Smart Meter - should I get one installed before a possible switch or not?

CIM

Just to say first that I am happy with the idea of having a smartmeter which I see as a potential benefit - both in getting detailed billing info and for monitoring in-house use.

My situation is I am currently with Scottish Power but my quite good existing tariff expires in a a month or so and I am not sure if they will offer a good enough deal to stay with them instead of switching to another company.

However they recently wrote to ask me to book a smartmeter install. This presents a slight dilemma. Should I go ahead and get the SP meter installed regardless of any possible switch or should I delay it?

Also specifically does anyone know any of the following :

Are Scottish Power currently installing SMETS 1 or SMETS 2 compatible meters?

What other suppliers' meters do the meters which SP are currently installing operate OK with?

If I get a SP smartmeter installed and then switch to a company that it is not compatible with, is this likely to give a new supplier reason/excuse to delay installing their own smartmeter - e.g. because a smartmeter has already been installed at that address?

System

CIM wrote: »

Just to say first that I am happy with the idea of having a smartmeter which I see as a potential benefit - both in getting detailed billing info and for monitoring in-house use.

My situation is I am currently with Scottish Power but my quite good existing tariff expires in a a month or so and I am not sure if they will offer a good enough deal to stay with them instead of switching to another company.

However they recently wrote to ask me to book a smartmeter install. This presents a slight dilemma. Should I go ahead and get the SP meter installed regardless of any possible switch or should I delay it?

Also specifically does anyone know any of the following :

Are Scottish Power currently installing SMETS 1 or SMETS 2 compatible meters?

What other suppliers' meters do the meters which SP are currently installing operate OK with?

If I get a SP smartmeter installed and then switch to a company that it is not compatible with, is this likely to give a new supplier reason/excuse to delay installing their own smartmeter - e.g. because a smartmeter has already been installed at that address?

All suppliers are currently installing SMETS 1 meters as they are permitted to do until later this year. By 2020, it is hoped that these meters will be orphaned on to the new Data Communications Company. There are no plans to update these meters to SMETS 2 full compliance. By the end of this year, it is estimated that 10M SMETS1 smart meters will have been installed. They are no plans to change these meters just because a customer changes a supplier. I know some suppliers are doing this but, remember, it is all adding to the £12Bn cost of this programme which will hit all our bills.

ASavvyBuyer

It is very unlikely that the smart meter would work with another supplier.
SMET2 meters are not due to be installed till later this year (if they can get their act together).

Raxiel

I'm not aware of any suppliers that offer customer retention deals. You have their publicly available tariffs and that's it. If you like the price, fine, if you don't, you have to decide if the effort of moving is worth the saving to you.

As someone who had a smart meter fitted just before switching, I'd advise you to keep your existing meters for now, you can always book a new appointment for SP to fit one if you choose to stay and you really want one.

CIM

Raxiel wrote: »

I'm not aware of any suppliers that offer customer retention deals. You have their publicly available tariffs and that's it. If you like the price, fine, if you don't, you have to decide if the effort of moving is worth the saving to you.

As someone who had a smart meter fitted just before switching, I'd advise you to keep your existing meters for now, you can always book a new appointment for SP to fit one if you choose to stay and you really want one.

I do not expect any kind of special 'customer retention' deal - I simply meant that between now and the expiry of my existing tariff, it remains to be seen whether any tariff on offer by SP will be sufficiently competitive to retain me as a customer.

I agree that as it appears that a SP meter apparently won't work with any other supplier, then I would probably not be advised to get it installed now if I want remote billing to work (although presumably the in-house metering aspect would still work in those circumstances?)

molerat

CIM wrote: »

(although presumably the in-house metering aspect would still work in those circumstances?)

It would seem there is only a 50/50 chance of that still working.

Major_Disaster

A little bump as I am almost in the exact same situation as the OP, just 6 months later on. I was wondering whether it is still the case that Scottish Power are installing 1st generation meters, or they've now updated to SMETS2?

Thanks

matelodave

I'm getting the benefit of a smart meter at the moment - I can read it without having to go outside, and my bills are accurate.

I'll probably swap suppliers when my presen deal runs out in December unles SSE are competitive (which I doubt). In which case my meter will become a dumb one. If I can still read it from indoors then that will be a bonus but I dont really care whether it's smart or dumb.

I really cannot understand why people are getting so emotive about them.

I need a meter and if it can be read remotely then that suits me. If it can't then it's no big deal, I can read it myself and send the readings in the same as I've always done. even with a smart one, I record my own meter readings on a spreadsheet every week anyway.

brewerdave

matelodave wrote: »

I'm getting the benefit of a smart meter at the moment - I can read it without having to go outside, and my bills are accurate.

I'll probably swap suppliers when my presen deal runs out in December unles SSE are competitive (which I doubt). In which case my meter will become a dumb one. If I can still read it from indoors then that will be a bonus but I dont really care whether it's smart or dumb.

I really cannot understand why people are getting so emotive about them.

I need a meter and if it can be read remotely then that suits me. If it can't then it's no big deal, I can read it myself and send the readings in the same as I've always done. even with a smart one, I record my own meter readings on a spreadsheet every week anyway.

If you are at home most of the time its no real hassle,other than making sure that the correct old/new meter readings are acknowledged by the supplier - but if you have to take time off to have the switch done ,and then find that the 1st generation (SMETS1) smart meters won't work because of poor mobile signal strength, I can imagine a degree of frustration.:(
Waiting for SMETS2 is a no brainer for me as they SHOULD work with multiple suppliers and without the need of a strong mobile signal:)

mac.d

Major_Disaster wrote: »

A little bump as I am almost in the exact same situation as the OP, just 6 months later on. I was wondering whether it is still the case that Scottish Power are installing 1st generation meters, or they've now updated to SMETS2?

There's been no confirmation that anyone is installing SMETS2 meters yet, the talk was of it happening later this year (around now possibly?) but anytime anyone has asked their supplier recently, its still been SMETS1 meters that are being installed.

As for people getting annoyed. It'd be like during the Betamax/VHS video battle years ago if people had known that Betamax was going to be obselete but still went ahead and bought it anyway. Fairly pointless, unless you have a strong reason for needing a smart meter or don't plan to switch. Even if you are happy to have it revert to a dumb meter in future, was there really much point is getting one right now instead of waiting?

It's potentialy a huge waste of money and resources too. Unless everyone that has a SMETS1 meter is going to be happy to wait for 10 years until their meter needs replaced.

System

brewerdave wrote: »

Waiting for SMETS2 is a no brainer for me as they SHOULD work with multiple suppliers and without the need of a strong mobile signal:)

There is absolutely no guarantee that early adopters of SMETS2 will get a smart meter that works. SMETS2 meters connect via a Wide Area Network; the clue is in the word 'network'. My guess is that suppliers will want to roll these new meters out by area to create the necessary network. The idea behind this is that your meter does not need a direct line of communication with the DCC (mobile signal) to work. SMETS2 meters connect with each other until the system establishes a line of communication with the DCC from one or more of the networked meters.