Smart meters go Welsh: latest glitch changes language on devices more than 100 miles from the border

Smart meter displays have randomly switched to Welsh baffling English homeowners in the latest glitch to plague users of the devices.

Several customers of Bulb contacted the advice site Moneysavingexpert.com to say that their in-home display had switched from saying “today’s usage” to “Defnydd heddiw”. In order to fix the problem the non-Welsh speakers were told they had to navigate a five-step menu in Welsh.

But when the Daily Telegraph showed the menu options to a native Welsh speaker he described them as “gibberish”.

For example, at one stage users are given the option “Clirio Gosodiadau Wedi anfon yr” which the Welsh speaker said directly translates as “clear the installations has been sent”.

Bulb, which has 1.3 million customers, said the problem only affected one in 200 of its smart meters and was the result of a software issue with the in-home displays.

Bulb customer James Tombs who lives in Sussex, more than 100 miles from the Welsh border, told Moneysavingexpert.com: "I don't live in Wales and don't know Welsh. One day I saw my meter was in Welsh but ignored it as I was busy. I then came back to it later and realised that the screen was locked, the buttons didn't do anything and the unit wasn't updating. The clock was stuck at 15.47.

"I turned it off with the power button on the back and back on and it loaded up again, in Welsh, but it was operational.”

He added: “I went on to the Bulb forums, found others with the same problem and followed the directions to change language. It has been fine since."

But not all afflicted customers were so lucky. One told Moneysavingexpert he had made a formal complaint to Bulb after its proposed fix only temporarily rectified the problem.

Bulb would not reveal how many smart meters it has but said that the wider roll-out of the devices is a big technical challenge.

A spokesman said: "In some rare cases, in-home displays switch to Welsh. While we think Welsh is a great language, we understand that in many cases people will want their display to be in English.

“Luckily the solution is just a few button presses away, and language settings can be changed in less than 10 seconds."

The £11bn smart meter roll-out aims to reduce energy usage by providing every household with a display which shows energy usage in real-time in pounds and pence, while the meter itself sends readings to suppliers automatically.

Many of the early devices “go dumb” and lose their smart functions if a customer switches supplier which has created frustration for millions.

A fix for this problem which will see the first-generation devices connected to a national network is currently in progress but is understood to have been delayed for many households.