[Mymoney]

I'm not sure getting a smart meter was a good idea.. seemed like a great idea at the time. I wanted to be able to top up using the APP. Since having the Smart Meter installed my payments have increased tenfold. The smart meter stopped responding in May. Since then when I login via the APP or website - the data is incorrect. The smart meter no longer receives payments directly. The response to this is that you need to enter in a 20 digit code manually EVERY SINGLE TIME. I have no idea how elderly people are expected to do this. And if you don’t use the cold the money is retained via EON. Forget the complaint process. They will refuse to change the meter. When you get one your stuck with it whether you like it or not. You won’t get reminded if you have not used the top up codes. Instead the money is kept for an indefinite amount of time, even though it has long since been taken from your bank account. To make matters worse, when you top up, you have to wait half hour for text to be received, an hour after code has been entered and even then the system still usually needs reset. The only solution I have been offered is to change to direct debit. This meter has not been sending data since May and they expect it to be responsible for providing my energy usage via direct debit. I can only imagine the eye watering bill that would generate when it ‘found’ data. Quite simply it’s a risk I am not willing to take, given that the smart meter is not smart. Worst mistake I ever made and it’s caused an immense amount of stress.

[Anasa_EONNext]

Hello @Mymoney

Anasa here! I work on the Community 👋

I'm so sorry to hear that you've had such an awful time with your Smart Pay as you go meter. I've asked one of my team to reach out to you to have a deep dive into what has gone wrong and what we can do to sort this out for you.

I'll admit its not a great situation a few years ago I had a smart pay as you go meter fitted it worked fab for a while and I was loving topping up on the App as the shops around my end always seemed to be broken and I was travelling for miles to get a top up which was not good with my little girl and I admit I wasn't opposed to having a smart meter but didn't think it would benefit me that much being pay as you go, also I lived with my nana who was 80 and she didn't like change but hearing more and more about smart meters I decided to give it ago even just for that convenience of topping up on the App.. As I said all was great for a while and then the gas meter stopped sending data and I could no longer top up on the App elec was still good but not the gas.. I rang up and they advised I would need a few background fixes and that will fix the issue in the mean time though I had to keep on punching in that 20 digit number now I'm not a youngster but I'm not a pensioner and it was awful bending down punching all them digits and then having to go back if I got one wrong it was a trying time... working for a energy company though I knew that they were doing everything in their power to get it sorted.. I totally understand how inconvenient this is for you. The back ground updated did not work for me and I waited 8 weeks for them, in the end I had to have a whole new smart meter and that solved the problem but it took 8 months.

What I want to do though is understand what has happened so far? What fixes have been offered? Any time scales for this. I know you mentioned having a credit meter but if you are anything like me I am a prepayment girl all the way I just prefer it for my peace of mind a credit meter is not for me and never will be I like to know that what I put in and use is just that and no surprise bills!

I know you mentioned worrying about having a large bill come out please do not worry about that if we are not able to get data or bill you then we never drop a big bill and expect you to pay up we'd work together for a solution so leave it with me and my team so we can get to the bottom of this and find the best way forward.

You might not see it now but don't give up on smart after 8 months my meter was back up and running and I'm topping up via the App with no issues and still is the best decision that I made so please hang tight and we'll work through it 😊

[DebF_EONNext]

@Mymoney welcome to the community 😊 I've popped you a message for more information.

It would be good to get a bit more detail on what's happened so far, there's no rush but if you pop me a message with your details I can look into this a bit more for you 😊

I had a smart meter in pay as you go mode and like you and Anasa had the same issue with lost communications (different supplier, as is Anasa's I believe) I was switched on to a credit meter, I had the option to pay on receipt of bill or to pay by direct debit which I found so much easier to deal with as I'm not worried about going off supply or not being able to top up.

This could be something that we could also arrange for you if this would be something you would be interested in? If your bill ended up being too high for you we could also arrange a payment plan to clear any arrears over a period of up to 18 months too 😊

Another thing to think about (as you mentioned elderly) is the priority service register which is for vulnerable customers who may need extra support you can find out more about this in thread: Priority Services Register - What is it and how do I get added?

Hopefully speak to you soon!