Smart Meter Fitted. Not sending readings and no in-house display

  • jamjar's Avatar
    Level 1
    We had a "smart meter" installed in September but we were not given an in-house display and the meter is not sending through any readings.

    I would suggest that this “Smart Meter” is NOT SMART
    This smart meter makes my life harder – it does not function as a smart meter and the display is so much smaller meaning that a ladder is needed to read it
    This smart meter does not readings
    I am receiving estimated bills or a request to provide a reading
    I was not provided with an in-home display.

    Has anyone else had the same/similar issues? I have emailed unhappy@eonnext but it appears that they do not respond to emails!
  • 34 Replies

  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Heya!

    My name's theunknowntech and I'm a forum volunteer who helps out here. I think I can probably try to help you figure out if there's any likely issues with the meter, but I could do with some photos. Could you snap some photos of the meters and post them in your next reply please?

    I don't have any way to access your account or make changes, so this is the only way I can see what you've got and give the right advice.

    Thanks
    Just another guy passing by... The unknown tech way...
    Pete is an IHD Tariff Update Robot! 🤖 Anasa is a Giant Enemy Robot Spider 🕷 🤖 Hannah is neither! Need Customer service? click here! Replacement IHD Guide? Here it is!
  • Beki's Avatar
    We had a "smart meter" installed in September but we were not given an in-house display and the meter is not sending through any readings.

    I would suggest that this “Smart Meter” is NOT SMART
    This smart meter makes my life harder – it does not function as a smart meter and the display is so much smaller meaning that a ladder is needed to read it
    This smart meter does not readings
    I am receiving estimated bills or a request to provide a reading
    I was not provided with an in-home display.

    Has anyone else had the same/similar issues? I have emailed unhappy@eonnext but it appears that they do not respond to emails!

    Hey @jamjar, Beki here 👋 I have reached out to you on another post that you have commented on. If you would like to send me over your account details, I can look into this for you 😊

    Sending positive energy to you,
    Beki
  • Queenie's Avatar
    Level 3
    Hi Jamjar,
    I feel your pain! Maybe you had the same engineer as me as in September when my 'smart' meters were installed. I did not get a comms hub or an IHD so of course the meters don't send messages about usage.
    I was told there was a problem at their end and to make another appointment which I duly did. Guess what? No action.
    Now after 3 months I have only just found out after research that I should have a comms hub.
    The engineer did not give me any information about the installation or about reading the meters and obviously didn't report any problems. Don't they have to make out reports when they have completed a job?
    I have had many email conversations with customer services personnel, many of whom either don't read one's emails properly or do not have access to the correct info about what equipment customers have and then fob you off with promises of emails to the relevant metering teams. I have read about so many similar experiences.

    It's an absolute disgrace. Having joined this forum very recently I'm informed all the time that the treatment we have received falls far short of the standard we should expect from the company but things don't appear to be getting any better. I wonder how many people have complained to the Ombudsman.
  • Beki's Avatar
    @Queenie Hey there, Beki here 😊 I'm sorry that you are feeling this way., I can assure you that I have contacted the Smart Metering team (who were off over Christmas and the bank holidays) and I await their response to sort out the mess the engineer left. We will reach a resolution with this but please bear with me whilst I await further instructions from the Smart team. 🙏
  • Queenie's Avatar
    Level 3
    @Beki Hi,
    Thanks. But judging by my experience and what many other customers have said I could be waiting for ever!
    I appreciate you are trying your best.
  • jamjar's Avatar
    Level 1
    @Queenie . Same month!! Maybe it was the same guy! After posting on here we finally got a call from Andrew in customer services who told us that it was not a smart meter that was fitted, but he has made an appointment for later this month to see what can be done. Like yourself, we had booked for a smart meter and the engineer did not tell us that it wasn't a smart meter or give any information on it! If he had said that one could not be fitted for any reason then I would have asked that he leave the old one in place! I wait and see what happens at the end of January! Hope you manage to get something sorted with yours
  • Queenie's Avatar
    Level 3
    @jamjar Hi,
    I was interested to hear more about your experience. Customer service personnel have repeatedly been unable to give me accurate information. My own research told me that I had smart meters despite being told they were traditional. In fact Beki still seems to think my electricity meter is not smart.
    Yesterday I demanded to have my electricity bill having sent a reading on Dec 28th. I'm still waiting . The customer rep was less than efficient. I won't bore you with the details but it strikes me that either the customer reps are incompetent / badly trained or both or they are expected to get through massive volumes of customer queries in a given time scale and therefore only skim read the text. Practically every contact I've had with them has required me to reply with a correction or clarification. It is so frustrating.
    LIke you, I didn't see the point of having smart meters. I am perfectly capable of monitoring my usage.
    I just hope I hear something soon.
    Good luck with your appointment.
  • Queenie's Avatar
    Level 3
    @Beki Hi,
    I have just made a discovery. I was checking my google photos and found a photo of 22.09.21 at 09.24 which is when my smart meters were fitted. I don't remember having taken this photo but I took it during the installation as I also took a picture of my boiler status at the same time.It is a picture of my new electricity meter. There is a comms hub SKU1 Cellular by Toshiba sitting on top of it.It is not there now! I know it is correct because all the ticket details match what is there now.
    The engineer must have removed it before he left.
    I told you he did not tell me anything about the meters and how to read them etc. He certainly didn't explain what he was doing. As I said also, he told me to get in touch with E.ON Next to say I needed a problem fixing. Which I did.Why is this not on record from their end.
    This situation gets ever more farcical!Name:  IMG_20210922_092411375-1 - Copy.jpg
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    Last edited by Queenie; 06-01-22 at 23:01. Reason: Adding an exact time and photo
  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Hold on a second... If the engineer only attempted to use an SKU1 Cellular Comms Hub and made no attempt to use an SKU2 Cellular + Mesh with any kind of external aerial, then I'm afraid the install was not done properly. They're supposed to attempt it in this order: SKU1 Cellular > SKU2 Cellular + Mesh in Mesh mode (if possible) > SKU2 Cellular + Mesh + T1 Aerial > SKU2 Cellular + Mesh + T2 Aerial > Abandon as No WAN and notify DCC (even bigger T3 aerials are in development). If any attempt is made to use a T1 or T2 aerial, you'd know about it.

    It should all be in the engineers report. I'm not sure if you can get a copy, but it should be on record.
    Last edited by theunknowntech; 05-01-22 at 21:52. Reason: Fix mistake