Homes stuck with millions of faulty smart meters
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Households have been saddled with three million faulty smart meters in a botched roll-out that is ballooning over budget, a report reveals today.
Nearly one in 10 smart energy meters installed in UK homes are not working properly and more than one in three homeowners have reported problems, the National Audit Office found.
It comes as the roll-out, which was supposed to have seen a smart meter installed in every home by 2020, is now forecast to cost more than £13.5bn.
Smart meters are replacing traditional gas and electric meters and send automatic readings to energy suppliers. Display screens also provide homeowners with real-time information about how much they are spending on power.
The Government is lagging far behind its latest 2025 target of putting smart meters in 80pc of homes, with 57pc of households having had one installed by March this year, according to data from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero detailed in the report.
Suppliers told the NAO that they are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade customers to accept smart meters and that they had already plucked all the “low hanging fruit” of households who are willing to install the meters.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/homes-stuck-with-3m-faulty-smart-meters/
The Telegraph report includes the usual BS from the smart meter lobby:
Dan Brooke, of Smart Energy GB, said: “The report identifies areas for improvement, but also highlights that past challenges have been largely overcome and that smart meters are helping people to reduce their energy use and save more money than ever before.”
The answer is simple, Mr Brooke – drop the pressure on energy suppliers to instal them, let people decide for themselves whether they want them, and make the ones who do pay the full cost, instead of landing everybody with a bill of £500. If they are so good and save so much money, people will rush to pay for one.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
It must be unlawful to sell and/or foist known faulty goods especially agaist opposition.
There’s worse to come. As I understand it, these meters use the old 2/3G networks which are going to be shut down fairly soon and the bandwidth re-allocated. It is not economic/practical to modify the existing units so they will all be replaced, at even greater cost.
3G is being turned off end of 2023, Vodafone started this month, 2G has a target turn off date of 2030. To be fair hardly anyone uses 3G now, most old data applications use either 2G (gprs) or LORA (868MHz). 2G is also still used as a fallback for some NB-IoT devices
Thanks for that clarification. The 2G turn-off is further away than I thought but not long in terms of having to replace all existing meters.
Hopefully the latest versions have some alternative to 2G.
Over here, across the Pond, I was having trouble with by flip-phone. When I went to my carrier I was told, “You ain’t got enough Gs, fool.” I left with a new phone–I had no choice, as I did not have enough Gs in my old, paid-for, phone.
These so-called smart meters are but the precursor to the utility being able to cancel your service for whatever they deem necessary, be it non payment, or not supporting the Net Zero initiative, or simply voting for the wrong candidate. This, like the climate grift writ large, is about control and nothing more.
Smart meters were a colossal failure in Ontario, they had time of day pricing and were compulsory. Here is the latest report I could find.
Click to access v2_111en16.pdf
I live in Ontario. Not sure how you determined that Ontario’s smart meters have been a failure. Yes, installation of the SMs was compulsory and initially came with time of day pricing. As far as I know all installed SMs are still operational but users now have the choice of TOU pricing or tiered rates. I chose the latter as my monthly usage almost always falls below the limits of 600kWh in summer and 1000kWh in winter. This makes me eligible for the Tier 1 rate of 8.7 cents per kWh. For consumption over those monthly limits the Tier 2 rate is 10.3 cents per kWh.
For comparison:
In New South Wales, Australia, we’ve just received notification from Origin Energy of a rate increase from 1 July 2023.
From that date we’ll be paying 40. 128 cents per kWh (25% increase) plus 177.78 cents per day supply charge (10.0% increase).
There’s no doubt that green socialist left Labor governments cannot organise a chook raffle, let alone an electricity grid.
Well stated. I concur.
