[Abacus123]

Hi All,

My Smart meter dates from Oct 2019 (in fact my house isn't even that old).

I've had a msg from Eon saying it needs to be replaced as it will stop working soon.

Is this right? I thought they lasted 10 - 20 years.

Needless to say I'm suspicious of these things at the best of times.

Grateful for any thoughts.

Thanks.

[meldrewreborn]

@Abacus123

Not the meter but more likely the communications hub. Check by contacting using the customer service using the detail below.

[Abacus123]

Ok, thanks for your reply. I'll check with them.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Agreed. With all the mobile networks switching off 3g well ahead of the government target of 2032, smart meters not already in an area covered by Telefonica's proprietary smart meter comms nodes (i.e , the 'mesh' system) that haven't already been upgraded to Vodafone 4g will need to be within the next six to twelve months. That's around 13 million existing comms hubs. The number of smart meters predicted to drop off line is more than quadruple the number that went dumb when SMETS1 was migrated to DCC from individual suppliers. Companies should under no circumstances still be rolling out any equipment still based on 2g/3g cellular standards. Any existing hubs (the property and responsibility of DCC, not the suppliers) should be discarded, returned for upgrade or sent back to the manufacturers for disposal, not installed in customer premises. Sure the suppliers still have box-fulls of the obsolete kit, but it's not their money (it's been paid for three times over by the billpayers) so it makes no sense whatsoever to carry on installing them when they will simply not work in two years time, requiring replacement in the millions, again at our expense.

The deadline of 2032 has nothing to do with the mobile companies delaying anything...they all want to drop 3g as soon as possible, but that is the date when the government wish to auction off the old 2g/3g radio spectrum to the highest bidder.

I wish to carry on using some MPT1334 radio kit in the 418MHz licence-free band, but that frequency was reallocated in 1999 to the police Tetra radio network. OFCOM never wrote to me to tell me I can't use it anymore, or to offer me alternative equipment or the chance to bid for a licence myself. They just made me 'illegal' without telling me! It doesn't stop me using it...I'm just using it knowing that I might get a knock on the door from OFCOM or the local Heddlu (rozzers) if they catch me using it! 🤣🤣🤣

[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

An unanswered point is whether the customers existing IHD will be able to be paired with the new comms hub. If not can we expect suppliers to "gift" a new IHD?

The PAC was quoted £2 for the cost of the comms hub - presumably excluding fitting. Add another IHD to that and it starts getting very expensive.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

The comms hubs WAN interface has been upgraded to 4/5g to sort out the WAN issues. The Zigbee side of the hub (HAN) remains unchanged. Existing IHDs can be simply and easily re-paired as part of the hub installation and commissioning process. That bit is a piece of cake, but does require a meter engineer to do it in situ.