Boiler Failure and Financial Loss from Smart Meter Installation

Level 1

29-05-26

948 views

I am writing to log an urgent formal complaint regarding a smart meter installation carried out at my property today, 29 May 2026.
Prior to your engineer’s arrival, my boiler was functioning perfectly. Immediately following the installation of the new smart meter, my boiler stopped working and completely failed to provide heating or hot water.
Because E.ON Next left my household completely without hot water and heating, I was forced to call out an emergency Gas Safe engineer immediately to protect my family. This emergency call-out cost me £103.80 out of pocket, which is a direct financial loss caused entirely by your engineer's faulty installation process.
Furthermore, I must highlight that I have a 3-week-old baby living in the property. Leaving a vulnerable newborn infant in a home with no hot water or heating poses a severe health and safety risk.
To resolve this issue, I require E.ON Next to:
Immediately reimburse the £103.80 call-out fee that I was forced to pay due to your engineer's actions.
Send an emergency engineer out to my property immediately to safely fix any issues caused by the installation and ensure my boiler is fully operational.
Provide compensation for the severe distress, financial strain, and welfare risk caused to my family and newborn baby.
Given the presence of a vulnerable 3-week-old infant, this matter requires your priority attention today. If this is not resolved swiftly, I will escalate this case to the Energy Ombudsman and report this severe service failure to Ofgem.
I expect an immediate phone call or email response to resolve this.

9 Replies

Community Team

Connor_EONNext

29-05-26

Hey there @Winsordj, Welcome to the Community.

I'm so sorry to hear about what you've been through. Have you contacted customer service at all? If so, what have they advised?

The Community is primarily a customer to customer forum - However I would be more than happy to take a look into this for you - I'm going to send over a private message to grab some details.

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Level 93

meldrewreborn

30-05-26

@Winsordj

when my smart meters were installed (Dec 24), the engineers checked all my appliances for functionality. As it happens, one appliance didn’t function properly at first, and some months later we replaced it. Although it was a gas double oven it was the electric clock and spark ignition that was on the blink, and we had had some issues with it previously.

I would have thought the engineer that did your smart meter installation would have done a check as did mine and left you with a card noting any defects.

if your concerns can be proven then you’ll be compensated eventually - these things take longer than they should, don’t they?

But in my case my oven was on its way out (35+ years old) and I didn’t consider the loss of power during the installation had anything to do with the minor glitch we experienced when no power was restored.

the forum isn’t the place to register complaints, the link is in the mauve box below.

EDIT what was the fault identified by the engineer?

Last edited by meldrewreborn; 30-05-26 at 09:26.

Current Eon Next customer, ex EDF, Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and think the smart meter programme is a waste of our money. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.

Level 7

Firedog

30-05-26

Sorry to butt in, but I don't see a 'mauve box below' when viewing this reply on my Windows 11 PC. Where do you see it?

the forum isn’t the place to register complaints, the link is in the mauve box below.

Level 92

WizzyWigg

30-05-26

Good afternoon @Firedog
It's at the bottom of the webpage.
Name: Screenshot_20260530-155904_Brave.jpg
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Size: 15.9 KB

Level 7

Firedog

31-05-26

Thanks, @WizzyWigg. My handy tools tell me that box is Dark Purple, #36164A. I was looking for something in this shade:
Name: Mauve.png
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Size: 7.1 KB

Level 92

WizzyWigg

31-05-26

Good afternoon @Firedog
I've never been great with colours. Failed GCE Art.
I was more Woodworm and Metal Fatigue.
Mrs Wizz for instance never allowed me to choose wallpaper or paint when it came down to decorating.

They say you learn something every day. Thank you.

Level 11

PhilTUK

01-06-26

This sounds like my mother in law who has an electronic timer on her boiler with no battery backup or memory so as soon as the power goes off it doesn't do any timed heating as all the start/stop times are now midnight.

Level 5

velvetnext

03-06-26

I would check the timer suggestions, if lucky it is that, usually there is a way to manually start boiler, so should be easy to check.
If not, its probably blown PCB which should be a single component to swap.

Level 93

meldrewreborn

03-06-26

@velvetnext

without some more information from @Winsordj we’re just guessing. We try to help those who post issues but it is frustrating when we have the start of a case, but no middle or end.