Smart to not smart

Lad

Hi

I have smart meters and will be switching to a supplier who can't make use of the smart functionality so they'll become dumb meters.

My switch date is 2nd December but they said they'll email me on 27th November for opening reads and I'll have until 6th December to provide them otherwise they'll estimate my opening reads. They'll then use these figures to send to my old supplier as the final reads.

Since I have smart meters, I'm wondering if my old supplier will actually use my supplied readings as the final reads or will they get them from the smart meters on the switch date?

I want to give my readings to my new supplier as soon as possible because they have a better tariff but if I did this, it'll be before my supply start date. Could this lead to a doubling up of my bill since the new suppler will use them as the initial reads but potentially my old supplier could ignore them as the final reads and use the actual readings from the smart meters on the switch date (which will of course be higher). If this will be the case, then there would be a short period of time when both suppliers are using the same range of readings and I could be paying twice.

To those who have switched from a smart meter supplier to a non smart meter supplier, did both parties use your supplied readings as both the final and initial readings so that they matched up with each other or did the old supplier read from the smart meters and used them as the final reads instead?


Thanks

Lad

Thanks EnergyTwist. I understand that this would be the process if neither suppliers use smart meters but it seems then, the old supplier isn't responsible for collecting (or shouldn't collect) the final read from the smart meters despite having the ability to do so? That it should still come from the new supplier via the intermediary?

mac.d

That is just the process full stop, at the moment, smart or standard meter is immaterial.

It's about protecting the customer from having to pay twice and stops arguments between suppliers about meter readings as it puts procedures in place to 'verify' readings and deal with any disagreements & anomalies. It doesn't always work perfectly, but the idea behind it is pretty sound.

In future, if and when all smart meters are part of a network and fully communicable with all suppliers, they shouldn't need to have this validation process.

matelodave

Bear in mind that even if you give your meter reading early, some if not most suppliers will then estimate how much they thing you'll use between the reading date and the change over date an in a lot of cases their estimates can be significantly more that your actual consumption.

For example If I use around 300kwh on a month I'd rather hope that the energy co could work out that, it should be approx 10kw/day, however when I've sent in a reading two or three days early they've managed to estimate up 50-60kwh or more for just a couple of days, this may or may not be to your advantage

Lad

Thanks for your replies. That's cleared up my understanding of the current process. Hopefully, it'll go smoothly but it seems I need to make sure the final and initial reads are the same in case they alter my given readings to take account of the small overlap in time between me supplying the readings and the supply start date.

poppellerant

Set a time you can manage to take meter readings two days in a row. The day before your supply changes, take and submit your first reading to your old supplier. Take and submit a second reading to your new supplier, on the day you switch.

I've done the above before with no problems. In fact most suppliers will be grateful for taking the time to be careful and accurate with readings, as it can save everybody time and problems in the long run.