Speaking to a friend recently who mentioned that he got his gas and electricity from British Gas and asked for a Smart Meter to be fitted. The guy arrived and fitted the electric meter OK then moved on to the gas boiler, which as when the fun started. Conversation went something like this:
"There is a problem, I will have to turn the gas off to fit the new meter" - "OK so what is the problem?"
"you don't have a self igniting pilot light on the boiler" - "that's right, I have to light the pilot light with a match"
"I haven't done the training for that so I can't fit the meter" - " Are you serious? OK you fit the meter and I will light the pilot light"
"No you might not have done it right so I can't sign the job off" - "What about fitting the meter and I will light the pilot light when you have gone?"
"No I can't test it if you have lit the pilot light, sorry I will have to send someone else in to do this job"

 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
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Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Sounds daft but that is correct.

Most meter installers are only trained in the basics, i.e. how to change the meter and do a tightness test on the installation.
Modern central heating boilers have sequential self ignition, not requiring any human intervention.
Older boilers with permanent pilots require some one to re- ignite it.
If there has been work on the system or an interruption in the supply then the engineer must carry out further safety tests on that appliances (won't go into details) which this person will not be qualified to do.
There are many qualifications not everyone requires them all.

Hope this helps  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

When we had our smart meters fitted, the BG engineer made me show him the boiler and gas hob working before he switched the supply off. Had to do it again to make sure all was okay before he left. Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Tell him to ditch the old boiler ( always good advise ). no point having a smart meter it will only tell him that hes using way more gas than he has too. At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Actually he does not know how to light a match! These things have in a round about way been banned from households for a decade or so, so he does not know what a match is! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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chicken george wrote:

Tell him to ditch the old boiler

Dont I know it  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

I ditched my old boiler years ago..... divorce went through quickly thank god !!
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well somebody had to say it so may as well be me

My new boiler is way smarter than me..........

As for BG and Metres a waste of space as the point you go to a new suppliers as I have they don't work correctly. Its a expensive shambles.  FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

My Npowersmart elecric meter runs on 3g, which has never worked here, I didnt really know what mobile internet was until 4g suddenly appeared a few years ago.

Anyway Npower keep on sending people out the change the 3g sim I tell them all it wont work, but nothing changes cue 20 page bills with estimates, wrong readings credit notes/massive bills. totally unfathomable paperwork.

being a business account I get billed monthly so extending the chaos

just renegotiating my 2 year fixed price and frustratingly N power are well cheaper than others, so I cant move away from their madness At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

These so called smart meters aren't smart in any way. They are just a remote readout of whatever would be displayed by the old meter with a calculation for cost added. Will only save you money if you have the will to go around your property turning things down or off or making the effort to compare the energy used by different versions of the same thing, e.g. An incandescent lamp and an LED and then throwing away the least efficient. Then you can spend the money you save buying a more efficient replacement! As for a free smart meter, that is a laugh as energy costs have gone up to cover the cost of supplying and fitting them. Of course it will save the energy companies money as they won't have to pay some poor soul to go around reading meters. Would have probably saved more ENERGY if we'd updated the various building regulations to force better insulation of both old and new build housing stock.

If only we had H&S like we have now at the beginning of the 1900s then we would have saved millions of people from lung cancer and early death as they wouldn't have been able to strike a match to light their fags.

J

And the poor match girls wouldn't have suffered from phossy jaw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phossy_jaw

Those with phossy jaw would usually begin suffering painful toothaches and swelling of the gums. Over time, the jaw bone began to abscess. Affected bones glowed a greenish-white colour in the dark.[1][2] The condition also caused serious brain damage. Surgical removal of the afflicted jaw bones could save the patient; otherwise, death from organ failure would follow. The disease was extremely painful and disfiguring to the patient, with dying bone tissue rotting away accompanied by a foul-smelling discharge. However, removal of the jaw bone had serious effects on patients' ability to eat, leading to further health concerns including malnutrition. Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
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