Bulb - Offering 2nd generation Smart Meter

Got 2nd gen from bulb. It fails to provision and can’t find mobile network signal, thus it has always been dumb for me.

Bulb are notoriously bad with smart metering. All the providers aren’t really great with it and it seems the system isn’t exactly seamless but Bulb don’t seem to grasp it so well.

Why are bulb smart meters so bad? Aren’t they all standard, installed by a third party who does it for all other companies?

I had mine installed a month or so ago and although I never had a smart meter before it seems to be going quite well. It is always connected to the meter and I’m getting daily usage charts that make me think it’s time to swap my windows for something better insulated

You are correct, all meters are 3rd party and generally installed by meter companies such as United Utilities, unlike when it was just the gas board or the leccy supplier for your area.

We are getting ours installed 21 Jan so will see after that :wink:

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E.ON fitted mine, I’m assuming it was one of there’s anyway, had the van, uniform, ID badge, paperwork and everything else branded by them. So unless he swaps vans between jobs 🤷🤣

It’s not the meters that are bad - they’re the same as everyone else’s - but whatever happens in the backend with Bulb such as provisioning or having the data actually come through and he applied to the account seems somewhat unreliable.

I’ve had Bulb myself and also for a few family members - those with smartmeters both first and second gen the smart data would just inexplicably stop for long stretches at a time with no explanation or resolution from bulb.

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There are multiple models of meter, and multiple contractors installing them… and some of them aren’t very good (my first smart gas meter install was considered dangerous by the next installer that looked at it). Bulb make things worse by not engaging when things go wrong, just saying ‘sorry it didn’t work’ and going silent.

It’s also an IMO unnecessarily complex system… there’s an octopus blog that outlines just how complex https://octopus.energy/blog/solving-smart-meter-issues-octopus-energy/

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Oh, the joys of privatisation

I have a 2nd gen Bulb meter and Octopus can’t talk to it anymore :frowning:

It disconnected a month ago and I can no longer get readings online via Octopus or a third party

We looked at getting a smart meter (not bulb) a year or so ago. Our provider would only deliver and install between 9-5 Monday to Friday and you had to be there , which meant we couldn’t have one installed as we were all at work during those times.

Never bothered to look into it since.

This.

I posted the quote below in June on the Bulb forums. Yes there has been issues due to Coronavirus but it should have been registered before the first lockdown. Octopus have not sorted it all out yet. Electricity has been finally sorted (got my first electricity bill since I joined in May from Octopus last week) but my Gas meter has still not been fixed and I have not been billed yet since I joined. Octopus also replaced my Bulb Smart Meters in July in order to confirm the meters installed and try and get the issue solved.

With a heavy heart I left Bulb on 21st May for a number of reasons but mainly my view that the competence of the company was dropping due to perceived stresses on support. I had to be proactive to get Bulb to zero out my new meter on my online account, my bills were becoming regularly issued late, the freezing high my direct debit payment one month when it didn’t need to etc. I also didn’t like the delayed reducing of gas prices until after the cold months ended.

Upon moving to Octopus, Octopus informed me I had 2 electricity meters (I don’t) and that my gas meter was different to the one in my property. Both my meters were replaced in December by Bulb but it looks like Bulb haven’t been bothered to update my meters on the national databases correctly as the two wrong meters had the old serial numbers on them.

If you recently had your meter replaced (and when I say recent, December is my recent) you should check with Bulb that they have correctly updated your meters on the respective national databases. I know we are going through a national crisis but I would have expected all this to have been updated well before lockdown started from December to March.

Octopus has removed the old electricity meter quickly, but the gas meter is stuck as my old one and taking more time to change as they are submitting Bulbs meter change themselves. I do plan to write a complaint to Bulb but I thought I should let people know here so they can check for themselves.

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My switch to Bulb is nearly complete, had to laugh as I got an email saying we need your meter reading (even if you have a smart meter).

Just remotely read it 🤷 it’s SMETS2 and I know they can see it. Modern technology eh

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Weird right? 2nd gen is supposed to stay smart. Guess there must be another highly technical reason. Just had ours installed. Seems ok so far but cannot connect to wifi. R-

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It’s probably just a safety check that the reading you can see is the same reading Bulb can see.

It probably saves a whole lot of hassle years down the line when you realise the meter is faulty and you dispute the readings as wrong.

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Very possibly. The chap that installed ours sent the reading to Bulb so everything started off correctly. R-

I had to do the same for Octopus. Makes sense for the first reading as there has to be an agreed cut over for all parties.

Apparently 2nd generation smart meters have problems giving correct readings if you have a payment meter.

Personally I am going to resist having any installed for as long as possible. They aren’t really for your benefit but to allow variable charging by the supplier as they certainly won’t change my consuming behaviour. I have had a ‘thingy’ attached to my electricity cable for very many years that has been telling me how much energy is being used. Guess what? I still turn on the kettle when I want a cup of tea and the lights when I want to see and the TV when I want to watch something.

From Telegraph
“However, the costs of installing smart meters could far outweigh the benefits. A 2018 report from the National Audit Office put the programme’s bill at £11.5bn or roughly £391 per household.
In a 2019 report, the Government countered and said energy savings would shave £250 off the average dual-fuel household’s bill over 20 years. Many customers are uncomfortable with energy usage being monitored in real time”

So I think we are all paying to have the meters installed through higher energy prices so the suppliers can charge us variably in the future i.e. more at peak times (as well as knowing when we are away).

If we’re going to move to mainly renewable, then incentives to modify your pattern of consumption are going to be essential. So, timers on washing machines, car charging overnight or when it’s windy. It may well also drive innovation in tech. I’m thinking maybe a smart kettle with a small, but powerful battery etc.

Remember, this is something the government has largely forced on the industry

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That “thingy” had altered my behaviour especially for my gas. Instead of having the heating on and spending £1.50 for the day I’m bunging a jumper or hoodie on and sitting under a throw and spending £0.25 a day instead. There’s only me in the house so not like I have to compromise with others.

I’ll now wait for the temperatures to drop below a dangerous level before allowing the thermostat to kick in.

Took them a few days, but finally getting readings turned into graphs. Little bit underwhelmed, I think I was expecting to be able to dive down io each 30 min interval.

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