I have solar and have had a 3kw system since 2011. I planned to upgrade my system in the next few years, but now have decided to install a 10kw system with batteries and because AGL has not checked the smart meter they installed in April, I am very concerned that their faulty smart meter will affect my new solar system. I received my bill on 19th May 2023 and it was for $304 (the prior bill was $111 and same time last year was $22.34) I looked at the usage and it stated that is was 81kwh for 53 under the old meter for 53 days and 620kwh for 38 days under the new smart meter for 38 days, a time when I was absent from the house for two weeks. AGL has agreed that there is a fault with the meter, I have rung them several times and been told that the company that installed the smart meter were checking it. I have heard nothing for 3 weeks now and the app for this billing period is now up to $500 for 8 weeks and we have been paid about $2 for the solar we have sent back to the grid (last billing period before the smart meter it was about $46) We are only two people who do not use much electricity and I have not used any heating this winter because of this. My concern is that if AGL does not get this meter fixed (I have asked for my old one back but they said no) we will be stuck with paying a lot of money for a new solar system and have to pay for the mistakes the meter is making. Our old solar system is till working and there is nothing wrong with it. Any suggestions?
Hi @Nimbow, welcome to the community.
The AGL website indicates that for a meter change, it takes up to 15 days from the date of the request, or on a date provided to you.
Have you made a formal request of AGL to replace the meter. If you have, this should occur within the above timeframes. If it is outside the 15 days (or past any date they provided to you) or you havenāt made a formal request, I would be calling AGL on 1800 680 430.
The follow up if AGL do not respond or offer a satisfactory resolution in a reasonable time. The respective authorities and contact numbers for each state.
- NSW: Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW: 1800 246 545
- VIC: Energy & Water Ombudsman Victoria: 1800 500 509
- QLD: Energy & Water Ombudsman Queensland: 1800 662 837
- SA: Energy & Water Ombudsman South Australia: 1800 665 565
- ACT: ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal: 02 6207 1740
- TAS: Energy Ombudsman Tasmania: 1800 001 170
AGL need to provide a resolution that corrects the disputed billing as well as replacing the meter.
Thank you. Tomorrow it will be 15 business days since they told me the meter company was looking into it. I have told them I want it repaired or replaced and I have recorded the times I have spoken to them. Tomorrow I will write the formal request and forward all my correspondence to the Energy Ombudsman by next week. I appreciate you advise, thanks again.
Thanks for those Mark. I will keep everyone informed about what happens.
Several months after my āsmartā meter was installed, it started recording solar energy production, as well as normal usage.
Any I donāt even have solar panels!!! The rebate is niceā¦
For me, a smart meter was installed about 5 weeks after solar panels were installed. Just after that AGL absorbed my retailer. Donāt think the staff from the previous retailer were happy, as AGL totally stuffed up my meter data and billing.
Even after ācorrectionā they still supplied data for the nearly 3 months prior to the smart meter claiming to show time of day meter data. 
Never satisfactorily responded to my questions over this.
And kept revising monthly bills for some time.
At least for some time their records for my solar feed-in were higher than that determined using the accumulating data on the smart meter.
We had a lot of trouble with our meter not recording solar feed in for a month after it was installed. Could not get an answer that made sense from AGL. In the end went to the Ombudsman - they can actually read your meter - and they did it was not configured correctly. Short version AGL had 2 weeks to fix it, had to credit the solar feed in to us, had to also pay us compensation, plus they got fined by the Ombudsman. Very impressed, as I thought I wouldnāt get anywhere.
It has now been over two months and many phone calls to their complaints centre. I sent an e mail demanding they either repair or replace the smart meter, of course no reply yet. Finally I contacted the Energy Ombudsman and they are now onto it. I have my fingers crossed that it will be solved before my new solar system is installed.
Dont hold you breath.
I have been in dispute with my retailer (not AGL) now since last November. (energy ombudsman dispute lodged in March) and this is still ongoing. They didnāt believe my thoughts were correct until we lost power for a couple of days and our āSMARTā meter still registered usage and solar even though the power was out. This has been on ongoing issue since and appears to be no closer to resolution. It is not helped by the fact the the retailer (who are supporting me with my issue) are not the company who reads the meter and the meter company appears not to be answerable to anyone (including the ombudsman).
That is shocking. Although a long shot and something you probably followed up already, have you reconfirmed the meter being billed to you is in fact the meter on your premise?
The meters being billed appear to be the correct meters. ie the meter serial numbers match the billing and the raw data I can obtain from the retailer. The retailers app and their billing match perfectly the raw data which is what they say is received from the meter co HOWEVER the meter co ONLY talks to the retailer (i am not permitted / unable to contact them direct). As the data has been able to be proved to be false my retailer is disputing with the meter reading co (intellihub). NOTE if you have an analogue meter you can dispute and do a āself readā and lodge that. If you have a smart meter this option is specifically disallowed even though there is an accumulation register in the meter that could be used to cross check the data.
Thank you
That is good advice
I agree the ombudsman is the best option. I had a very long dispute with AGL after my supplier was taken over by them and I kept records from my solar edge inverter. AGL kept revising the bills but it was shockingly adhoc and did not reflect reality. Eventually (after 12 months) they paid for all the solar but still quibbled on the electricity usage.
This is something that was reported by Choice at the time.
āAGL is one of several energy retailers who have recently faced enforcement action from the regulator over energy meter issues.
AGL was fined $160,000 by the AER in January last year for eight penalties of failing to fix faulty energy meters, after being alerted to them by customers.
The regulator said in some cases the meter went unfixed for over 500 days.ā
I think that is what is happening with mine, last bill on the old meter we feed $46 back to them, now on their app we have fed back $1.40.
Do you have the app? Check they also havenāt changed your feed in tariff without telling you.
I have to update what has been happening. It is not over yet. I informed the Energy Ombudsman and they have been helpful, they notified AGL who had a month to either replace or fix the smartmeter, of course a technician came out on the very last day of that time they had. He was going to replace the meter but was told by AGL that the data was correct and not to do it. He told me the extreme costs might be due to my old heat pump (the compressor gave out in 2018 and we use it a a normal electric water heater. He reconnected it and turned off half the tank so now we only use half that amount, Three days later using our savings I finally got a 10kw solar system with 5kw batteries (I had to put off installing it for all that time waiting for AGL to inspect the meter) I am more than happy with my new solar BUT it still shows spikes of grid electricity in the middle of the day using 3 kw, then 2kw for three hours when we are producing over 30 kw from our system. I thought it might be that water heater, but I only have 3 minute showers and my husband only showers once every two days and we only have half the amount of water to use. This does not make any sense. I rang Rheam about the water heater and they said no way would that push electric use up as it functions the same as an electric water heater now. So now I want AGL to fix that meter, they have not told me anything about what they found from the technician. My husband thinks the meter is calculating the solar we use from āSelf Useā (our production) as power from the grid, but it is beyond our knowledge to explain this. Does anyone have any insight into what else it could be? We owe AGL a lot less than before, but they have taken over $1,200 from us since April ($300 for 38 days in April\May and $778 for the next quarter) when we are only 2 people (average quarter use for two people who do not have solar in Sydney is about $350 per quarter). I will provide more details in the next few days as I have been comparing their ap to our solar ap. I hope someone can either put me straight or confirm I have a reasonable query in the meantime and thank you for everyone who has helped me so far, we really appreciate it.
Yes I have the app, they have me on the fixed rate as we are both retired.
I have an update of the situation below
