Energy bills: why are so many smart meters in Britain turning ‘dumb’?

theguardian.com:

As energy prices spiral upwards, many households are eager to monitor their gas and electricity usage in real time – and, crucially, how much it is all costing them – with this feature one of the big attractions of smart meters.

Last month, Guardian Money published a letter from a reader whose Shell Energy smart meter stopped working just as the new higher energy price cap took effect in April, and we asked other readers to tell us whether they were also experiencing “a loss of smart-ness”.

The answer was a resounding yes. The hundreds of letters we received coincided with the publication last week of government figures that revealed millions of smart devices are being read manually.

Officials say there are now more than 28.8m smart and advanced meters in households and small businesses across Great Britain, but close to 3.6m are in what the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) calls “traditional mode”, potentially because the homeowner has switched to a supplier that is “currently unable to operate the meter in smart mode”, or there are network communication issues. However, BEIS says the number operating in traditional mode is falling.

We have looked into the issues readers raised about specific energy providers, as well as other questions about smart meters.

The original letter to our Consumer Champions was about Shell Energy, and our request prompted lots more customers to write in. Jennifer, a Shell Energy customer whose meter also went dumb in March, spoke for many when she said the inability to monitor her usage, and therefore her spending, was a source of concern.

“I can’t instantly see how much a particular action – such as putting the heating on for an hour, or having the oven and grill on