Glitch on the smart meter system over the weekend showed big spikes in usage

0:00Now thousands of electricity customers got a bit of a fright over the weekend when a glitch on the smart meter system showed big spikes in usage according to a report in today's Irish independent. ESB networks who operate the system on behalf of energy suppliers said the issue was caused by a software upgrade and assured customers the meters would be corrected. For an update I'm joined by our correspondent Karen Creed, Karen what happened? Yes, Rachel, the issue rose last week as you said and we understand it was March 6 when people started to just notice significant jumps on their smart meters. Now these smart meters are installed in around two million homes and businesses and farms around the country and they're essentially meant to provide accurate readings based on actual energy usage, the benefit being that it ensures users are only charged for what they use. So you can imagine the shock when some people saw what they described as wild and impossible readings. Now we're not talking jumps just by hundreds. We're talking in some cases by thousands. For example, one board gosh energy customer

1:00said his energy usage jumped by five thousand euro in just a day. Customers across all suppliers seem to be affected. We don't know the exact numbers but even just from seeing on social media, so many comments, colleagues in here showing me their apps, the graphs showing these huge jumps in costs. It has led then of course new surprise to the electricity operator and energy suppliers being in on data with queries. There is an explanation of what happened and ESB networks have issued a statement to explain that last Friday a planned software upgrade to one of their internal systems caused these meter readings to be processed incorrectly. It said it will automatically adjust measuring data to reflect actual usage and it has already commenced this work. So to be clear about this then customers aren't going to be built. Well that's the very important question and that is the understanding but we don't have a timeline of when all of this will be rectified. I spoke briefly to Derek Cassidy from bonkers.ie who said to me that will be the thing that will need to be clarified because people's bills are typically issued at different times of the month. Those who are due imminently will be worried about funds becoming out of their of their account

2:03in many cases if it isn't the thousands they won't even have it. But the suppliers for now the line that they're giving is that the problem is being fixed and they need to do nothing. Still it's incredibly stressful for people especially at a time when so many people are already under pressure when it comes to energy bills. Indeed and it will undoubtedly lead to conversations around reliance on smart meters because there are huge numbers that have them installed and well this issue is being blamed on a technical issue during a software upgrade. There's a question mark you know about these being installed for cost saving purposes and to monitor consumption but importantly the ESB network has said you know that they will ensure future issues like this. Don't arise. People will of course be monitoring their smart meters closely and it has apologized for confusion and concern that this may have caused but hopefully more clarity later on the bills that are imminent for people. Karen thanks indeed our reporter Karen Crete. Karen Craite. s