[Proto420]

Hi all,

So I live in a new build, and the flat came with a smart meter already installed, by E.on. I've been here for just over a year, and I have to send my readings monthly due to my Smart meter apparently having no signal. My flat also never came with an IHD either. Is there anything I am able to do about the no signal, as whenever I have called support, they just tell me they can't do anything and that I have to wait until the signal improves in my area, in which it doesn't seem like it'll happen. Am I also entitled to an IHD, like I said my flat never came with one and I was told in an email previously they wouldn't replace it, but they can't replace something I haven't had yet.

Thanks in advance.

[meldrewreborn]

@Proto420

Not an unusual situation. The IHD should be requested from the seller of the flat. Are you in the north or south of the UK? It’s mobile down south, radio in the north. There are dead zones in both, but it’s claimed that these are rare. Have you looked on the glowmarket site for data or checked the citizens advice checker? Sometimes CS don’t investigate as thoroughly as they should. Also see my post on guaranteed standards - OFGEM are looking to force suppliers into solving just these sorts of issues, but the improvements are still many months away.

[Proto420]

@meldrewreborn It's a council flat but I doubt they would issue one. I'm down South and have been told that it is mobile, but the signal isn't good enough to get a connection. They only built these in the last 4 years so they should have known about the signal before even installing smart meters.

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by Proto420

...so they should have known about the signal before even installing smart meters...

@Proto420 - the meters themselves are just "meters" so measure your usage, irrespective if whether they can be read remotely - they nowadays install smart meters running in "dumb" mode where there's no signal

The bit that does the communications is a separate 3g comms-hub mounted on top of the meter, so unfortunately sounds like this currently won't connect in your case .

However 3g networks are gradually being phased out so they should be replacing all the 3g Comms-hubs with 4g over the next few years.

That will still leave people in areas with no signal, so there are apparently plans afoot to connect by other means - maybe even using a customer's broadband.

So hopefully there may be a future solution which will allow your Comms-hub to connect. 🤞