Silly question about Smart meters

dogshome

Don't have a Smart meter and won't till the 2nd generation come in, but reading thro' the posts, I have some probably stupid questions.

Meter v Residence allocation mix-ups are all too common in new build houses and blocks of flats - The usual remedy is to do 'Burn Tests' - For Elec with an ON/OFF kettle whilst someone else watches the meter, For Gas with ON/OFF hot water, but how can this be done with a meter that only shows it's reading for a few seconds at a time?

What is the range of the remote reader? In a big block of flats with meters in a common service room, will it still recieve signal thro' umpteen brick walls and a 60' height change?

System

You re right Dogshome, on the Secure smart meters the read is displayed for a second or two, on the second screen after pressing button 9, and I think it will display 100 ths of a unit on the 5 th or 6 th screen. I can t actually recall tho if that meter has the flashing red light which increases with higher usage.That would be the way on the kettle test

[Deleted User]

How are smart meter 2 generation going to be better?

Raxiel

craigr98 wrote: »

How are smart meter 2 generation going to be better?

Current meters talk directly to the supplier that installed it. If you change supplier, the meter can't talk to the new one (in most cases, there are exceptions). The SMETs v2 meters talk to a third party (the DCC) set up by the government. They pass on your readings to your supplier, even when you change, as well as passing tariff data back to the meter.

So the v2 meter remains smart, even if you switch.

There is a desire to reconfigure existing v1 meters to talk to the DCC when it goes live, but AFAIK no one has a definitive plan on how to do that or even knows which makes and models can be reconfigured (for less than the cost of just replacing them)

[Deleted User]

They sound a lot better wonder what the time scales are like for these?

Raxiel

craigr98 wrote: »

They sound a lot better wonder what the time scales are like for these?

It's planned for Q3/Q4 this year, but it's slipped in the past. Advice is generally to wait until 2018 if you can

[Deleted User]

Raxiel wrote: »

It's planned for Q3/Q4 this year, but it's slipped in the past. Advice is generally to wait until 2018 if you can

Sounds like may as well get the first generation and then upgrade later. Is there a best one out there or are they generally all the same?

brewerdave

craigr98 wrote: »

Sounds like may as well get the first generation and then upgrade later. Is there a best one out there or are they generally all the same?

YOU don't get a choice -if you "sign up" with your existing Utility supplier for a smart meter,you will get whatever they are fitting.
AND I have a strong suspicion that they won't want to replace SMETS 1 meters until they have to, even if newer customers are getting SMETS 2 versions!

Ian2deep

I had some smart meters installed by e-on last December, but in true MSE fashion I found a better tariff with Scottish Power. I am due to give my final readings to SPower this week, but on the 1st February my indoor display magically reverted to zero for all readings.
After much searching of forums for instructions on manually reading the meters, I think this will be OK. But does anyone know whether I can get the indoor display to read the energy being used again -just for my benefit and even though it might just show relative day-to-day usage as the tariff has now changed?

System

craigr98 wrote: »

They sound a lot better wonder what the time scales are like for these?

could be many years before a meter fitter turns up with a SMETS2 meter. 2018 is a best case scenario, highly unlikely you will be the first. I suspect they will select meters at the end of their working life, like old analogue dial meters and Imperial gas meters. for the first in the line. Digital electric meters and Metric gas meters will have to wait years. BG have been fitting smart meters for 10 years at a greater rate then any of the others can manage and they are nowhere near completed. Their meters will need a "hub " upgrade to SMETS2 .BG have a greater density of properties than any other supplier

System

craigr98 wrote: »

Sounds like may as well get the first generation and then upgrade later. Is there a best one out there or are they generally all the same?

SMETS 1 have a predicted life of 15 years. The latest Data Communications Company consultation has 5 options for adopting these meters into the central hub via a separate communications link. The paper suggests that many SMETS 1meters will remain supplier dependent until 2020; if you switch, they will lose connectivity.