Smart Meters - Ask me anything!

Terry98

Carrot007 wrote: »

There is no way anyone is going to read a domestic meter more than one a month. The data thet get is a different matter. This confuses people a lot.

Even half hourly commercial customers are read once a day (for 48 reads) at best.

OVO are able to show exact half hourly usage via their online account the day after.

If you Google the Ovo forum you will find a post where someone says when they are at work they know when their mother-in-law has been round to take the dog out for a walk and can see a corresponding 3Kw kettle 'spike' on electricity usage for the day.

PJCampana2

I live in a block of flats and currently have a mechanical electric meter and no gas supply. The meter is installed in a communal cabinet just outside the block of flats. The problem is that there is only a limited amount of space for each meter, the largest in there being about 15 cm High by 13 cm wide. When switching supplier to EON they found that the smart meter they proposed using was too large. This appears to be the case with other suppliers I checked with. There does appear to be a couple of non mechanical meters there which have been squeezed in. Are there any suppliers out there with sufficiently small smart meters, and would i be able to monitor my energy usage from my third floor flat if the meter is at ground level.

[Deleted User]

PJCampana2 wrote: »

I live in a block of flats and currently have a mechanical electric meter and no gas supply. The meter is installed in a communal cabinet just outside the block of flats. The problem is that there is only a limited amount of space for each meter, the largest in there being about 15 cm High by 13 cm wide. When switching supplier to EON they found that the smart meter they proposed using was too large. This appears to be the case with other suppliers I checked with. There does appear to be a couple of non mechanical meters there which have been squeezed in. Are there any suppliers out there with sufficiently small smart meters, and would i be able to monitor my energy usage from my third floor flat if the meter is at ground level.

Lots of suppliers fit the very small Ampy type meter 5235a which could squeeze in anywhere.. but its not smart.
The smallest smart meter I ve seen I think was probably an Elster..Scot Power use them.. BG use quite large Landis and Gyr and virtually all the smaller suppliers use Secure Liberty 100 smart electric meters

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

PJCampana2 wrote: »

I live in a block of flats and currently have a mechanical electric meter and no gas supply. The meter is installed in a communal cabinet just outside the block of flats. The problem is that there is only a limited amount of space for each meter, the largest in there being about 15 cm High by 13 cm wide. When switching supplier to EON they found that the smart meter they proposed using was too large. This appears to be the case with other suppliers I checked with. There does appear to be a couple of non mechanical meters there which have been squeezed in. Are there any suppliers out there with sufficiently small smart meters, and would i be able to monitor my energy usage from my third floor flat if the meter is at ground level.

Hello PJCampana2 and welcome to the Forums.

When did you last speak to us about this? We've recently been using different makes of smart meter and might now have something that will fit. It's worth asking our specialist smart meter teams just in case.

We've also been successful in fitting smart meters in certain blocks of flats up to the fourth floor. Again, our smart meter specialists will be able to give you more information.

We're working to sort the difficulties currently stopping us installing smart meters in certain situations and, even if it's not possible to move this forward at the moment, we can note your details ready for when we've a solution.

Hope this is of interest PJCampana2.

Malc

JennyJukes

I've been privately renting a property since July.

It has a British Gas smart meter but energy supplied by GreenStarEnergy.

A few weeks ago the smart meter stopped showing my gas usage and there is no tariff on it. I have updated meter readings on my online account.

I received post from GreenStarEnergy saying they were putting my DD from £53 to £70 baring in mind I only came here in July and have barely used heating due to the heat. They also said they were putting it up from estimated readings despite the fact I've given them meter readings online. I called them up and they said it was a mistake and they reduced it back to £53. I told them on the call that my smart meter wasn't showing gas usage and they said they would raise a line that would take up to 14 days I think? Its been 14 days and still isn't working.

I'm going to call them tomorrow to find out whats going on, or do I need to call BritishGas as they supply the meters? Because my smart meter isn't showing me my gas usage, does that mean my energy company won't either? Is this why they've tried to up my DD from "estimated" readings? I still don't understand how they could have estimated it to be £70 after being in the property (1 bedroom flat) for 2 months in the summer..?

Bark01

JennyJukes wrote: »

I've been privately renting a property since July.

It has a British Gas smart meter but energy supplied by GreenStarEnergy.
?

The meter in your house was installed by British gas but the ownership of it passed to Green star when you changed supply. British gas have no thing to do with the meter now, don't call them.

If the meter is a Smets2 meter then Greenstar may be able to do something with it, however most small suppliers are well behind on Smart business processes.

Its likely that the meter is an older Smets 1 meter in which case its unlikely that green star will be able to communicate with it at present so they won't be able to do anything. It may be converted into a pseudo Smets2 meter by the DCC in the coming year (this will be automated you don't have to do anything). At which case Greenstar should be able to work with it.

Best course of action is for you to not do anything but treat your meter as a dumb meter and supply your own readings to green star.


AS for GS putting up your DD, a lot small suppliers do it to new customers, they want accounts it credit before the winter.

PhilboSan

As a customer do I have any way of knowing or controlling:-

What make and model of meter will be fitted?
Who will fit the devices?
Are the devices calibrated?

I dont particularly care about the little screen as it will just get put in a drawer, but I do want to know about the actual meters and their features. If i can get the details I would hope to be able to find a brouchure or manual.

thanks!

River_Witch

Prepay Smart Meters.......

Hi all,

I have a slight problem that I hope some light can be shed.

I am currently with BOOST (a part of OVO I believe!) on their prepay online account.

The meter is an "Secure Liberty 100" it's serial numbers has a 'P' as the third digit and states it is the property of SMA1 is this a SMET1 or SMET2?

I wish to change to another prepay supplier (unfortunately it is a condition of my tenancy agreement that Utilities need to be prepay) but they all seem to state that they do not support smart prepay meters and therefore cannot offer me a deal!!?? Bulb being the cheapest by a whapping £217 from my current rate I find this to be a bit frustrating...

Any help or advice would be greatly recieved

Many thanks

Gerry1

River_Witch wrote: »

I wish to change to another prepay supplier (unfortunately it is a condition of my tenancy agreement that Utilities need to be prepay)

The bad news: you're paying far too much.

The good news: you don’t need your landlord's permission to change your meter.

renegadefm

beeringo, can you explain better to me than EDF has, why since having our pay as you go smart meter installed that EDF changed my tarrif which was meant to be contracted until September 2020, they changed it to much more expencive tarrif without even telling me. And said my old tarrif which was Blue + wouldnt work with the smart meter.

But it took several phone calls of me complaining before EDF has admitted its their mistake.

My question is why wont the old tarrif work with smart meters, and why wont EDF let me change back to my prepayment meter?