Money-saving guru Martin Lewis is urging Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to change rules around smart meters, as millions of installed devices are believed to have gone ‘dumb’
Brits could soon be entitled to a hefty compensation if their smart meter isn’t working properly. It follows plans to clamp down on energy firms who have bodged smart meter installations – leaving millions of devices to go into ‘dumb’ mode.
This is where the smart meter stops automatically transmitting readings, and is thought to impact around 20 per cent of installed devices across the UK. Energy regulator Ofgem has proposed that suppliers will not only have to pay £40 to customers impacted by the fault, but will also have to offer quicker fixes when Brits report an issue with their smart meter.
Martin Lewis argues while the proposals will help put pressure on suppliers to help fix people’s ‘dumb’ devices, it doesn’t actually ‘address the underlying causes’. The money expert has since formally requested Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to change the rules.
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“Too many resources are focused on installations, not repairs, leaving more existing meters not working properly,” Martin wrote to the politician. “Repairs can be slow, if they happen at all, leaving consumers frustrated and at risk of mis-billing and further problems.
“While there are current, somewhat flaccid rules that firms must take ‘reasonable steps’ to repair meters, that just leaves an argument over what ‘reasonable’ is, and it is nowhere near as robust as official targets. Plus, those targets would need to not allow a carve-out (as the ‘reasonable steps’ condition does) of the not insignificant number of times where the smart meter problems are due to the (wireless) network – which has left an accountability gap.”
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The expert discussed the issue in his eponymously named podcast with Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson – who argued that energy firms aren’t prioritising fixing ‘dumb’ smart meters as repairs do not count towards the target of 100 per cent smart meter coverage by the end of 2025. “That engineer [visit] is a cost that we are happy to pay to make a customer happy, but ultimately we get a regulatory penalty for fixing it,” Greg added.
Tim Jarvis, a director at Ofgem, hailed smart meters for providing millions of households with ‘cheaper and more flexible’ tariffs, as well as automatic meter readings and real-time data to help accurately keep track of their spending. “But we know that many customers are still waiting too long to get a smart meter installed or facing lengthy delays on repairs when it stops working,” he added. “That’s why we’re stepping in to make the process quicker and easier for consumers, and to make sure they’re fairly compensated if things do go wrong.”
How to tell your smart meter isn’t working properly
There are many warning signs your smart meter isn’t working as it should, including if the device fails to display anything on the screen. Checking your energy bills for any unwarranted spikes is another great way to gauge whether your device has gone ‘dumb’.
As previously reported, if you spot an energy bill marked with an ‘e’ – this means you’re being billed on an estimate from the provider, as opposed to your actual consumption. If this happens to you, make sure you get in touch with your energy provider and ask for an engineer to be sent around.
If the proposals, which will be consulted on in May, pass – customers with ‘dumb’ devices will be entitled to £40 in compensation if the supplier fails to fix the issue within 90 days. It is not confirmed whether this compensation will double if you have a smart meter for both your gas and electric usage.
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