Faulty smart or traditional meters: Blank display, inaccurate, broken, noisy meters - DIY tutorial series

Hey hey. Hoping for some informed advice RE my Landis + Gyr E470 SMETS 1. There’s been no display for 4 years. Asked provider to sort this several times over that time but not action taken. Readings have been attempted by doorstep reader  mannies (unsure what their formal title is) but impossible. 
So, been paying based on estimates all this time. Finally, provider seems interested in doing a replacement. However, I’m concerned there may be some logs in the profile that may provide higher readings than the estimates. 
is this possible/likely? 
many thanks for any informed input!

Welcome @Malkymagic ,

As you’ve probably figured out, I know a lot about these L+G Meters. :D

It does sound to me as if the meter is totally dead - replacement is, unfortunately, the only option in this situation. You would at least get SMETS2 though which is one upside.

Once the Meter Exchange (MEX) is done, the Supplier should try to rebuild your meter readings using data from the new meter and recalculate both your usage and bills from that - thus refunding any identified overpayments if needed.

Estimates are almost always wrong - and pretty much always overcalculated! It’s rare that they’re lower than your actual usage so you’ll probably get a big refund.

If your current supplier chokes the MEX somehow, OVO can probably do it instead but you’d have to switch first. If you’re up for that, it’s https://switch.ovoenergy.com .

By the way, who is your supplier? Feel free to mention them - it helps with our advice.

Thanks fella. That’s reassuring. Other than the “chokes the MEX somehow” statement. Does that mean they may be able to read the actual readings? I’d much prefer they chucked it in the bin then used my next few months readings to reestimate historical use (since q3 2021 ideally). I just worry that perhaps I’ve used more and may face a big bill. You could be right and they e overestimated but I don’t like risk. 
one of the reasons for me chasing them up to sort this out is because I can switch now without fee as deal about to expire. I expect switching would be problematic with current situation.

thanks again meter master!

Well, that’s the snag. If the existing meter is dead, then it will definitely be chucked in the bin… Well… More accurately it’d be recycled and disposed of responsibly in the most environmentally friendly ways possible - most likely by the manufacturer or an authorised agent. But you wouldn’t have to worry about that since it’s their responsibility.

There isn’t a way to get readings off of totally dead meters.

With that being said, the first few readings from the replacement meter would be used to re-estimate historical usage and recalculate everything. Whatever payments you made during that time will be factored in and knocked off any catch-up bills as a bill credit. If you overpaid you can get the difference back as a cash refund OR put it towards future bills - totally up to you.

If you did underpay (which is unlikely!), the supplier would either write most of it off, or figure something amicable out with you to come to an arrangement - they’d discuss this with you first. However, any payments made would still be knocked off first and you’d only be expected to pay the difference at most.

Once you solve this, definitely feel free to switch if you wish. :)

Amazing. So most likely scenario is it’s binned (hopefully converted to unicorn food, O2 and the remainder used to make a s2) and estimates recalculated. Less likely is they will get the readings but will be willing to write off any difference or at least be reasonable in reaching agreement (I guess I could argue the unit is faulty and the data unreliable). 
Just because of you I will aim to switch to OVO - assuming the price is fairly competitive. I want to assist with the environment business but within bounds. Read a lot on this forum today and I like your style.  
bloody marvellous and thanks once more. 

No worries! Glad I could help.

As a Forum Volunteer, I don’t work for OVO and can’t access anyone’s account myself. However, we can answer an absolute TON of questions and give a pretty wide range of advice - or at very least, point you in the right direction. We aim to please! :D

If you need a hand with anything else, feel free to swing by again. The Forum is open 24/7/365, but we do tend to get some sleep overnight because we’re not robots! :)

Hey @Malkymagic, 

Welcome to the Forum 🎉

I see you have met one of our resident meter experts and volunteers @Blastoise186! You’re in good hands.

Feel free to keep us updated once your meter is exchanged and your bills are recalculated. It can help people in similar situations who read the topic understand your journey better. If you need anything reach out anytime 😊

Will do. Thanks. One thing worth noting is that citizens advice state backbilling rules limit billing historical usage beyond one year assuming some basic behaviours have been adhered to. That makes matters much less risky. 

Hey @Malkymagic 

I can share our back billing policy with you that may help give you some context what we look at and consider as a supplier. I know this may be different for your current supplier but it least it will give you an idea of what the process looks like. Hopefully it’ll help shed some light on it for you! 

What is a backbill?

We send a backbill, or ‘catch-up’ bill, when we haven’t charged correctly for energy use. This can be through inaccurate bills or not being billed at all. Backbills can be for any amount, and may be a result of:

• A technical or human error on the customer's account has resulted in a delay in receiving a statement within the usual timeframe
• The customer has supplied a reading that exceeds the previously estimated readings used in their statements
• There is a discrepancy between the information OVO has and the current meter setup, such as crossed meters (where multiple properties have been billed for each other's usage) or a meter exchange not updated before joining OVO, which requires a corrected bill to be issued.

What is a Backbill Write-Off? 

Where we've issued a backbill for usage over 12 months old, not covered by payments made at the time and the reason for the delay in this billing is not the customer's fault, we'll apply a write-off. This backbill write-off will be a credit applied to the account to cover the difference between the updated usages and the payments made at the time.

