British Gas - smart merer

freeman3030

My uncle told me tonight that he has just had a smart meter installed and is really impressed with it and the fact that he gets one day free electricity and gas. He then went on to say they're trying to push out these smart meters by 2020 so I should look at getting one. I do however have an EDF smart meter, but I changed to npower and the smart meter lost all of its smart features.
I was thinking about seeing if it's possible to get a British Gas smart meter installed, but was wondering if in a few years time, if I change provider, will I be able to get the smart features as at the time mine was installed (before I took ownership of the property) you have to stay with the same provider - there didn't seem to be a 'standard' that all smart meters had to meet. So what I'm asking is, is this still the case or are they now becoming compatible with other companies when you switch down the line?

[Deleted User]

There is an energy industry scheme called DCC which when used with compliant smart meters will allow the smart bit to work after swapping suppliers.
Just 2 problems with it so far
1. The live date for the scheme is continually being pushed back
2. None of the current smart meters installed are compliant with it and will therefore need replacing in the future. (also no supplier seems to have any of the complaint meters to install either)

As an aside, the British Gas free energy tariff is a bit of a rip off and is much more expensive than most tariffs on the market. The free energy on a weekend morning doesn't really save much money and the price you pay for energy at all other times is high.

Check for costs at an independent comparison site like the Citizens Advice Bureau https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Sosumi

Frankly, if you don’t already have one it’s best to exercise your right to refuse a smart meter until such time as the next generation of them (called SMETS 2), with universal compatibility, become available.

It’s utterly ridiculous for the Government to be urging, simultaneously, customers to switch regularly to cheaper energy suppliers and to install a smart meter which won’t then work when you do. :wall:

A moratorium should be called on the manufacture and the installation of smart meters until DCC is up and running.

matelodave

I still can't see why we need DCC. Surely it's not beyond the energy companies to just take over the meter data collection from the preceding supplier.

If I can get my mobile phone number switched from one provider to another then it can't be all that difficult to get the meter ID/Sim ID switched over either. Am I missing something?

Robin9

I think this data transfer must already be in place for the Commercial / Business market.

I transferred 2 Elec and Gas supplies from Gazprom to Total Energy in January.

Total Energy changed the Gas meters to Smart straightaway.

The Elec were Smart with Gaz Prom and initially I supplied manual readings. However their last bill had Actual readings which were correct (and no meter reader had been)

Does anyone know if Total Energy but the data from Gazprom ?

footyguy

freeman3030 wrote: »

My uncle told me tonight that he has just had a smart meter installed and is really impressed with it and the fact that he gets one day free electricity and gas. He then went on to say they're trying to push out these smart meters by 2020 so I should look at getting one. I do however have an EDF smart meter, but I changed to npower and the smart meter lost all of its smart features.
I was thinking about seeing if it's possible to get a British Gas smart meter installed, but was wondering if in a few years time, if I change provider, will I be able to get the smart features as at the time mine was installed (before I took ownership of the property) you have to stay with the same provider - there didn't seem to be a 'standard' that all smart meters had to meet. So what I'm asking is, is this still the case or are they now becoming compatible with other companies when you switch down the line?

He might want to double check that - afaik, it's only electricity that is free on either a Saturday or Sunday (depending on customer choice), and only for 8 hours (between 9am and 5pm)

And as pointed out by gsmlnx, that tariff is probably not all that good in reality (other than as a marketing gimmick for BG)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/energy/2016/07/british-gas-offers-free-weekend-electricity-if-you-get-a-smart-meter---but-will-it-save-you-money

Edit: But to answer your question, yes, by and large, smart meters are still not compatible with other suppliers if you switch supplier; they should still work as a dumb meter.