Almost a third of household smart meters not working properly, says Citizens Advice

Comments

• tal@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They send real-time data on customer usage to suppliers remotely when in “smart mode”.

  It said a poll carried out between August and October 2023 involving 4,000 domestic energy consumers across the UK showed that 20% of households with a smart meter still had to regularly submit manual meter readings because their device was not doing so automatically.

  I usually spend effort trying to figure out how to prevent companies from having their devices upload data about me to be data-mined, so the concept of someone upset about the opposite occurring is kind of novel.

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  • HeartyBeast@kbin.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If you’re on an agile tariff where the price changes ever 30 minutes, it’s a bit of a bummer

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• Olap@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Almost like relying on wireless connections is a recipe for disaster for longevity of any tech. We can’t build anything any more to last more than a decade

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  • FatLegTed@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Mine only lasted a year.

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• EdanGrey@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I ditched the screen that came with mine about a month into having it. It was pretty rubbish and the information it gave rather useless.

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• 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  My gas meter thinks it’s on prepayment mode and won’t go off… The previous owners got it replaced, and it still didn’t work so they sent a technician out and made it so it won’t disable itself as it won’t stay in credit mode

  How hard is it to make something that works?

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• autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is the best summary I could come up with:

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  The number of gas and electricity smart meters that are not working properly is likely to be higher than government figures suggest – possibly 20% to 30% of the total – according to research from Citizens Advice.

  The charity said millions of households were missing out on the promised benefits from smart meters due to “problems with technology” and poor supplier customer service.

  Smart meters are seen as an important part of the transition to net zero as they allow homeowners to more easily track their energy use and take steps to reduce consumption.

  In March, data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero showed that, at the end of last year, 3.98m meters in Great Britain were not working properly – or had “temporarily lost smart functionality”, to use the official terminology.

  Almost one-third (31%) of those polled said they had experienced problems with their meter’s in-home display – the screen that helps people track their energy usage and costs.

  A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said its statistics showed the vast majority of the meters installed – almost 90% – were working in smart mode.

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  The original article contains 484 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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