Are SMETS 2 Smart meters any good?

See_Jay

In July 2020 my then energy supplier (E on) installed Smart Meters for my Gas and Electricity supplies. All worked well, until in October, I switched supplier, via the Money Saving Energy Club of course!
My new supplier, Shell Energy, now say they are unable to gain information from my meters, and ask that I supply readings myself. They say this is due to technical problems. 
I cannot ascertain where the problem lies. Is it with Shell Energy or with the new meters?
Has anyone had this problem with SMETS 2 meters?

Joyful

I am in a new build with Smets 2 meters. As it is an IGT meter for gas that does not send readings. I have been advised in the future someone will be in touch with me! I'm also not seeing any readings for either on my British Gas app.

[Deleted User]

Joyful said:

I am in a new build with Smets 2 meters. As it is an IGT meter for gas that does not send readings. I have been advised in the future someone will be in touch with me! I'm also not seeing any readings for either on my British Gas app.

If you have gas SMETS2 meter it is irrelevant whether they it was installed by an IGT or Cadent. You will have a gas supplier as neither Cadent nor IGTs supply gas to domestic properties. Your gas supplier (British Gas) should be able to receive meter readings from the DCC once the meters have been properly commissioned on the DCC system. 

My original gas meter was installed by Fulcrum Pipelines (an IGT). I am now with Octopus who, to date, have installed 2 SMETS2 gas meters in the last 18 months. Both meters supplied data to Octopus for billing purposes.

jfinnie

See_Jay said:

In July 2020 my then energy supplier (E on) installed Smart Meters for my Gas and Electricity supplies. All worked well, until in October, I switched supplier, via the Money Saving Energy Club of course!
My new supplier, Shell Energy, now say they are unable to gain information from my meters, and ask that I supply readings myself. They say this is due to technical problems. 
I cannot ascertain where the problem lies. Is it with Shell Energy or with the new meters?
Has anyone had this problem with SMETS 2 meters?

How far into Shell are you?  I signed up with Igloo after having EON SMETS2 fitted earlier in the year.  Although a lot of the clickthrough blurb said they couldn't get readings, the meter is now registered with them, the display all working, and sending readings back to them.  
The dates on the readings don't always seem to align (so for my gas I think they used estimate last month) - but this will not be a big deal as the readings will be updated every month even if the actual bill is an estimate mid-cycle.

Marmaduke123

We switched to EON after having SMETS 2 meters installed by Scottish power. EON seemed to get the electricity readings almost immediately after we switched, but the gas took much longer, several months in fact. We just supplied monthly readings ourselves until then. The IHD always worked, showing the correct readings for both, so no struggling to read the actual meters in the garage.

Zellah

See_Jay said:

In July 2020 my then energy supplier (E on) installed Smart Meters for my Gas and Electricity supplies. All worked well, until in October, I switched supplier, via the Money Saving Energy Club of course!
My new supplier, Shell Energy, now say they are unable to gain information from my meters, and ask that I supply readings myself. They say this is due to technical problems. 
I cannot ascertain where the problem lies. Is it with Shell Energy or with the new meters?
Has anyone had this problem with SMETS 2 meters?

Most likely a problem with Shell rather than issues with your smets2 meters. I also had smets2 meters installed through E.ON in late 2019 and in the Summer moved to EDF. The smart meters retained full smart functionality after moving to EDF. Reading others smets2 users feedback, its seems smets2 meters continue to work in smart mode if moving between any of the 'big 6' providers, moving to smaller providers can be hit and miss.

See_Jay

Many thanks. If Shell energy don't resolve the issue it will definitely influence my choices when my present contract runs out.

[Deleted User]

When a consumer with a SMETS2 switches suppliers nothing happens to the WAN link between the meter comms hub and the central hub: the DCC. Suppliers, known as DCC Users, access your data; give the meterd instructions etc using what is known as an adaptor. Some suppliers have written their own adaptors, and some use third-party adaptor services. All the links between meters; the DCC and the supplier are heavily encrypted using GCHQ layered security. No single party has sight of every part of the meter to supplier links. What could possibly go wrong?

https://reachwm.com/articles/tag/DCC+Adaptor