Smart Meters and Switching

amnblog

First Utility put in new Smart Meters for us last year.


My friend just had Scottish Power put in his Smart Meters and he has a different monitoring unit.


What happens to Smart Meters & Monitoring units if you switch supplier?


Do you keep the Meters and get a new monitoring unit, or keep the both?

System

amnblog wrote: »

First Utility put in new Smart Meters for us last year.


My friend just had Scottish Power put in his Smart Meters and he has a different monitoring unit.


What happens to Smart Meters & Monitoring units if you switch supplier?


Do you keep the Meters and get a new monitoring unit, or keep the both?

You keep both BUT the smart meter will most likely not connect to the new supplier. The IHD will still work BUT it will not give the correct tariff information.

Foundation stage meters (SMETS1) will be adopted on to a central data hub by 2020. From this point, normal service will be restored.

PS Suppliers are under no obligation to replace IHDs after 12 months of use. This cost falls to the consumer.

brewerdave

Hengus wrote: »

POSSIBLY Foundation stage meters (SMETS1) will be adopted on to a central data hub by 2020. From this point, normal service will be restored.

As an old cynic,with some experience of (failed) centralised IT projects,I've amended your quote

System

brewerdave wrote: »

As an old cynic,with some experience of (failed) centralised IT projects,I've amended your quote

Thank you.

Lowri_Davies

My fixed tarrif with British Gas is about to expire so I'm looking to switch. I had a smart meter installed in my old house but moved in November and the new house doesn't have one, though we have an installation booked in next month from British Gas (I guess if we switch this will be cancelled).

So, looking at my cheapest options, none of the suppliers support smart meters yet except TOTO which is a variable rate and has terrible reviews. I liked having totally up to date info on my energy consumption and with this being a new house it would be really handy to know what our usage is like here... but do we go with a more expensive tariff in order to have a smart meter? When we next wish to switch, will we have lost that benefit anyway as the unit is tied to the old supplier? If so, is it even worth bothering with smart meters yet as they will stop being smart as soon as you switch providers. 2020 is a long time away!

System

Lowri_Davies wrote: »

My fixed tarrif with British Gas is about to expire so I'm looking to switch. I had a smart meter installed in my old house but moved in November and the new house doesn't have one, though we have an installation booked in next month from British Gas (I guess if we switch this will be cancelled).

So, looking at my cheapest options, none of the suppliers support smart meters yet except TOTO which is a variable rate and has terrible reviews. I liked having totally up to date info on my energy consumption and with this being a new house it would be really handy to know what our usage is like here... but do we go with a more expensive tariff in order to have a smart meter? When we next wish to switch, will we have lost that benefit anyway as the unit is tied to the old supplier? If so, is it even worth bothering with smart meters yet as they will stop being smart as soon as you switch providers. 2020 is a long time away!

In theory, suppliers must install new generation meters (SMETS2) from November this year. I say, in theory, as this smart project is not that smart and it has been delay upon delay. By November 17, the best estimate is that 10M first- generation meters will have been installed. As yet, there is no agreed solution on how best to integrate these within the SMETS2 infrastructure. The 'notional' 2020 timescale reflects the Government's wish to see the smart meter rollout programme completed by the end of 2020. At the moment, neither the Government nor the suppliers want to be the first to admit that 2020 is no longer achievable.