{"id":347,"date":"2025-03-29T16:42:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T17:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/?p=347"},"modified":"2025-04-16T01:23:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T01:23:41","slug":"up-to-3500000-brits-could-receive-40-compensation-for-dumb-smart-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/29\/up-to-3500000-brits-could-receive-40-compensation-for-dumb-smart-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"Up to 3,500,000 Brits could receive \u00a340 compensation for \u2018dumb\u2019 smart meters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Smart\t<\/div>
Ofgem proposes suppliers compensate households for issues (Picture: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While smart meters are a handy way to save money on your energy bills<\/a>, it turns out millions across Great Britain may not actually work.<\/p>\n

According to official figures, there have been a number of issues with the nationwide smart meter rollout<\/a>, with as many as 3.5 million currently operating in \u2018dumb\u2019 mode, unable to send energy usage information.<\/p>\n

As such, Ofgem has called on providers to urgently fix broken devices<\/a>, proposing they issue \u00a340 automatic compensation to those who have to wait longer than 90 days.<\/p>\n

Under the regulator’s plans, customers will also receive a payout if a smart meter<\/a> installation fails due to a fault within their provider\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

Amid government targets for three-quarters of all homes to use one by the end of this year, Uswitch research shows up to 1.4 million households in England, Wales and Scotland have waited six months or longer for their broken meter to be fixed.<\/p>\n

However, the new proposals mean anyone who requests a new meter from their supplier will have to be offered one within six weeks, while suppliers will be required to provide a resolution plan to those who report problems with their device within five working days.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Domestic\t<\/div>
Roughly 3.5 million meters may be in ‘dumb mode’ (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tim Jarvis, director general for markets at Ofgem, said: \u2018We\u2019re drawing the line on excuses \u2013 suppliers will need to follow our new rules or compensate their customers.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s why we\u2019re stepping in to make the process quicker and easier for consumers and to make sure they\u2019re fairly compensated if things do go wrong.’<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tWhat is smart meter 'dumb mode'\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

According to Smart Energy GB: ‘\u2018Dumb mode’ is sometimes used to describe when smart meters are not automatically sending meter readings…<\/p>\n

‘If your smart meter is in “dumb mode” or isn\u2019t sending regular meter readings, it will still be measuring your energy use, but it won\u2019t send that information automatically to your energy supplier.<\/p>\n

‘To get accurate bills, you will need to take manual readings and share them with your supplier. You will need to take regular readings until the issue is solved, and your smart meter can send readings automatically again.’<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Martin Lewis <\/a>discussed the topic on a recent episode of his podcast with Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson, who claimed repairs were often not prioritised because fixing existing smart meters doesn’t count towards the targets.<\/p>\n

The Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder previously warned ministers that up to 20% of home smart meters are not working properly, urging them to change the current rules.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband<\/a>, he wrote: ‘Repairs are slow, if they happen at all, as resources are focused on installs, leaving consumers frustrated and at risk of mis-billing and further problems.’<\/p>\n

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Comment now<\/title><span class=\"metro-comment-cta__text\">Do you think a \u00a340 compensation is sufficient for the \u2018dumb\u2019 smart meters?<\/span><\/span><a class=\"metro-comment-cta__button\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\">Comment Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>Ofgem’s proposals are due to be consulted on until May, after which further details on the compensation scheme will likely be released.<\/p>\n<p>Miatta Fahnbulleh, the UK Minister for Energy Consumers, commented: ‘We want to make sure more consumers feel the benefits of having one installed. <\/p>\n<p>‘A crucial part of that will be improving the smart meter customer experience, so we welcome Ofgem\u2019s proposals to introduce guaranteed standards of performance for smart meters.<\/p>\n<p>‘This will help to ensure people who want to upgrade their meters are better supported through the process, and can make the most of their new smart meter.’<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk\">MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ofgem proposes suppliers compensate households for issues (Picture: Getty Images\/iStockphoto) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cost-of-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.phithuongbatphu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}