Supplier won't change prepayment meter

Carrot007

Dolor said:

Correct - SMETS2 meters connect to a central hub run by The Data Communications Company. Suppliers connect to the hub using an approved/secure piece of software called an adapter. When you switch, the new supplier takes over responsibility for your meters. It pulls data from your meter once every 24 hours if you are on 30 minute usage recording.

DCC was a bad idea from an idustry standpoint. HH market was already set up and could have been used.

And really do they poll every day. A lot of HH meters poll once a month, so it seems overkill.

nonotatall

I don't know a lot about smart meters but another question I have always had about them is who pays for the electricity to run them?  Is it the supplier or the customer?  I know we are probably talking about fractions of kWh here but to me it would be always on and it is also the principle of it.  Who pays for that?  Also, isn't that extra energy (carbon) we could do without wasting?  I guess the argument is that it might save energy (carbon) by behavioural change but I wonder how true that is, as I said, any friend who has a smart meter seems to pay attention to it for a few days and then ignores it.

Carrot007

nonotatall said:

I don't know a lot about smart meters but another question I have always had about them is who pays for the electricity to run them?  Is it the supplier or the customer?  I know we are probably talking about fractions of kWh here but to me it would be always on and it is also the principle of it.  Who pays for that?  Also, isn't that extra energy (carbon) we could do without wasting?  I guess the argument is that it might save energy (carbon) by behavioural change but I wonder how true that is, as I said, any friend who has a smart meter seems to pay attention to it for a few days and then ignores it.

Meters have always used electric. The use it from the supply side however (so it is network loss and niot paid foy by you but everyone). The IHD is pointless and obviously paid for by you. Turn if off it does nothing much. May cost 5p a year if you don't.

nonotatall

I guess that somebody has done the work on what types of meter consume more or less power.  I would be intrigued to know how consumption by inductive-type, electronic-type and 'smart' type (electronic-type + other gubbins) compares.  I'd guess that the 'pure' electronic-type (presumably some kind of solid state equivalent of an induction coil) use the least power.  Anyway, definitely getting off topic here.

Thank you all for your wisdom.  I am going to change supplier.  I will try calling a few to see how fast they can commit to a meter change.  Octopus say 1-3 months, BGas have said 28 days but I'm slightly unclear if that is just the supplier switch over.  I guess I'll try some other big six ones next.

EON_next continue to say that they are 'not ready' to change meters yet because they are a 'new company' and this continues to feel like they simply can't be bothered with prepayment customers and are hoping we migrate away.

QrizB

Carrot007 said:

And really do they poll every day. A lot of HH meters poll once a month, so it seems overkill.

I can see hourly usage data on EDF's website, 2-3 days after the use happened (there's some sort of validation delay). So yes my smart meters are polled at least daily.

niktheguru

nonotatall said:

I guess that somebody has done the work on what types of meter consume more or less power.  I would be intrigued to know how consumption by inductive-type, electronic-type and 'smart' type (electronic-type + other gubbins) compares.  I'd guess that the 'pure' electronic-type (presumably some kind of solid state equivalent of an induction coil) use the least power.  Anyway, definitely getting off topic here.

Thank you all for your wisdom.  I am going to change supplier.  I will try calling a few to see how fast they can commit to a meter change.  Octopus say 1-3 months, BGas have said 28 days but I'm slightly unclear if that is just the supplier switch over.  I guess I'll try some other big six ones next.

EON_next continue to say that they are 'not ready' to change meters yet because they are a 'new company' and this continues to feel like they simply can't be bothered with prepayment customers and are hoping we migrate away.

You just need to switch and you need to switch fast. Preferably to a company with good customer service like octopus. British gas are also good, but some have had problems with engineer call outs due to all their contractual problems with their staff being fired and rehired, dont know if thats all sorted yet.
The longer you leave to switch, the longer you'll be stuck with a prepaymeter, and its the prepay that will haemorrhage your cash, not the difference between suppliers. Once the new smart meter is in then you are free to move to whoever you want (as long as you didnt switch to a fixed rate tariff with an exit fee)

Regarding security of smart meter, i'd argue people should be worried about what data can be mined from your mobile phone, i'd say the stuff in there is  alot more sensitive than knowing how many kwh you use to light your house at what time.

Good luck with your quest in changing the meter!

t0rt0ise

EDF changed my meters when I moved in. I was already with them for elec but changed to them specifically to get them to change the meter, for gas.

nonotatall

Thanks t0rt0ise.  I was considering changing to EDF but they kept me waiting for 5 mins on the phone and I didn't really want to work with them for that reason.  I was able to talk to somebody in Bulb within a few mins and they say they can change the meter once the account is transferred.  They said they can change the meter "within a few days" so that sounds alright.