Smart Meters.

FirstTimeBuyerRenovation

I've just bought my first home and I'm looking to get smart meters fitted (whilst also taking in to consideration the cheapest supplier).
I used to work for British Gas and I know that there smart meters used Vodafones network to send the readings back.
There's no Vodafone signal in this area, tried them at my parents two doors down and they couldn't be fitted.

Does anyone have any idea if any of the other suppliers use a different network at all?

PixelPound

The bigger question is will you get SMETS1 or a SMETS2 meter? Otherwise should you switch at any time in the future after installing at any point, you risk the smart meter becoming a dumb one.

brewerdave

There's no question -it'll be a SMETS 1 meter:)

MeterMan

FirstTimeBuyerRenovation wrote: »

I've just bought my first home and I'm looking to get smart meters fitted (whilst also taking in to consideration the cheapest supplier).
I used to work for British Gas and I know that there smart meters used Vodafones network to send the readings back.
There's no Vodafone signal in this area, tried them at my parents two doors down and they couldn't be fitted.

Does anyone have any idea if any of the other suppliers use a different network at all?

BG smart meters use any network.

PixelPound

brewerdave wrote: »

There's no question -it'll be a SMETS 1 meter:)

I know. Not sure why people would want to get a smart meter at the present time, unless they never intend to switch suppliers. Unless there is some modification released that allows the smart functions to still be active post switch any benefit of going smart will be short lived.

MeterMan

brewerdave wrote: »

There's no question -it'll be a SMETS 1 meter:)

Currently, there is a geographical 'issue' where if you live in 'gods own country' you'll probably not even get a smets1 meter. give it 3 months before your appointment if you want a smets1 meter fitting and you live in Gods own country.

Bark01

nic_c wrote: »

I know. Not sure why people would want to get a smart meter at the present time, unless they never intend to switch suppliers. Unless there is some modification released that allows the smart functions to still be active post switch any benefit of going smart will be short lived.

By the end of the smart roll out all Smets1 meters will either have a firmware upgrade to allow them into the DCC or the meter will have to be replaced free of charge with a Smets 2 meter.

As the number of Smets 1 meters bring installed is way above forecast due to the DDC delay I'd be amazed if an OTS firmware upgrade wasn't delivered in the next year or so.

System

Bark01 wrote: »

By the end of the smart roll out all Smets1 meters will either have a firmware upgrade to allow them into the DCC or the meter will have to be replaced free of charge with a Smets 2 meter.

As the number of Smets 1 meters bring installed is way above forecast due to the DDC delay I'd be amazed if an OTS firmware upgrade wasn't delivered in the next year or so.

I would. There isn’t a one stop solution for these meters as there is no single manufacturer of foundation-stage meters. Different meter manufacturers will have to come up with different fixes all of which need to be cyber secure. Smart meters are not like other connected devices: they are not designed for large OTA firmware downloads. As Ofgem has recently written to suppliers expressing concern about the time that it is taking, you can sense that they may be a little worried.

brewerdave

Bark01 wrote: »

By the end of the smart roll out all Smets1 meters will either have a firmware upgrade to allow them into the DCC or the meter will have to be replaced free of charge with a Smets 2 meter.

As the number of Smets 1 meters bring installed is way above forecast due to the DDC delay I'd be amazed if an OTS firmware upgrade wasn't delivered in the next year or so.

....as they will just pass on the cost, my very cynical view is that the 2020 date will vanish over the horizon and the majority of the SMETS1 meters will be replaced "in the fullness of time" - no large scale adoption into the DCC. As previous poster has alluded,too many different models will be floating around to allow an upgrade.:)

System

brewerdave wrote: »

....as they will just pass on the cost, my very cynical view is that the 2020 date will vanish over the horizon and the majority of the SMETS1 meters will be replaced "in the fullness of time" - no large scale adoption into the DCC. As previous poster has alluded,too many different models will be floating around to allow an upgrade.:)

One of the biggest concerns amongst suppliers seems to be that they have inherited smart meters that they haven't supplied and therefore know very little about. I see the term 'stranded meters' being increasingly used which suggests that not all meters can or will be connected to the DCC.

Industry does wax and wane on this issue:

SSE director of metering and smart installations Sara Jane Asquith told Utility Week she was confident the meters would be integrated into the smart meter rollout, after its official start later this year.
“We are not concerned about them becoming stranded assets, although there is concern in the industry,” she said. “All meters that we install are capable of being upgraded to SMETS two and therefore enrolled onto the Data and Communications Company (DCC) so we believe we will have no stranded assets at all.”

Her comments follow an earlier interview with Utility Week last year, in which she said foundation meters posed a “massive risk” to the rollout.

Asquith’s most recent comments reflect reassurance from DCC chief executive Jonathan Simcock, who told Utility Week last month that the majority of foundation meters would be adopted as part of the rollout.
He said: “I don’t believe there will be very large numbers of stranded meters. There may be a very small number where the technical fix to get them on the DCC network is very expensive. It may well be that the right value-for-money answer is not do it. That’s purely hypothetical at the moment.”

Source: Utility Week