Gas Smart meter has a reading of all zeroes on the display and no charges on bill
Brief Background: I live alone in a 2nd (top) floor flat in a newish block of six flats, so relatively low usage. The electric meter is in a cupboard under the stairs in the communal area entrance, and the gas meter is outside on an exterior wall at ground level. Point to point distance between them is probably about 15 metres. The IHD is on the edge of the range to pick up a signal from the meter, and fluctuates with being connected and offline.
I had smart meters fitted in June after holding out for years given all the problems I heard about them from other people. When they were fitted the engineer said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to change the gas meter due to it’s distance from the electric meter. However after checking it, he said it was fine and both were replaced. The electric meter switched on my account fairly quickly, but the gas meter hadn’t changed after a couple of weeks but I was told to allow 6 weeks and it did eventually change.
Since the whole premise was that it would send it’s own readings, I never really paid any attention to the meters or my bills. I was told if the meter had communication issues, eventually OVO would ask for a manual reading. I’ve never at any point had any emails, texts, letters or phone calls to say they were not getting a reading.
Fast forward to this week, when I finally caved and put the central heating on, I wanted to know how much that had cost. Looking at my account, I see 0 gas usage! Scrolling back through my account on the app I see no gas usage at all until around the 19th October at which point it starts showing usage but it’s typically the same value (all within 1kWh) for each day even on days when I’ve used no heating compared to days when it was on for four hours! When I look at my account on the webpage it has readings of 0000 until 19th October, and then no readings since. Electricity seems to be perfectly fine btw.
That was when I went to go and do a manual reading, and the display on the gas meter has a string of zeroes on it!!! It’s almost like someone forgot to start the meter counting! At no point did I lose my gas supply.
I’ve filled out the form for smart meter issues, but it’s saying I will get a response within 45 working days! As much as I like the idea of “free” gas I want this sorted so I know how much of a potential bill I’m facing (although how would usage be worked out, if the meter says 0?). I did the usual checks and the SW, HAN, WAN, and GAS lights are all flashing every 5 seconds as I believe is expected.
Has anyone come across this before, or got any ideas what happened? I’ve attached pictures of the meter displays (the lights are on because it was mid-flash, they do not stay on).
Thanks.