Did you read the report, I based my comments on the findings of the Ontario Auditor. Im in UK. Our electricity is roughly 3 to 4 times more expensive than yours, although it was way higher 18 months ago, the price is set by an incompetent government department. It is going down a little next month
UK authoritarian green bodge and a nation being forced marched, its descent into an oblivion it ‘government) refuses to understand or contemplate the repercussions (also here remember the debacle of covid all based on lies and bogus testing). HMG, it excels in lowering the denominator and in bog standards and government initiatives based on bovine thinking and all about a false premise – man made alarmism. Like the Australian green deal and roll out of all sorts of green madness (home insulation etc) it was an utter disaster which they Australian government: had to put stop to. Up here, ‘our’ lunatics, heads in the sand just double down and make an idiot policy (‘smart’ meters) turn it into a calamity.
Athelstan:
We have a newest government still wanting to roll out the green madness. They are taxing gas, shutting down coal stations and building transmission lines everywhere (in the expectation of wonders of renewables). Instead of a $274 reduction in electricity bills (last years promise in the election) we’ve had a 23% increase in electricity bills.
And for FRANCIS above: would you like our 50¢ per kWh?
O/T slightly but talking about things being faulty…the BBC claimed Scotland’s hottest day of the year so far with 30.7°C at Threave, Dumfriess and Galway.
Well yet another accurate quality site! This is what a Stevenson’s Screen is supposed to look like according to the MO.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/guides/observations/how-we-measure-temperature#:~:text=The%20thermometer%20is%20exposed%20in,ventilation%20through%20the%20side%20louvers.
So I looked up Threave on google street view. Now bear in mind there is no human being in the shot –
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.925906,-3.9498178,3a,15y,159.52h,84.96t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s_IN2-MVEgvISIFpPlTZCpw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D_IN2-MVEgvISIFpPlTZCpw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D219.56294%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
So who leaves the door open on a Stevenson’s screen? Is it to let the heat in?
And yes this is an official Met Office site.
p.s. sorry for the long links but I personally rarely open abbreviated links and the last time I did (last week) my email address was hacked and I now have to use a new one.
Ray,
The image in “street view” is from 10/14/2021 – – may be relevant.
The interior of the unit is dark and that would make a difference by allowing radiant energy to enter. However, the opening faces north, so the energy being reflected could reach the dark surfaces, not direct.
Somewhat related.
I’m in the USA and have lived in several locations. The electric providers have always had a person visit the houses once a month and “read-the-meter” so they could send a bill. That is time consuming and costly. About 12 years ago new meters were installed with a transmitter. See:
https://www.stratocomsolutions.com/aerial-meter-reading/
In my case the new meter was a dud so the first reading a month after installation show zero usage. The utility absorbed the cost of replacement, and I got a month of free electrons.
So the meters are smart like your government is smart.
It’s a win-win for the Marxists. Not only will they control your energy they will crash your economy in the process.
The latest dirty trick from electricity billing companies (Ovo at least) is to say that they can send someone to read your meter, but now you have to be at home for that to happen, but of course all that goes away with a smart meter.
EDF haven’t read my meter for over 10 years, just used my submissions. I think a bloke may have been round from time to time but I never answer cold calls. It’ll be interesting to see if they start insisting and making it inconvenient.
As I posted the other day the Economy 7 etc. signal is being turned off which will bump about 800k more people onto smart meters. They will be made compulsory, just a matter of time.
Even if your meter’s on an outside wall like mine are? Although mine are smart fitted before I moved in, so it’s only academic interest.
I have personal experience of two smart meters.
One was installed in a block of flats. The flat was too far from the meter which means it will never work. Didn’t stop the numpty from installing it though.
The second one is in a house with solar panels. It was charging us for the electricity we sent to the grid. The overall bill was 6 times higher than it should have been. The bill for May was 100 times higher than it should have been.
Pretty smart.
Who could possibly have seen this disaster coming? I have been publicly warning people for years never to have a smart (dumb) meter installed. Anything labelled as smart is only suitable for dumb people.
If only we could install smart politicians.
I am being pressured to allow the electricity supplier to replace a meter with a “smart meter”. They say the old ins is worn out.
I do not want a smart meter. Does anyone know if I can refuse.
I doubt the old one is redundant. I did work in the state owned electricity distribution organisations decades ago and theirs lasted ages. The one I have is digital do it should last a quarter century.
