Households across the UK are unable to track their energy consumption as their suppliers refuse to provide them with replacement screens for their smart meters.
Readers have told This is Money that utility companies have rejected their request for a new display unit, meaning that while their meter continues to send readings, they can’t see how much energy they are using in real time and how much power they are using. . Being loaded.
This includes disabled and vulnerable customers who physically cannot read their main meter, and one customer who saw their display ruined in a flood.
Many companies refuse to send a replacement display if one has already been installed in the property more than 12 months previously, even if the current customer did not live there at the time.
Useless: Readers struggle to see the point of having a smart meter installed in their home if they don’t have access to a screen at home.
This creates problems when people move home and take their unit with them, not realizing that they are supposed to stay on the property.
Reader LS told us that she and her sister, who are retired, moved into a new rented home in 2022 and have been repeatedly denied a showing at the home by their supplier, British Gas.
She said: ‘We moved into this property two years ago and the previous tenant didn’t leave a single exhibit behind. We are really frustrated because we can’t track our usage.
‘I have called British Gas about four times but they refuse to give me a new one. He said we could go out and read the meter ourselves or go online, but the online reading is two or three days late.’
This is Money received this email after revealing that British Gas had refused to offer a home smart meter to another reader who discovered she didn’t have one when she moved to a new home.
People could be forgiven for thinking that it will be quite easy for their supplier to install a new screen, if they discover that there is none in the property when they move in.
But, unfortunately, many times this is not the case. The above email is just one of the many complaints This is Money has received from readers.
In line with Government guidance, British Gas policy is that it will not supply a new screen to the home if you have already installed one in the same property more than 12 months ago.
Cost of living: Smart meter displays allow users to track their energy usage
While the smart meter will still provide readings to the supplier, it means customers without a display in the home will not be able to track their energy usage in real time.
The rule has left customers across the country struggling to properly track their energy consumption, at a time when high energy costs continue to force people to tighten their finances.
The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero says suppliers are only required to provide in-home screens up to this one-year limit, but suggests energy companies should try to help customers after that, especially if they are vulnerable. .
Its policy guidance says: “The government considers that providers should have processes in place to support consumers who want or will benefit from a replacement screen in the home beyond this 12 month period, especially for vulnerable consumers who ‘They rely on their screen at home to track spending, or those who use their screen to top up a smart meter in prepaid mode.’
Based on the Government’s voluntary principles for energy suppliers, they should offer a range of services to smart meter customers, such as troubleshooting, promoting citizen advice help pages and offering a clear path to resolution.
The key word here is “voluntary.” The obligation for providers only extends to the 12-month replacement period unless they sign up to the voluntary guidelines, and not all do.
This is Money readers have told us that requests for a new screen have been met with waiting lists, delays and empty promises.
While British Gas offers an app through which customers can track their usage, this is not in real time, but only provides figures with a lag of several days.
Additionally, not everyone has the ability or wants to download an application on a mobile phone.
Government guidelines: Energy suppliers are not required to provide smart meter displays after they are more than a year old
DL, another reader who moved to a new house and discovered there was no monitor, told This is Money: ‘I was told that since one had been issued for the property, they can’t issue another.
“My argument is that I am a new customer and should have all the benefits of any other customer, but this falls on deaf ears.”
This is Money was also contacted by readers who are disabled or affected by illness, but were still denied a screen at home, even though they are physically unable to check their meter.
One of them, EH, said: ‘I have worked at British Gas for over five years and I am disabled. I can’t read my gauges and every year I have asked for a display but unfortunately have been turned down.
“I’ve been put on a priority list, but that was more than three years ago.”
I have to ask my eight year old son to check what’s in both of my meters, which is really bad.
Another, SB, told This is Money: ‘I find it quite difficult to get into a very small cupboard in an awkward spot in my kitchen to access my prepaid gas and electricity meters.
‘I have to ask my eight-year-old son to check what’s in both of my meters, which is very bad.
‘I asked if the meters could be moved to another location, but they told me it couldn’t be done; one more reason to give me a display monitor at home.
‘This is very disturbing coming from a big company, and at times when my condition is at its worst, it is a real struggle. The app also has outdated information, telling me I need to top up even when there is enough money in the meter.’
‘British Gas wouldn’t replace my screen after a flood’
JL’s home in west London flooded in 2021, destroying everything on the ground floor of his house, including his home’s smart meter display.
‘Once back at my property in August 2022, I contacted British Gas and asked if they could provide me with a new smart meter display, explaining that it had been damaged by the flood.
‘He flatly refused and was actually quite rude about it. They said it’s my responsibility since I had it for over 12 months.
“There was no compassion whatsoever from British Gas.”
This is Money decided to contact British Gas and ask why these readers had been denied in-home viewing of their smart meters.
A British Gas spokesperson said: “We know that smart energy monitors provide a valuable service. While all our smart meter customers can monitor their energy use online or via our app, we are listening to our customers and actively updating our policy with a view to extending the availability of replacement monitors to more customers in the coming months.
Since we got in touch, British Gas has spoken to readers and arranged appointments to install screens at home.
Not just British gas
Readers have also been in touch with similar issues from different suppliers, and we have contacted Eon, Ovo and Octopus Energy to ask about their policies on providing screens to homes where one has previously been installed.
Ovo agreed to install a display at home for a reader, but declined to comment.
Two Eon customers contacted us because they were in properties that had smart meters installed in 2017 and 2019, and had been refused replacement.
In these cases, the company stood firm, in accordance with the Government’s principles of voluntary substitution.
Eon said its home displays were “outside the 12-month warranty period for replacements.”
However, he added: “We have provided them with information on ways in which they can obtain their own monitor, in line with new Government measures that have been adopted by Eon and a number of other suppliers.”
Another reader provided by Octopus Energy got in touch to tell us that their smart meter display was not working.
The company said that to get a working home display, its first-generation smart meter would have to be replaced with a second-generation one due to a shortage of supply of devices that would work with first-generation meters.
Since his first-generation meter is still working properly, he said this would not be a priority.
However, it agreed to provide him with an Octopus Home Mini, a device that allows updated energy usage data to be reflected in the Octopus app.
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