'Defnydd heddiw': Smart meter displays in England turn Welsh in bizarre language glitch

'I don't live in Wales and don't know Welsh'

Several Bulb customers have noticed their smart meters turning 'Cymraeg', seemingly without any obvious cause.

We've seen some complaints dating back several months, and have asked Bulb when the issue first started – we'll update this story when we hear back.

One customer, James Tombs, who lives well over 100 miles from the Welsh border, in West Sussex, told us: "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 was operational. I went on to the Bulb forums, found others with the same problem and followed directions to change language. It has been fine since."

Another, Brian Benjamin told us: "It just started out of the blue. I did email Bulb and they sent me a link on how to fix it."

But another, who wished not to be named, had no such luck, saying he'd followed instructions offered by Bulb, only to have his meter revert back to Welsh.

He said: "We had our meter fitted on 1 May. I gave up after eight weeks of chasing [for a fix] and moved it to a formal complaint in the hope that that would move it along, but no such luck."