulbs act as repeaters) if there are
suitable intermediate locations?
Frank
Oct 2, 2023, 6:22:22 AM10/2/23
to
On 29/09/2023 12:48, Clive Page wrote:
> Our best option appears to be to get the Energy Ombudsman involved, as their website says that suppliers are required to provide a working in-home display and if it fails in the first year to repair or replace it. This seems pretty clear cut - but does anyone else have experience of getting the Energy Ombudsman involved in such matters.
>
Yes, and it works.
>
--
Frank
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