Are utility companies deliberately issuing underestimated meter readings?

llgon said:
And what happens if the official meter reader calls round and discovers the fraud?
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Or Smart meters that are now being rolled out, ours was installed on the 13th of January our bill was exactly what it said on the meter.
Gas as said still in the analog world.
 
Calm down there lads,it was a bit of a joke.
Buuut....just got my gas bill today(estimated)and it's 140 units shy of the real reading,so I submitted an updated reading on www.gasmeterreading.ie
 
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I mistakenly thought the gas smart meter we had installed last year, was actually going live. I have btw, no issue submitting readings, But then i discovered i was being undercharged, so i called Bord Gais, and they said that gas networks do the readings, and i think they said they are only obliged to do 1 physical reading per annum, as i was 6 months in, i have since submitted readings just before the billing date.

As to original question, i think they base the estimated readings on the information to hand. This has become trickier in recent years, as, if the customer is only with them for a year and moves on(eg myself), then they don’t have a long history of usage, as they don’t have the information. Peoples usage habits are in actual fact, very different, based on individual preferences, and BER rating of the house in the case of heating by gas.
 
llgon said:
And what happens if the official meter reader calls round and discovers the fraud?
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Very easy to misread one digit out of 6 or 7. I'd love to see them 'prove' fraud here but I guess snowflakes melt.
 
elcato said:
Very easy to misread one digit out of 6 or 7. I'd love to see them 'prove' fraud here but I guess snowflakes melt.
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Not melting, just pointing out there's a risk. To make it worthwhile the discrepancy would need to be substantial and should be obvious once bill is received. As a moderator you appear to be encouraging such behaviour by insulting those who discourage it.
 
Do the gas provides not have systems in place to spot huge discrepancies ??
I know a couple of times when I was with Airtricity that two of my readings were rejected as been too low
I found it odd at the time because I submit monthly readings and my reading is my usage
Maybe I made a mistake with a digit but at the time I maybe they have some sort of system that spots abnormal readings and corrects them
 
yes you can refuse smart meter, but then when they become mandatory or you want one in the future (maybe tariffs for non smart meter are hiked up) you may have to pay to get one installed.
 
Why would you refuse a Smart meter?
Are there any valid reasons?
 
jpd said:
Why would you refuse a Smart meter?
Are there any valid reasons?
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I'm not sure this would be classed as a valid reason for refusing one but since I did the change over nothing Bluetooth or Ant+ will work
I had to move the Nest heatlink from the garage to inside the house because it kept disconnecting, working perfectly now
I can't use my Wahoo smart trainer in the garage because it won't connect properly but works fine elsewhere
My Bluetooth headphones disconnect from my phone inside the garage.....

But it's in now so it's something I'm just going to have to live with!!!
 
There could be many reasons why the wireless links in the garage stopped working - a wifi analyser should be able to diagnose the culprit (and, yes, it could be the smart meter)
 
Thanks for the replies..

The only reason why I would refuse a smart meter is that I can't run dishwashers or washing machines etc at night time because I have to run a complicated water filtration systems that need backwashing at night which uses salt that would be drawn into house if these devices where running. Éamon Ryan stated that smart metering tariffs would be compulsory due to the energy crisis.
 
What's the energy & carbon cost of manufacturing, distributing and installing one of these smart meters? What's the energy & carbon cost of scrapping or otherwise disposing of the old, functional meters? How many years of operation will it take to recover those costs using the new meters? What will the annual energy & carbon saving be for one of the new meters over the old functional meters once the initial costs are recovered? Does Ryan know? Does anyone?
 
Smart meters use the 900MHz (2G) band for transmission to the network, and mostly zigbee / Bluetooth (2.4GHz) for short range comms (which might even not be enabled yet). it Is unlikely that it causes these issues, but not impossible.
one easy test is to put a faraday cage around the smart meter (you can use aluminium foil) and see if this helps.
if the issues disappear, the meter seems to have an issue - complain to esb networks and get it replaced.
 
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