BG to Sainsburys will smart meter still work?

mac.d

As per the title, Am I correct in assuming that a British Gas smart meter will still work as a smart meter, and the IHD will continue to show the same information if the supply is changed to Sainsbury's Energy?

D_M_E

Yes, as they are both the same company in all but name and charges.

mac.d

Cheers that's what I thought, thanks for confirmation.

telemarks

The Sainsburys Energy T&C don't cover this exact case but do say:

13.1 If we install a smart meter in your property, or you move into a property that already has one, our Smart Metering Customer Guide explains how it all works. To get the guide, go to britishgas.co.uk/SMCustomerGuide or call 0800 975 5555.

Seen as Sainsburys are linking to Britsh Gas Guides you would "think" it would work, but might be worth giving them a ring just to check.

mac.d

Unfortunately I can't remove my thanks from D_M_E's reply, but thanks telemarks, I decided to call them just to make sure, and while the meter will continue to send readings, they don't *think* the IHD will still work.

I should have know better regarding a smart meter. Chocolate and teapot (and clueless too) springs to mind!

House_Martin

Sainsburys Energy was originally a "no frills " white label supplier with much lower tariffs than the parent BG , which meant the IHD had much less info than BGs.
My Sainsburys Energy (the original BG one ) IHD did show the kwh electricity reading and gas cubic metres and the reading was always sent off automatically.
That is all I ever needed. I don`t need a nanny IHD to tell me how much I ve spent this week. I can work it out for myself if I wanted to.
Both smart meter and IHD were operating just fine, for me at least
The IHD did revert to normal when I switched back to BG later on.
Its a pity OFGEM had to stick its oar in and ban white label suppliers offering cheaper tariffs. While it lasted Sainsburys Energy with its cheaper tariffs than BG was extremely popular.

telemarks

mac.d wrote: »

Unfortunately I can't remove my thanks from D_M_E's reply, but thanks telemarks, I decided to call them just to make sure, and while the meter will continue to send readings, they don't *think* the IHD will still work.

I should have know better regarding a smart meter. Chocolate and teapot (and clueless too) springs to mind!

Phrases involving drunken parties and breweries spring to mind. The Govt. should be held up to account for continuing to promote this scheme when everyone knew in advance that the software embeded in SMETS1 meters was not up to the job.

Digging a bit further and my advice above could have been better, as on the Gov website it says

Ofgem has introduced rules designed to help domestic consumers understand if the smart services they receive will be maintained when they switch energy supplier. The rules include a requirement that an energy supplier installing a first generation (SMETS1) smart meter must inform the customer that they may lose meter functionality on change of supplier.

gov.uk/guidance/smart-meters-how-they-work#switching-suppliers

So according the the rules you can ask British Gas if the meter will stop working.

mac.d

I have emailed an enquiry to Sainsbury's and asked for it to be looked at by their smart metering team instead of a general advisor who doens't really know for sure. I'll post an update with their reply.

In the meantime, thanks to the MSE weekly email, I see British Gas have now launched an online only tariff that is around the same price as the fix from Sainsbury's, so barring any issues, I'll look into that one instead.

House_Martin wrote: »

Sainsburys Energy was originally a "no frills " white label supplier with much lower tariffs than the parent BG , which meant the IHD had much less info than BGs.
My Sainsburys Energy IHD did show the kwh electricity reading and gas cubic metres and the reading was always sent off automatically.

Thanks, that wouldn't be as useful, but better than nothing. The main thing is the readings would still be sent automatically to the supplier, but personally, if the IHD doesn't show a bit more information other than the readings, then there is very little point to them. Which is why, if this was my own home, no smart meters would have been installed.

meryll83

I left BG for the Co-op and my in-house digital meter display didn't work with them. I'm in the process of switching back to BG - should it start working again?

mac.d

I think you need to ask BG directly for the answer to that.

Sainsbury's Energy have confirmed that the British Gas IHD will not work, except to show the meter readings.