[despairingcustomer]

Hi you’ve installed a smart meters for elec and gas and also supplied a Smartview 4 IHD. The Elec meter is an EDMI ES-10B and the gas meter is an EDMI GS-60B. There’s a WNC UBC TN6 on top of the electricity meter.

BEFORE we had the meters installed we flagged the issue with yourselves that the meters are at least 10M from the property – otherside of a double garage with at least 2 or 3 double brick walls between the meters and the IHD. We were assured that the installer would consider this and install a dual band comms hub if required.

Before they were installed the installer said the kitchen was at the limit of the range. I mentioned the dual band comms hub and he said that was for the meters to submit its readings to the supplier ie yourselves. This is at odds as to what I’ve read on your web site and what you’ve told me.

The IHD is currently charging. It is sitting on the kitchen window sill and regularly loses connection, our IHD has only 1 dot when sitting on the kitchen windowsill – the last place inside the house.. This location is the closest it can get to the meters without being outside. When it does connect only electric data is displayed, no readings from gas.

I asked him again about a dual band comms hub, but the installer said the IHD was dual band, that dual band were for flats and said he had to leave to make the team meeting on Zoom. So it looks like we’ve got a dual band IHD but a single band comms hub on the meter?

So my questions are:

1. Was a single or dual band comms hub installed in the meter?
2. Why is there no gas reading?
3. How will e-on fix the unusable IHD?
4. The IHD often says no signal and requires us to press ok to reconnect – why can’t it reconnect automatically?
5. Is your IHD waterproof as it looks like the only place where it’ll get a signal is outside our house!

[JoeSoap]

@despairingcustomer
This is a customer to customer forum where input from Eon Next staff cannot be guaranteed. You may be best to contact customer service using any means listed in the link below…
https://community.eonnext.com/threads/3249-How-to-Contact-us?p=7151&viewfull=1#post7151

I do know it can take around six weeks for meters to communicate correctly with the IHD so that may be why the gas doesn’t show. I hope you get it sorted.

[despairingcustomer]

Hi JoeSoap,

I posted on here to share the pain and to get the collective expertise from the forum.

Since I posted I have found the following:
EDMI ES-10B elec manual - from SSE - https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/pdf/...uide_mar20.pdf
EDMI GS-60B ga manual - from SSE - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/19...mi-Gs-60b.html

The WNC UBC TN6 is the communications hub that connects the two meters to the countrywide comms network that then connects to the suppliers. Secondly, it also connects to the IHD. But I have found out that this is a single comms channel 2.4GHz device (from the body that certified it against the Zigbee standard). So EON will probably have to come out to fit the dual band comms hub so that the IHD is usable.

[despairingcustomer]

We have a SmartView 4 and good is it odd, sitting on the window sill it shows 1 dot of signal. Pick it up and the signal jumps to 4 full strength, then it says it's lost the signal...

[JoeSoap]

Originally Posted by despairingcustomer

Hi JoeSoap,

I posted on here to share the pain and to get the collective expertise from the forum.

Sorry, it’s just that you started your opening post as if you were addressing Eon Next. Have you actually communicated this with customer service?

I’ll tag our volunteer smart meter expert @theunknowntech who might pop by and offer some thoughts.

[despairingcustomer]

Hi JoeSoap,

Yes I've emailed Eon and also Sainsbury Energy who was my original supplier until EON took them over! I chose Sainsbury energy as their tariffs didn't require a smart meter to be installed. D'oh. I am particularly annoyed as I did my research and flagged the issue BEFORE installation. The installer was obviously working to piece rates and wasn't interested in delivering a working solution. Ah well the installer will be paid, EON will be paid but I'm left with a broken system from day 1. I've also researched and the additional cost for a dual band comms hub is apparently £25! For that EON will have to come out again and install a working comms hub

I'm also on the BT Forum which is actively monitored by BT Support team who pick issues up and advise on how to get them resolved. I assumed that this forum would operate the same but if it's just an EON customer self help group then it has limited value?

Reflecting overnight having a working IHD and Smart Meter is essential for us as customers to understand and manage our demand and usage of gas and elec. The “Smart Meter Roll-Out” aims to install a total of 53 million Smart or Advanced Meters in 30 million homes and businesses between 2015 and 2020 and is estimated to cost £10.9bn - so it's key it works.

Also, if the meters and IHD don't work properly on day 1 the suppliers are failing as we as customers are going to have a 'broken' setup until the meters are replaced ie in about 10 years. So we need to push to get this right.

There's also the new National Grid Demand Flexibility Service https://www.nationalgrideso.com/indu...nd-flexibility which gives us a saving of up to £100 per winter but which is built on having a working smart meter / IHD capability.

Also, as someone from a company operating high tech assets across the UK I wonder if the energy companies have planned for the ongoing support for Smart Meters? Unlike old meters which I think from their support viewpoint were a fit and forget support model SMART meters by their very definition will require through life support eg software updates, replacements etc etc. Remember the saying to err is human to really foul things up you need a computer!

[JoeSoap]

@despairingcustomer
Well you're trying what you can and if you get no joy there's always the complaints process here. In the meantime you could try downloading the Hildebrand Bright App as that may work even if the meters can't communicate with the IHD. It's free and gives consumption down to half-hourly intervals back as far as a year or more.

[meldrewreborn]

@despairingcustomer. You quote some stats on smart meters which are clearly out of date.
in the September data published by the government less tha half of domestic meters are smart and 15% of smart meters are dumb for one reason or another. Some of us think they are a waste of time and effort, and manage our consumption without them. What is so difficult about recognising that if something is on it costs us money? Rocket science it clearly isn’t.

if your installation is under 12 months I would encourage you to get everything fixed. Raise a complaint and take it to the ombudsman if necessary. Suppliers need to be forced into maintaining this stuff they forced in their customers, and then try to ignore

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

That figure of 15% of smart meters are now dumb is possibly also out of date. Try nearer 20% with another 20% dropping off line in the coming months as 3g switch-off is happening at a much faster pace than DCC seem to think.

100% of smart meters in my area are now dumb!

[retrotecchie]

Originally Posted by despairingcustomer

Hi JoeSoap,


Reflecting overnight having a working IHD and Smart Meter is essential for us as customers to understand and manage our demand and usage of gas and elec.

It's possibly 'nice to have'. It's not essential by any means. I know a lot of folk with conventional meters who can 'outsmart' a smart meter when it comes to energy saving and usage monitoring.