Smart meter after switch

DanS
DanS Posts: 11 Forumite
in Energy
I'm currently on the BG collective deal due to end in October and looking to save money by switching to a better deal but apprehensive because I understand will lose the functionality of the smart meter after the switch.

Has anyone switched to another supplier and managed to keep the functionality? I was wondering if I chose to switch just electric then would the gas smart function still work if I kept gas with British Gas. Has anyone tried that? Just wondering if you have to have dual fuel with the supplier for the smart in home hub to work.

Thanks,
Dan

Comments

  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    Yes, but only to Sainsburys Energy..Last year they were up there at the top of the comp charts but OFGEM put paid to BG using Sainsburys for cheap rate tariffs and brought in a rule to stop suppliers using "white label " suppliers offering better tariffs.
    The meter will be in dumb mode with all the other suppliers until its updated to SMETS2 at some time.
    The IHD with the electric meter will work only as a superior energy monitor.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Trying looking at it through the other end of the telescope. If a supplier came along and said that I will offer you £100 a year if you read your meter would you take the deal? Or, do you prefer a deal that charges you an extra £100 a year just for the convenience of not having to read the meter?

    From an Ofgem policy letter dated Jun 2017:

    'Based on the information provided by suppliers, we consider that almost all appear to have credible plans for completing these upgrades over the next year for meters they have installed. Whilst we are disappointed that these meters were not upgraded during 2016, we are reassured that these meters should be remotely upgraded over the coming year. We will be monitoring suppliers’ progress closely and will consider whether enforcement action is appropriate against any supplier who fails to deliver on their assurances.'

    I wouldn't hold my breath though. The passage of time has little meaning within Ofgem, and we already have less than 4 months of this year to go. To my knowledge, no SMETS1 meters have been upgraded to the SMETS2 standard.
  • liviboy
    liviboy Posts: 544 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    I have an SSE SmartMeter installed which British Gas were able to connect with when I switched to the Collective.

    Now moving to EDF (not the CEC 'deal') and it appears I will lose smart functionality...not a big hassle for the savings...

    In fact, I even posted about it when I first switched...

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=70663636
  • DanS
    DanS Posts: 11 Forumite
    This is all really interesting - thanks everyone for the responses. So from the feedback from this thread, it seems at the moment that British Gas, Sainsburys Energy and SSE all have compatible meter technology and readings will hopefully be submitted electronically however reading liviboys link, it seems that the unit price was not updated after the switch so the information displayed on the IHD may reflect a different tariff.

    It also seems from the reports of the smart meters going "blank" that when changing supplier you lose not just the automatic meter readings but the whole functionality of tracking energy consumption.

    Has anyone else switched to a different supplier and managed to retain functionality?

    I completely agree with you Hengus and great way of thinking about it, if a supplier offered you a £100 a year to read your meter then it's a no brainer. However having just moved home I am keen to get an accurate picture of my energy consumption over the course of a whole year. No doubt this is going to cost me but nonetheless it's useful information to have to be able to make informed choices about adjusting heating etc. for the future so something I am definitely considering (and I like gadgets!).
  • liviboy
    liviboy Posts: 544 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Whilst my In Home Display never updated the tariff, British Gas' own "My Energy" on the website or their app did update with my usage every 30 minutes. It updated overnight so you couldn't see it real-time but 24 hours later.
  • micknyve
    micknyve Posts: 1 Newbie
    Hmm. Me too. Ovo have said they can switch ok but I will need to provice readings until they exchange my BG smart meters to their own. OK. Has anyone tried to read their smart meters? Also, if I want to switch back to BG in the future, are they willing to fit their own smart meters back in for free- I doubt it. Am I the only one thinking I should stay with their next best deal to avoid all the hassle? I have been at it for several hours now and my head is spinning!
  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    edited 13 September 2017 at 4:58PM
    micknyve wrote: »
    Hmm. Me too. Ovo have said they can switch ok but I will need to provice readings until they exchange my BG smart meters to their own. OK. Has anyone tried to read their smart meters? Also, if I want to switch back to BG in the future, are they willing to fit their own smart meters back in for free- I doubt it. Am I the only one thinking I should stay with their next best deal to avoid all the hassle? I have been at it for several hours now and my head is spinning!
    Yes I m a long term meter reader and saw my first OVO smart meter years ago.
    I could not believe that a supplier would have so much contempt for the British public that some Bigwig boss had the bare faced cheek to foist this awful design on their customers..And to make it worse, the German supplier Eon have followed them and started fitting the Liberty Secure meters.
    The displays on the meter are shockingly bad, the keyboard no bigger than a Blackberry smartphone, and once the display starts scrolling around ( after pressing button 6 ) you had better have sharp eyes as each 5 milliseconds meaningless numbers flit by until around the 6 th screen when the actual kwh reading is seen very briefly.
    The gas meter can confuse you to enter kwhs as the reading instead of cubic metres where the display shows a very hard to see M3 in a corner..Absolutely dreadful American rubbish are Secure Liberty meters.They are OK for outside boxes but most of us in the UK have them hidden away covered by half a tonne of hoarded rubbish in the corner of the pantry or under the stairs, usually with an ironing board straddling it.
    I can t speak for the In House Display because I have never had an Ovo customer show me one, presumably they had binned it.
    I also would like to know what happens with their awful meters when someone gets sick of the meter or Ovo. I know BG can t use their meter in prepayment mode so it has to be switched to their much better Landis Gyr s but I have seen quite a few ex Ovo meters still in use with other suppliers as credit meters.
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,606 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    DanS wrote: »
    This is all really interesting - thanks everyone for the responses. So from the feedback from this thread, it seems at the moment that British Gas, Sainsburys Energy and SSE all have compatible meter technology and readings will hopefully be submitted electronically however reading liviboys link, it seems that the unit price was not updated after the switch so the information displayed on the IHD may reflect a different tariff.

    It also seems from the reports of the smart meters going "blank" that when changing supplier you lose not just the automatic meter readings but the whole functionality of tracking energy consumption.

    Has anyone else switched to a different supplier and managed to retain functionality?

    I completely agree with you Hengus and great way of thinking about it, if a supplier offered you a £100 a year to read your meter then it's a no brainer. However having just moved home I am keen to get an accurate picture of my energy consumption over the course of a whole year. No doubt this is going to cost me but nonetheless it's useful information to have to be able to make informed choices about adjusting heating etc. for the future so something I am definitely considering (and I like gadgets!).

    If you want an accurate picture of your energy consumption, you dont need a smart meter. Set up a spreadsheet and make sure your read the meter regularly.

    That way you'll have your own readings and wont be limited by any vagarise of smart meters, different supplier or mucked up bills or statements. You'll have your own unadulterated records.

    I read my meter every Monday morning, takes 3 0secs and it goes into a spread sheet which takes another 30 secs - easly
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • DanS
    DanS Posts: 11 Forumite
    Has anyone tried switching just one of their suppliers and retained the smart functionality for one of the fuels? i.e. if I kept British Gas for gas and swapped my electric to Ovo Energy, would the smart functionality on British Gas's smart meter still work for the gas and be tracked on the IHD and their MyEnergy section on their website? Not sure if switching just one supply will lose the smart functionality for everything?
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