Almost four million smart meters not working properly

According to Elizabeth Blakelock, principal policy manager at Citizens Advice, there are three things that need to be working so the smart meter gives the information required:

Communication between the meters and the system they use to send readings to your energy supplier. For most people, this will be the DCC, external. Others may use local networks.

If any of those things are not working, you may be getting estimated bills. The in-home display does not have to be working for your bills to be correct – and some people choose not to use it – but if there is a problem with it, it is worth checking your bills.

If you think there’s a problem between the smart reader and the central system, use the Citizens Advice smart checker., external

Contact your supplier to give them a correct meter reading, which should help make your bill more accurate in the short-term. They should also help fix your meter.

If your supplier has not fixed the issue in eight weeks, contact the Energy Ombudsman.

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis said: “You have a difference between the government’s definition and my own definition of broken.

“The government’s definition of broken is they can’t send a reading and therefore they’re a ‘thick’ metre because you have to do the readings yourself, which I get huge complaints about.

“My definition of broken is if the person who has the house says they’re broken – so their internal monitor not working would be a classic example – or it giving the wrong reading would be another example – even if it can feed them through .

“We think – we’re just firming this out – at least one in five of smart meters in people’s homes doesn’t work right now.”

“People don’t want more smart meters. The target should be on working smart meters as opposed to new smart meters – which is something I’ll be pushing on in the next month or two.”