The main situations where we'll write off usage prior to 12 months ago are: 

• We haven't billed the customer
• We've billed an account but not for all usage at the property i.e. only one fuel was billed
• We've billed the customer inaccurately due to a technical or administrative error

Charge Adjustment Write-Off 

If we discover an account where we realise a customer's previous bills are incorrect this can sometimes mean we have to rebill a customer's usage that is older than 12 months. In these situations, once the account is correct and ready to issue an accurate statement, we'll look to bill the customer back up to date. However, for any usage over 12 months old (from the date we fix and statement the account), we'll need to review the customer's eligibility for a write-off.
 

12+ Months Write-Off

There are occasions where a customer hasn’t been accurately charged for a period longer than 12 months. Although we work hard to ensure this doesn’t happen we have a process in place to rectify this when it does come up. In these situations, once the issues that prevented us from billing are resolved, we'll look to bill the customer up-to-date. However, we'll need to review the customer's eligibility for a write-off.

If we find the charges of our write-off statement would not have been covered by the payments made (or payments leftover), we write off the difference. If the charges have been covered, following backbilling guidelines, we're not required to perform a write-off. Once we’ve added (or not added) a write-off transaction, we then run the write-off statement. Afterwards, we run an up-to-date bill to the most accurate reading available for the customer's usage within the last 12 months. 

Ofgem rules

You can also read Ofgem's explanation of the back-billing rules, covering these topics:

• What are the back-billing rules
• If you get a back bill
• If you haven’t had an energy bill in over a year
• If you can’t pay a back bill

Hello, we had a power cut in the area recently and when the power came back on I discovered the meter display was blank. 

I contacted OVO to report the problem but they can't help because they no longer fix traditional meters and my current meter is not compatible with a smart meter.  It is an ace9000 kbd meter. I'm also on economy 7

I'm really concerned about getting a large bill for my electricity once this is all sorted and I have no idea when my current meter will be compatible. Can I top up my meter even though it is blank? 

Thank yous for any help offered

Hi @Sammacd93 ,

To help us provide more accurate advice, please post photos of your current meter. It probably just needs a reset - which OVO can arrange. However, I need to see what you’ve got first.

Thanks!

Thank you for your reply, hopefully a reset is all it needs. 

Here's a photo of the meter 

Ah yes, as I suspected. It’s gone into Free Vend Mode. You temporarily have unlimited credit and will NOT be disconnected at this time. The meter is still tracking usage and will collect it after the reset as a debt payment.

Please tell the Support Team it’s in Free Vend Mode and needs an engineer reset. If you get stuck, let us know here.

Hey @Sammacd93,

It looks like our volunteer @Blastoise186 has your issues covered here. If you contact the pay as you go support team on 0330 175 9669 Mon-Fri 8am to 8pm they will arrange for an engineer to come and reset this for you. 

You can find similar topic posts like yours as it’s something we’re familiar with:

Please let us know when you get this sorted 🙂

Thank yous for your help, I messaged the support team and they cannot reset it and it will need replaced unfortunately. I will just need to wait now to be able to get a smart meter installed but there is no time frame for that.

Hi @Sammacd93,

It may be worth calling the team on the number provided above, as your meter is faulty an appointment would need to be made to replace it as soon as possible. They’d be able to look into this for you further.

My meter is showing a display of all 8s even though electricity is being used. I have been told by Ovo that this is normal when no electricity is being used, however electricity is being used. Is my meter faulty? 

What type of meter is it @Janieb ?

Can you show a picture?

That does sound like a fault to me, but I agree. I need photos to be able to check.

Thank you. I’ve now managed to contact OVO again and they’ve agreed that the meter needs replaced. 

You’re welcome. It wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve heard stories of a meter frying itself.

It’s unfortunate, but it does happen sometimes. Hey, I’ve even heard of one case of an L+G E470 getting fried pretty rapidly after install - I conveniently had direct access to OVO’s internal Smart Meter experts for that one, because I was literally in the Bristol office a couple of days after the thread got posted, so we were able to have Insert Sekrit Smart Meter Friend Here take a look at the Forum thread and give his take.

Here we go! I found that thread again.

It’s worth mentioning however, that this is fairly rare and I have seen maybe only a handful of these cases at best. However, the sooner you report it and get the issue resolved, the lesser the ultimate impact will have on your bills.

I have started getting an intermittent beeping noise, seemingly coming from under the stairs where the electricity and gas smart meters and comms hub are installed. Because of its intermittent nature, I haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly where it is coming from. The beep is actually a two-tone noise - a long low note followed by a shorter high note. Is this the sort of noise which may come from one of the meters, and if so, what does it indicate?

Hi @Cliff C ,

That’s a warning tone and it can come from the meters. If it is coming from them, either you’re running low on credit - assuming you’re in Prepayment Mode - OR there’s a fault so I’d say check the display to see what’s up.

Can you show us photos of the meters please - especially with the displays lit up?

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

I’m not on pre-payment, and unfortunately I can’t get decent photos of the meters.

On the electricity meter, the top line of the display reads :

Rate 01 Act Imp 

and the bottom line shows 3 bars for signal strength, and the current meter reading.

On the gas meter, the display took a long time to appear, but eventually it came back (after three attempts); the top line reads :

Meter Index

and the bottom line shows the current meter reading.

Hmm… Sounds normal to me…

I suspect the beeping might be from elsewhere?