Inovation from Bulb

Dandytf

I've been looking forward to this for years.
Our engineers are in your area in the next few weeks replacing traditional meters with smart meters.
 Your installation is free, 
Does this mean eco7 next gen. Smart Meters are being made available.
t.i.a.

Dandytf

Post being deleted, didn't get passed Storage Heater question.

We can't replace your type of meter yet

At the moment we can't replace the type of electricity meter that storage heaters work with. We're hoping to be able to replace these meters next year. We'll send you an update when we're ready to replace your meter.

UnclaimedEnergy

If you're looking for innovation with meters and tariffs then you shouldn't be looking for Bulb to do that. They don't even own their billing system so are limited in what they can do by it.

Prob worth seeing if Octopus Energy are able to replace it yet or if the issue is industry wide.

MWT

SMETS2 meters with the 5th port for storage heaters have been available for a while now, just not many of them around and it seems some suppliers are still not installing them at all.

Others are though...

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/smart-meters-136/have-storage-heaters-underfloor-heating-or-other-5th-terminal-appliances-now-you-can-get-a-smets2-smart-meter-8545

Dandytf

UnclaimedEnergy said:

If you're looking for innovation with meters and tariffs then you shouldn't be looking for Bulb to do that. They don't even own their billing system so are limited in what they can do by it.

Prob worth seeing if Octopus Energy are able to replace it yet or if the issue is industry wide.

Todays post is an invitation from Bulb via e-mail.
Which lead me to their questionnaire, when it stopped as I have Storage Heaters.
Seems Bulb are aiming for 2021 for these heaters.
Thanks anyway haven't yet tried Octopus, though Ovo seem to be advertising them.  

potts8

I've just had discussions with both Bulb and Octopus on this subject although I'm going the other way from 2 rate/E7 to a single tariff meter.

Bulb were not able to switch me to a single tariff meter by switching to a smart meter.

Octopus on the other hand said with their smart meters they can remotely switch the meter to suit suit either tariff mode.

Dandytf

@potts8
Are Octopus Smart Meters available for E7 storage heaters, as it's not E7 tariff that's Bulb's smart delay, it's as I have electric storage heaters using E7.
t.i.a.

MWT

The question to ask is if they can supply a 5-port smart meter, the catch is that as far as I know, the currently available 5-port meters need to stay on E7 and cannot be easily switched to a non-E7 tariff.

A normal 4-port smart meter can easily switch between two rate and single rate tariffs, but is not able to directly control a separate circuit for storage heaters.

Dandytf

Thanks @MWT
Early octopus estimates online, don't seem to offer any savings via Bulb.
Though I'll call them anyway, not sure if I can make sense of Tariffs as it limits me to one when I choose E7.

Dandytf

To Add
Ovo often win my E7 Smart Meter online search.
Updated on 25/08/2020: we’re now able to fit SMETS2 smart meters for set ups requiring a 5th port/terminal connection, such as underfloor heating or storage heaters on economy 7 - More info here

Phones4Chris

That's a very useful link about E7 smart meters, thanks.