Switch to off peak tariff

DVN999

We’ve just bought our first electric car and are getting panels and a battery installed next week at the house, along with a charging station, and I’m now very keen to make the switch to someone like Octopus, so we can take advantage of the overnight charge options. 

The issue I’m facing is my smart meter isn’t SMETS2 and I’ll be forced onto a dreadful rate with them whilst I wait for one. Is anyone aware of any workaround or what the waiting time actually is?

we are currently with British Gas and my other option js to try to switch to an economy 7 tariff (not sure if that’s possible with smart meter) as also want to charge the house battery overnight, if the sun has not played ball during the day!

would be interested to hear what others are doing as, I’m sure, we are one of many families taking the plunge!

getting a 4.2kw panel array with 5kw inverter and 5.6kw battery (to start). SolaX.

thanks in advance 

QrizB

DVN999 said:

The issue I’m facing is my smart meter isn’t SMETS2 and I’ll be forced onto a dreadful rate with them whilst I wait for one. Is anyone aware of any workaround or what the waiting time actually is?

The "dreadful rate" should be Flexible Octopus which is the same SVT you'll get anywhere else. Or you could take a bit of a gamble with Octopus Tracker which has recently been working out slightly cheaper (not guaranteed to remain that way, of course).

we are currently with British Gas and my other option js to try to switch to an economy 7 tariff (not sure if that’s possible with smart meter) as also want to charge the house battery overnight, if the sun has not played ball during the day!

What sort of meter do you currently have? If it's a single-rate dumb meter, or a SMETS1 dumb meter, BG probably won't be able to offer you E7 (BG's problems with E7 and smart meters are frequent causes for complaint on this forum). If you've already got an E7-capable dumb meter you should be able to choose an E7 tariff with either BG or Octopus.

DVN999

That’s interesting - flexible Octopus rates are much better than what they quoted me on the phone, so perhaps I need to ask for that. Like you say, it’ll be the same as I’m on now but I’ll be in the queue for a SMETS2 at least.

our current meter is a landis and Gyr E470. It’s a SMETS1 smart (?) meter but don’t know if it’s suitable for dual tariff.

[Deleted User]

DVN999 said:

That’s interesting - flexible Octopus rates are much better than what they quoted me on the phone, so perhaps I need to ask for that. Like you say, it’ll be the same as I’m on now but I’ll be in the queue for a SMETS2 at least.

our current meter is a landis and Gyr E470. It’s a SMETS1 smart (?) meter but don’t know if it’s suitable for dual tariff.

Suppliers should not be replacing SMETS1 meters as there is an ongoing process of enrolling SMETS1 meters onto the DCC Network. All SMETS meters have 4 registers which are capable of recording usage data in 30 minute chunks. For its EV tariffs (Go; Go Faster and Intelligent) Octopus uses a single register and it bills using 30 minute smart meter usage data. This is fine provided that all the data can be retrieved; sadly, this isn’t always the case.