Is it true that 20% of smart meters don't work?

I’m the same where checking every day is concerned, but indeed not everyone is the same.

Years ago, well, OK, decades ago, I was quite happy to leave quarterly bills to be based on the figures provided by meter readers, never checking my meter from one end of the year to the other, extraordinary.  Perhaps occasionally if a card had been left asking me to insert my figures.  But that happy trust was normal back then. 

And goodness how meter reading visits have all but vanished, they used to be so regular. I’ve just finished Barbara Vine’s “No Night is too Long”, set mainly in 90’s Suffolk, where at one point the main protagonist says “…the doorbell rang…no one ever comes to the door except meter readers…”.

And earlier this afternoon @Blastoise186 had to advise a consumer who was extremely worried (to the point of considering calling the police) because someone claiming to be a meter reader had called on their elderly mother without first making an appointment. Perfectly right to be concerned of course, but we’re  just not used to meters being physically read or inspected anymore. 

Following on from my previous post (gas meter too far from hub) I log into my account monthly where there is always a message asking me to submit a manual reading. An engineer called at OVO's behest to check the problem. He logged onto the OVO system from his PDA and said that the readings were being sent so the problem was between the reading system and billing depts. However he could not explain why my IHD wasn't showing Gas info either?

Customer services raised an urgent technical query at the beginning of February - no response to date and still being asked to send manual readings?

Previous comments on the benefits of multi functionality of SMETS might be true but as a domestic customer if the basics don't work then as pointed out, they are just a meter and I still have to trudge up and down two flights of stairs to take a reading and have no idea of my usage or costs until I log in and enter the reading.

As customers are paying for this rollout through their bills some redress should be available for issues such as mine? Echoes of the PO Horizon IT scandal me thinks.

The Horizon scandal was a deliberate miscarriage of justice by the Post Office. Trust me, I’ve read the reports and understand them more deeply than most people - especially the technical stuff. It’s literally right up my street.

Your Smart Meter not working is merely due to most likely some very unusual circumstances that are unintentional and an edge case.

Edge cases != miscarriage of justice.

Too serious @blastoise! Comment about PO was tongue in cheek but has certain parallels. It's obvious nobody knows what percentage of meters don't work as intended. Whether it's the meter itself or somewhere else in the system if it doesn't result in my account being updated automatically and accurately then by any reasoning it ain't working! Much the same as my TV won't work if the aerial falls off the roof.

The various suppliers of the statistics all have their own vested interests in mind and spin their numbers accordingly. This includes Government, networks, suppliers and so called consumer champions. Somewhere amongst this smorgasbord of figures is the truth which is all we ask but even if we take the lowest percentages quoted that's an awful lot of meters.

All the best.

I have not read all the preceding comments or the reported Martin Lewis story, but from my experience he may have a point.

As a retired Metrologist/Calibration Engineer & a Landlord I had 6 Smart meters under my watch 4/6 have been replaced over the years by various energy suppliers due to remote reporting issues, I assumed it was the result of tenants changing suppliers. My gas Engineer who services my boilers tells me hundreds of his customers have had similar issues & that they are anything but smart.

My Mother moved in 16/05/23 so I rang SSE with readings to discover there domestic arm had transferred to OVO who don`t recognise the (SSE) Aclara SGM1416-B meter, S/No 21M0150073, manufactured 2020, certified 2021 & installed 30/06/2021. Huge bills followed which we paid as we had no history. Once history was recorded I queried why the meter readings did not match those online?, an OVO Engineer was dispatched who verified the discrepancy. After numerous phone calls I paid for a METER ACCURACY TEST on 13/09/2024, sent off the forms to SGS , then spoke to SGS & emailed everything to them, months passed phone calls etc, eventually a complaint raised on my behalf & we had a refund from OVO as it was an SSE error.

I was asked would I still wish to have the accuracy test completed & I said yes & could I have a copy of the results so I can verify true consumption. On 17/07/2025 an OVO Engineer told me there is no display & he's changing the meter, I said display or not it can still be tested, he would forward my request.

I had a message from OVO & a conversation, they replaced the meter, administrate condemned the old one & destroyed the evidence

Summary:

You asked about the accuracy test results for the meter that was previously installed at your property.

I’ve checked our records, and the meter was exchanged for a new one during the engineer's visit on 17 July 2025.

Unfortunately, this means the original meter is no longer available for testing.

I’m really sorry that the meter accuracy test wasn’t carried out as expected and that the evidence was lost in the process

This seems like another case of under developed technology rolled out prematurely from pressure by successive Governments & left to the unsuspecting public to struggle with.

These meters constantly self-test and self-calibrate over 5,000 times a day. I very much doubt they’d go massively out of line without setting off an alarm.

Based on what you described, a MAT was the wrong move to make. It was probably a comms issue.

Hey ​@RetiredCalibrationEngineer, 

Welcome to the community! 

I apologise for the smart meter issues your mother has experienced since her move from SSE. Having recently upgraded from a traditional key meter to a smart meter myself, I can share some of my own experiences.

One key advantage is that my readings are now sent automatically, eliminating the risk of unbilled usage. I also have access to more detailed data, making it easier to manage my energy consumption and identify when and where I use the most power.

It seems articles like the one mentioned in this discussion were designed to provoke a reaction, with little basis in research or evidence.

We have a few helpful articles on the Forum which give more information that might be useful:

I hope this helps! 

In my opinion, one of the biggest problems is that too many people in the media (including St Martin Lewis) appear not to know or care about the difference between a Smart Meter (those boring white things with the odd flashing light) and the pretty In Home Display. Almost every article and every TV report shows an IHD, not an actual meter!! Is it any wonder that the average person thinks that the pretty IHD is their actual smart meter? I even saw someone on another forum recently saying that they had disconnected their smart meter and it was now in the drawer in the kitchen with no power source. I am one of those people who logs into their OVO account every day and I actually have multiple spreadsheets from the date my smart meters were installed in September 2023 showing my electricity and gas usage for each day and the lowest outdoor temperature of each day! The electricity spreadsheets include my half hourly usage data for every day too. I also have another spreadsheet that calculates what would be a “sensible” Direct Debit for me to cover my future estimated usage as shown on the “My Plan” section of the my OVO webpage. Yes, I am a data nerd!

​@Bendog thanks for your helpful insight here. You’re absolutely right in what you’re saying, the way advertising etc has promoted smart meters has caused this widespread misconception about the In Home Display being the smart meter for some time now.