Smart Meter

Rijam

We have a Secure Liberty 100 smart meter fitted years ago by Eon. We have been with a number of different suppliers including Bulb and Outfox. We have always sent meter readings by pressing 9 on our single rate Electricity meter. We changed from Bulb to Outfox with no problems but now we have changed to Sainsburys Energy. 
We could not imput the reading online to start with so we got in touch and they did this for us. They said the connection to read the meter would not be done for another month but they was still suppling us, just not pulling readings from the meter.
Now that they can, they are saying we need to press 6666 and enter that number. They are saying that is the reading the smart meter is sending them. They also say they need to put in a dispute with our previous supplier.
I can not find out with them what is the difference in cost. Why all our previous suppliers said to press 9. Its a single rate meter so online it says press 9.
Not sure what to do. The first month they charged us 49 pounds for Electricity and this month we have had no bill but have been repaid the 49 pounds.

QrizB

Rijam said:

they are saying we need to press 6666 and enter that number. They are saying that is the reading the smart meter is sending them. They also say they need to put in a dispute with our previous supplier.
I can not find out with them what is the difference in cost. Why all our previous suppliers said to press 9. Its a single rate meter so online it says press 9.

OK, so pressing 9 gives you the total import (IMP KWH) while pressing 6 lets you read the individual registers IMP R01 and IMP R02. IMP R01 plus IMP R02 should equal IMP KWH.

What readings do you get when you do this?

Here's a video from Octopus for the benefit of anyone else reading this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFeQ_y5LRrM

imeach

For years, and still are, we have been told to press 9 for a single rate and 6666 for 1 and R2 as QrizB says

UNLESS the suppler was Utility Warehouse where we did the 6666 if it was single rate.
Always said what would happen when people switch from UW

I theory if the meter is single rate, pressing 9 or 6666 should give the same but doesn't always.

These meters and their different models are awful. I remember all the posts slating them by someone who no longer seems to be here.

There really should have been a standard meter where you press one button to cycle through

All the manufacturers could make whatever they want as long as every meter is read in the same way, would save serious confusion.

Rijam

Pressing 9 gives us 23066
Pressing 6 RO1  is 15888.6
Pressing 66 RO2 is 7177.5
Pressing 666 RO3 is 00000
Pressing 6666 RO4 is 00000

We are being told to press number 6 four times straight away and give her the reading which is 15888.6.
They say the smart meter is sending them that reading 15888.6

QrizB

OK, so the good news is that R01 + R02 = 23066.

It seems that at some stage your meter has been recording a dual-rate tariff using R01 and R02. Were you the occupier when the smart meter was fitted, or was it there when you moved in?

I also can't quite understand why Sainsbury's are asking you to provide meter readings when they also say they're getting smart meter readings themselves?

Rijam

We was the occupier when it was fitted and have always pressed 9 and had a single rate even from later suppliers. It never worked as a smart meter when we moved to bulb and outfox though.
When we moved to Sainsburys they said they could not connect to it and to send the readings. This we did by pressing 9 and was billed for that month.
This month they can connect to it and say the numbers do not match what the smart meter is sending them. We told them we press 9 as we always had, and they tell us this is wrong. They are saying the smart meter is sending them 15888.6 the RO1 number.
They have refunded the first bill and are now going to put in a dispute.

[Deleted User]

Smart meters have 4 registers. Some suppliers use 2 registers for E7. The index reading shows that the total number of units consumed on all registers. This has lead to some confusion. For example, BG used to offer a free day on one of their tariffs. Free units were added to the R2 register. When the tariff was dropped, BG reverted just to using just the R1 index. This has led to issues such as yours when people have switched suppliers and they have provided the total index reading. They suddenly find that they are being billed for free units. The message is that if you switch from one single rate tariff to another, you should always provide the R1 reading.

In the future, we will see suppliers move away from index readings. Statements will be raised on the amount of electricity consumed in each 30 minute period as recorded by the smart meter.