They’ve been pestering me for years kept on declining then resorted to trying to tell me my digital meter was about to expire – it isn’t – after they accepted that they’ve gone quiet
We’ve had smart meters here for over ten years, but no one has so far been able to explain to me whether “smart meters are helping people to reduce their energy use and save more money than ever before.”
In Australia, all new meters are “smart meters”, unless the customer opts out, in which case customer must pay the cost of physical meter read attendances. Customers with a smart meter get a choice of Time of Use or flat rate tariffs. I saved 30% by moving to a Time of Use tariff, because most of my larger power loads could be scheduled to low tariff times, and less than 20% of my power usage is in “peak hours”.
I opted out of the smart meter in Qld. as nothing wrong with the old meter and new meter with it’s antenna sends info every 5 min. back to base. Now have to pay about $35 a quarter for meter reading whilst I could have emailed the reading to billing myself.
A) Just another fee that goes directly to net profits. B) They do not trust you.
I wouldn’t mind paying the meter reader PROVIDED. I also didn’t have to pay for the smart meter. But since those are “free”, no doubt you don’t get a reduction.
Just a scam. If this wasn’t mandated by the government and was wholly private businesses doing it, the Left would be shouting about it.
As my uni finance teacher used to state, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” You will pay for this “free” meter in the long run. The sole purpose of these dastardly devices is to give the utility the ability to shut off your power consumption at their list. Use your AC too much–off. Make noise about the Net Zero initiative–off. Vote for the wrong MP–off. This is only about control.
Your compliance will be rewarded by them remotely disconnecting you the first time you run a wash at an unapproved time. Do not anger your psychopathic overlords or you will be watching telly by candle light.
Watch the TED talk by Jeromy Johnson on the potential dangers of low frequency microwave radiation that a smart meter can cause. It pumps out a microwave signal 24/7 in your home.
There are smart meter shields/faraday cages available commercially or DIY to prevent the frequencies coming into the residence.
Trouble is most folk use Wi-Fi in their homes and have various family members on mobiles and iPads at any time, plus dear little Alexa. If you were to surround your home in a Faraday Cage, I don’t think you will get any signal. When we were house hunting, we found a property we liked, but there was a tall mobile mast nearby. I had a EMF survey done and was advised to walk away as the low frequency microwave radiation being pumped out by the mast was enormous.
Briqn, I was referring to the shield/cage that surrounded the smart meter itself not the whole home; the device would be awkward for those living in multi-unit dwellings.
As I’m sure most are aware, UK electrical smart meters are equipped with a set of contacts to permit the supply to be disconnected remotely. I don’t want anyone to have the option of selectively disconnecting my electricity remotely.
I’m unclear what the variable cost of electricity is when we have a lot of renewables in the system? If the syswas 100% wind/solar, variable cost would be very low and thus the ability to save money by using g less would be very small – all the assets have to be paid for regardless of how much we use them.
So is this not a total scam?
The main purpose3 of smart meters is in demand management. This will need a new meter as the purpose of demand management is to disconnect you from the mains when demand exceeds supply. Think wind and solar. However the present meters are just demand monitoring, and do not have the facility to disconnect which would need 50 amp contactors, and an electronic stop cock. This was laid out years ago in the time of the old CEGB whose chairman stated that in the future customers would have to get used the only using electricity when ir was available.
A quick websearch suggests that smart meters can cut off supply but the circumstances are heavily proscribed to protect the vulnerable, etc..
A couple of comments:
“Benjamin Sovacool, a University of Sussex professor studying smart meters, said he understood it was technically possible for your supplier to cut off your supply remotely, but that this would only be used as a last resort. For example, a prepayment meter customer who has fallen into extremely large arrears.”
“British Gas confirmed that “remote disconnection” is possible but that smart meters grant no additional powers to disconnect than with standard meters. A spokesman for the energy giant said they would never disconnect a customer without an engineer visiting the property.”
I’ve not been able to find anything about them being used for demand management.
