Posted by One download from a smart meter told a householder they had consumed close to €9,000 worth of electricity in the first week of March
Charlie Weston
A massive malfunction on electricity smart meters over the weekend meant some householders were told they had consumed thousands of euro of energy.
Hundreds of thousands of people are understood to have been impacted by the blunder.
One download from a smart meter told a householder they had consumed close to €9,000 worth of electricity in the first week of March.
Data from the meter claimed the home’s electricity consumption was 19,000pc higher than similar homes.
The homeowner was shocked to be told after downloading their consumption data that they now owed thousands of euro.
Customers of Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis Energy and Energia reported sky-high meter readings.
One householder posted on online discussion platform Reddit about the malfunctioning meter, writing: “It says that I used 17,000 kWh [kilowatt hours] on Saturday which is over €5,000. There must be a glitch or something.”
Another said: “I’ve seemingly spent €7,000 since Friday.”
A smart meter graphic told the homeowner the property had used €3,700 worth of electricity on Sunday. “That was an expensive Sunday roast,” the person wrote.
Bord Gáis said what it described as a smart-metering issue impacted its customers over the weekend.
It said ESB Networks, which oversees the operation of smart meters, issued incorrect meter data for the period March 6 to 8.
“They are now in the process of issuing corrected replacement reads and these are expected to be provided before any bills are issued for the affected period, meaning no customers should be impacted,” it added.
The Bord Gáis website has a message saying the issue was affecting smart usage graphs, where unusually high usage was displaying.
Energia said it was aware of a technical issue affecting the projected bill amounts for some of its customers on smart meters.
“We are investigating the issue and advise customers with any questions to check our website and social media for the most up-to-date information,” Energia said.
A spokesperson for ESB Networks said that last Friday, a planned software upgrade to one of its internal systems caused some customers’ meter readings to be processed incorrectly, resulting in high and incorrect usage on ESB Networks online accounts and on those of suppliers.
“This is an internal software issue and is not related to the integrity of smart meters or the recorded energy use,” the spokesperson said. “We are in the process of identifying and resolving the issue in our systems and will systematically correct all affected data.”
ESB Networks said customers do not need to do anything at this stage. “We will automatically adjust metering data to reflect actual usage. We apologise for the confusion and concern this may have caused and are reviewing our processes to ensure this does not happen again,” the state-owned body said.
More than two million smart meters have been installed in homes, farms and businesses across Ireland as of September.
This represents more than four out of five households.
Smart meters are supposed to allow customers to see detailed information and insights into their energy use directly through the ESB Networks online account.
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