Smart Meter Registered with a 00 Profile Class

alexrbrooks

Hi. I was with OVO and had smart meters installed on both my gas and electric supply. I’ve recently attempted to switch from OVO to Avro, however this is where my problem started.

My gas supply switched without any issue at all, however Avro were unable to take on my electric as they apparently kept getting rejected. Long story short, OVO wasn’t rejecting the switch but after Avro’s technical team investigated they noticed that my MPAN number had been registered as a ‘00’ profile class (even though my OVO statements show it as a ‘01’). My electricity is therefore still with OVO.

Avro have said they’re unable to switch meters with a ‘00’ profile class, but OVO are stating that because my smart meter takes half hourly (HH) readings, this is why it’s been registered on the national database with a 00 profile class.

OVO also included the following correspondence:

“...It used to be the case that this profile class was only used for large sites with high usage, but in recent years it has also become something that is used for residential customers such as yourself, as it is a much more sophisticated system that allows us to keep our prices low by predicting times of peak and off peak usage and buying our energy accordingly...

...Every supplier that is able to support smart meters (as the vast majority are) is also able to support the half hourly settlements that your meter allows them to, and in fact they are strongly encouraged by OFGEM to do so.”

OVO continues “...If your new supplier is refusing to take you on because they think the profile class 00 means that you have a commercial property, you should advise them that this is not the case and that going forward!all suppliers will be expected to support this standard.”

Where do I go from here? Is this standard now - smart meters for being registered with a 00 profile class - for domestic unrestricted households and, if so, should all energy suppliers know this?

Has anyone else experienced this too, and/or got any suggestions on what I can do about it? My first thought was to just switch again, however it sounds as though most energy suppliers treat 00 meters differently to 01.

Thanks for any help/suggestions in advance,
Alex

VABDUmmy

They're talking nonsense. OVO need to send an industry flow (know as an I005) to Instant Energy to request that they lose your supply/site. You can be deregistered and your new supplier can then raises the corresponding flow to gain the supply (an I008).

NineDeuce

As a simple explanation, a 00 profile class is appointed to large scale commercial supply that has a mandatory half-hourly readings meter. I think the threshold is above 90,000kWh/annum or something similar.

There are annual charges for such a supply of around £300-400/annum that come through from the network operator. This isnt part of your bill.

I am making the assumption that your supply is domestic so none of this would apply. Domestic supplies will only ever fall between profiles 01 to 04 and no domestic supply at present is required under any rules or regulations to have a half-hourly or smart meter.

footyguy

alexrbrooks wrote: »

Hi. I was with OVO and had smart meters installed on both my gas and electric supply. I’ve recently attempted to switch from OVO to Avro, however this is where my problem started.

My gas supply switched without any issue at all, however Avro were unable to take on my electric as they apparently kept getting rejected. Long story short, OVO wasn’t rejecting the switch but after Avro’s technical team investigated they noticed that my MPAN number had been registered as a ‘00’ profile class (even though my OVO statements show it as a ‘01’). My electricity is therefore still with OVO.

Avro have said they’re unable to switch meters with a ‘00’ profile class, but OVO are stating that because my smart meter takes half hourly (HH) readings, this is why it’s been registered on the national database with a 00 profile class.

OVO also included the following correspondence:

“...It used to be the case that this profile class was only used for large sites with high usage, but in recent years it has also become something that is used for residential customers such as yourself, as it is a much more sophisticated system that allows us to keep our prices low by predicting times of peak and off peak usage and buying our energy accordingly...

...Every supplier that is able to support smart meters (as the vast majority are) is also able to support the half hourly settlements that your meter allows them to, and in fact they are strongly encouraged by OFGEM to do so.”

OVO continues “...If your new supplier is refusing to take you on because they think the profile class 00 means that you have a commercial property, you should advise them that this is not the case and that going forward!all suppliers will be expected to support this standard.”

Where do I go from here? Is this standard now - smart meters for being registered with a 00 profile class - for domestic unrestricted households and, if so, should all energy suppliers know this?

Has anyone else experienced this too, and/or got any suggestions on what I can do about it? My first thought was to just switch again, however it sounds as though most energy suppliers treat 00 meters differently to 01.

Thanks for any help/suggestions in advance,
Alex

Sounds like OVO have made an error somewhere if the MPAN on your bill does not match the MPAN on the database.

Contact OVO and get them to correct it.

https://britishbusinessenergy.co.uk/profile-classes/

spiro

VABDUmmy wrote: »

They're talking nonsense. OVO need to send an industry flow (know as an I005) to Instant Energy to request that they lose your supply/site. You can be deregistered and your new supplier can then raises the corresponding flow to gain the supply (an I008).

I don't know where you think you learnt about the electricity CoS process but there are no such flows as I005 and I008 and the flows don't go supplier to supplier.

In terms of Profile Class 00 this is being used by business customers who are now having consumption measured half hourly using a smart meter, this cges P2272 and P300. For some reason it appears OVO have set your MPAN up like this which is wrong unless it is a business supply.

VABDUmmy

The flows I mentioned are unique to INSTANT ENERGY, which I believe I mentioned in the post, who via CGi hold the meter technical details for OVO SMETS1 installs.As far as I'm aware OVO have yet to fit any SMETS2 meters and therefore these details won't be held by the DCC. Half my time is spent facilitating these request via API testing. So, carry on.

footyguy

Who are Instant Energy?

They don't appear to hold any licence from Ofgem for Electricity Supply, Distribution, Transmission, Generation or Interconnectivity.

A consumer with an issue with their energy supply should, in the first instance, contact their energy supplier

(save for power-cut's etc, when it is the local distribution network they should contact, or call the new number. 105, and you will be connected to them )

VABDUmmy

I didn't say they were to contact Instant Energy, I said OVO need to make that request but thanks anyway.

Andy_Perkins

I am having exactly the same issue transferring my electricity supply from OVO to Avro and haven't a clue how to resolve it apart from being told to go to one of the big 6 as they will accept. OVO were not helpful in resolving

FullForce

Andy_Perkins wrote: »

I am having exactly the same issue transferring my electricity supply from OVO to Avro and haven't a clue how to resolve it apart from being told to go to one of the big 6 as they will accept. OVO were not helpful in resolving

Welcome to MSE

Good to see you've sorted matters - only reason I could think someone would go to all the trouble of making a breand new MSE user account, claim they have the same problem, ignore the advice given to the person they have the same problem as, say they don't know what to do but then immediately disappear from MSE :cool:

Do pop back should you have any further queries.

It seems the Christmas Season has started early on MSE...

alexrbrooks

NineDeuce wrote: »

As a simple explanation, a 00 profile class is appointed to large scale commercial supply that has a mandatory half-hourly readings meter. I think the threshold is above 90,000kWh/annum or something similar.

There are annual charges for such a supply of around £300-400/annum that come through from the network operator. This isnt part of your bill.

I am making the assumption that your supply is domestic so none of this would apply. Domestic supplies will only ever fall between profiles 01 to 04 and no domestic supply at present is required under any rules or regulations to have a half-hourly or smart meter.

Thanks for your explanation. I had researched this, however your explanation about the 00 class included additional information I didn't know about.

You are right in assuming it's a domestic supply, which is why I was quite surprised that OVO registered as 00. I've contacted OVO several times and they have said that smart meters that take half hourly reads (HH) have started being registered as a 00 profile class (as this class is no longer just businesses). I'm now attempting to get hold of someone from Ofgem.