” A quick websearch suggests that smart meters can cut off supply but the circumstances are heavily proscribed to protect the vulnerable, etc.. ”
In the event of a “grid emergency” , how long would it take to enact “emergency” legislation to remotely disconnect individual customers because of the “emergency” ? A few hours? It is currently possible to disconnect geographical areas to preserve fuel e.g. historical planned power cuts during the miner’s strike(s), leaving a reduced but intact grid that can be fully resurrected at short notice.
In the extreme, a customer making a net contribution to the grid e.g. solar panels, EV etc could remain connected but his next door neighbour – who might be a drain on the grid – could be disconnected i.e. demand management.
When smart meters were introduced years ago they were about demand mgt, but that has morphed into abject control of the populace. Years ago an electro-mechanical contactor would have been used, but advance in electronics obviate that need. Do you really think wind turbines handling hundred of amps use contactors? Your opinion of smart meters and your knowledge of solid state electronics is mired in the past, no offense intended.
@ billydick007 , are your comments aimed at me?
My comment was “aimed” at no one in particular. I simply posted a reply to something I read. If it was your post I hope I have not offended you. If I have, I apologize, Bill
Yes I know about contators (glad you used proper name instead of relay) But we still have switch boxes in the house on the ring circuits (thermal operation) and the main switch. My knowledge is a bit out of date – worked on wiring up Port Talbot comms and mains. Yes in the ’60’s, Still there – so got away with that one. but I thought triac, thyristor, FETS etc did not provide the isolation required by IET. Mechanical isolation is demanded of SPD’s and AFDD’s. I can see more micro management, of all energy, similar to California Rolling Blackout, which I believe is how they plan to manage demand. It is how they plan to set a limit, on how much energy you will be allowed to use, at various times of the day. If you use to much – snip. Regarding wind turbines, I bet you they have a way of disconnecting them from the grid, especially should an accident occur. You have to remember that Paul Ehrlich stated that giving everyone unlimited energy was akin to giving an idiot child a machine gun.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply to my reply. Must the child be an idiot to be dangerous? Would a moron or an imbecile do? Bill
” If it was your post I hope I have not offended you. ”
No offence taken. The structure of the board means that replies don’t always end up where intended. However, you wrote:
” Your opinion of smart meters and your knowledge of solid state electronics is mired in the past, no offense intended. ”
…. which is obviously aimed at someone.
In my small corner of the UK electrical engineering sector, the control system for a three phase electric motor (up to 200hp ) has to be equipped with traditional electro-mechanical contactors to switch the supply to the drive. Why? Because the solid state components comprising the drive are not regarded as sufficiently robust to provide certainty re: no uncovenanted operation, where uncovenanted operation could lead to fatalities.
A domestic smart meter selected at random appears to have a traditional electro-mechanical contactor to provide remote isolation https://www.rayleigh.com/media/uploads/AS230_brochure.pdf (pdf)
For the purposes of this thread, I could re-phrase my earlier comments:
” UK electrical smart meters are equipped with a means to permit the supply to be disconnected remotely. ”
… which covers traditional electro-mechanical contactors and modern solid state devices.
You’ve mentioned control systems for wind turbines, my comments on this thread are not aimed at wind turbines.
Not as bad as Johannesburg’s test roll-out of remote meters about 6 years ago! The meters were read by BlueTooth communications, and the whole collection in our suburb went wild, jamming the BlueTooth frequencies. So, for over a week, until the meters were ALL reprogrammed, no wireless remotes would work! No garage doors, or alarm systems could be used, and even my external weather station went screwy.
The smart mater project was managed by the super smart folk at OfGem. They are responsible for the design and implementation of the Smart Meters. And then costs of the project are added to our bills. The project promised a cost benefit that showed in saved money. What a load of tosh that proved to be. There is no compelling evidence that a Smart Meter saves consumes any significanrt money. OfGem should be called to account for yet another poor decision that has costs the tax payer and consumers billions of £ for no real benefit.
We still have the most expensive electricity in Europe and OfGem are directly responsible for a large chunk of those costs that we are forced to pay. Yet again we pay for huge and costly errors made by the Government mandated quangos.
Until some high ranking civil servants are fired rater than given honours we in the UK are doomed to pay highs costs for energy.