"Dumb" SMETS2 smartmeters and switching suppliers

charlieheard

We had smartmeters fitted by EDF a year ago to take advantage of a time of use tariff, but they have never connected to the servers: they are basically dumb. So instead we negotiated a fixed-price deal for a year, which is coming to an end. We are now looking at switching our tariff and possibly supplier. We have an EV and a PHEV, so would be keen to access cheap overnight electricity for charging them. Is there anything we can do to "wake up" our smartmeters, or are we just stuck with them being dumb? And will this affect our ability to switch?

brewerdave

Another poster has recommended Octopus in similar circumstances - might be worth a phone call/email to investigate.

charlieheard

Thanks. I was interested in them because of their low overnight prices, but I wasn't sure how they'd work without smartmeters

MikeE67

charlieheard said:

Thanks. I was interested in them because of their low overnight prices, but I wasn't sure how they'd work without smartmeters

You won't be able to go on Octopus's TOU tariffs without a smart meter as they wouldn't know how much to charge you based on when you use the energy! 

brewerdave

charlieheard said:

Thanks. I was interested in them because of their low overnight prices, but I wasn't sure how they'd work without smartmeters

A previous poster suggested that Octopus had got his smart meters working again ??

jamiewakeham

Octopus had no problem in connecting to my SMETS2 meter (originally fitted by Ovo), despite the fact that Ecotricity had failed to get anywhere with it!

MikeE67

jamiewakeham said:

Octopus had no problem in connecting to my SMETS2 meter (originally fitted by Ovo), despite the fact that Ecotricity had failed to get anywhere with it!

Same here.
OVO fitted my SMETS2 meters back in July 2019 and after a few months stopped working as the WAN connection was lost.

Despite chasing them up to get it sorted, no interest so I waited until I was no longer going to get stung with £60 in exit fees and within a few days the electricity meter was smart again.

However the gas meter had not been commissioned properly and didn't even show on Octopus's systems but a week or so later the gas meter was sorted as well.

Excellent customer service IMHO