[philip4730]

My gas (smart) meter is broken and hasn't sent updates to eon since early 2022. I didn't realise this as the gas usage was projected and I received an occasional bill. Now I am moving out at the end of March and have notified eon. They said they'd send an engineer but couldn't guarantee that it would be fixed before moving out -- although the removal date is more than a month away from now. But since the Ukraine war started in early 2022, I have changed my consumption behaviour and tried to use less gas. I am worried that I will pay the bill for the new occupiers if it doesn't get fixed before the end of March because the projection is not conservative enough. Any recommendations to speed this up or get some kind of solution?

[meldrewreborn]

@016711020920

when you say broken what EXACTLY is the issue?
it’s rare for a meter not to function at all. Can you wake it up and get a manual reading from it, which can then be uploaded into you online account

[philip4730]

@meldrewreborn When I press button A in the gas box for 5-10 seconds as instructed, nothing happens. The display is dead. Is there any way I can activate it? The display unit in the house also does not receive anything. The eon hotline person I talked to said she could establish a connection but not retrieve any readings on her side, hence engineer needed. If you have any ideas on what to do, let me know. I'm not very knowledgeable about these things. Thanks.

[retrotecchie]

@philip4730

You have a flat battery in the meter and it needs changing. The meter will still store consumption data so the information should be accessible but only via a workshop interrogating the old meter in the workshop. Fingers crossed 🤞

[philip4730]

@retrotecchie Would I have to disassemble the meter in the gas box and take it to a shop? That doesn't sound right to me. I don't think eon would be paying for this, and I am not even sure I would have the legal right to do this as the meter must be eon property. But it sounds like tentatively good news that the data may still be there.

[Tommysgirl]

@philip4730

When the battery on my gas meter 'died' exactly the same as yours a few years ago, before my account was transferred automatically from NPower to Eon-Next, the engineers came out and replaced the whole meter because they said it was impossible to replace the batteries on gas meters. It had just been flat for a couple of months though, and NPower had estimated the bills fairly accurately. The engineers took the old meter away, but NPower just estimated what they thought my usage would be up to the meter change-over. They should be able to retrieve the data as @retrotecchie says, but leave it to Eon-Nexts engineers to sort out when they replace the meter.

[meldrewreborn]

Data stored in the meter prior to the battery going flat is in theory recoverable - with the right equipment. Whether anyone will bother is a moot point. These batteries are supposed to last 10-15 years, but we've had reports in the past of failure long before.

Your bills will likely be estimated - start preparing your case now ready to complain if what they come up with doesn't seem fair to you.

[Tommysgirl]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

Data stored in the meter prior to the battery going flat is in theory recoverable - with the right equipment. Whether anyone will bother is a moot point. These batteries are supposed to last 10-15 years, but we've had reports in the past of failure long before.

Your bills will likely be estimated - start preparing your case now ready to complain if what they come up with doesn't seem fair to you.

The battery on my first Smart gas meter lasted just under two years, even though they're supposed to last much longer. NPower never informed me if they'd recovered any data from the old meter, so I assumed they hadn't bothered. Fortunately, I spotted the fault with the battery early on, and only received estimated bills for a couple of months, which were pretty accurate. Then my new gas meter stopped sending smart readings in for just under two years, so I had to revert back to sending manual readings in each month, until they eventually corrected it.

[philip4730]

If the data were not stored, does it mean there is no way to figure out how much I used, even if the meter gets replaced before I move out? I.e., would a replacement meter start at 0 again, or is there a chance it could start at the actual usage up to the present point? If the latter, the problem would be a non-issue if they could replace it within a month from now before I move out.

[meldrewreborn]

@philip4730

its highly likely the new meter will start from zero, but it might start from any number if it’s been used before. As I wrote before your bills will probably be estimated.

it seems to me that with only a very few appliances running on gas the value of a smart meter for that fuel is very limited, and they break down more frequently than electric smart meters.