New Smart Meter - Have Taken The Plunge

inspectorperez

We have a 2 bedroom apartment which is heated by old style storage heaters on an Economy 7 tariff currently supplied by EDF.

The existing analogue (has never been changed from day 1 going back to 90s) meter is located in a communal cupboard around 30 feet away from the property underneath a concrete stairwell.

Just wondering if there are any questions I need to ask the engineer when he attends to fit the new meter?

My only real concern I suppose is that the time clock continues to work as it should by only drawing from the grid at off peak times. Also that the meter register properly distinguishes between daytime and night time rates for billing purposes. I have already been through the nightmare scenario a few years ago when EDF transposed the readings and started to issue erroneous bills which took an eternity to correct.

I'm guessing that the in house display will probably not function because of the distance between the meter location and property?

Any relevant comments much appreciated TIA.

Raxiel

Only possible question I can think of, is that it sounds like you have a dedicated circuit, that's only energized during the off peak period. 5 terminal smart meters have been around for a while now (they weren't at first) so that's what should be fitted. You could confirm that's what they've got and they're not going to just splice the two together.

Might be a good idea to grab one last set of readings on the old meter before it's gone. The fitter should record the final reading and note it on a sticker on the new one, but can't hurt to have a backup.

Provided the meter can get a signal to the network, it will keep its clock in sync and you'll still get your Economy 7. You'll also be able to take advantage of other time of use tariffs if you wanted to and your supplier offered them.

Based on what you've said, you're probably right that the IHD won't work. If that's the case your supplier may have usage data available online via website or app. If they don't, there are third party apps like Bright, that can access your data directly from the meter network (with your consent) and you can monitor your usage that way, down to half hourly consumption if you're smart meter preferences allow.

They aren't real time though, data for a given day usually shows up min afternoon the following day for me.

Gerry1

Switch the immersion heaters off the night before so that the water is cool when the smart meter is fitted.  Set the NSH input to low.  Switch the NSHs off at the spurs in the morning.

When the new meter goes live, switch on the immersion heaters plus a kettle or tumble dryer etc and note which register is incrementing.  When the next bill comes in, make sure that register is the one used for the day rate.  Switch off the kettle and immersion heaters.

Set the NSHs' input controls to your normal settings, switch on the NSHs and jiggle the spur switches, listen for any crackles and watch for any sparks.  If any occur and the same register is incrementing, stop the technician from leaving until the fault has been resolved, otherwise NSH usage at day rates will bankrupt you !

inspectorperez

Glad I asked the question!

Great advice Raxiel and Gerry1 much appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Is the supplier aware of your heating set up? I ask because not all set ups and smart meters are equal. You might need a smart meter with ALCS. When an ACLS meter is fitted, I believe that the supplier has to set up the meter timings.

One alternative is that you get an electrician to re-wire your circuits to allow for standard meter control without a time switch.

I confess that I am not exactly sure how a standard time switch works in a smart metering situation? Each smart meter has 4 registers. For an E7 meter, the supplier will set up a dual-rate tariff (2 registers) and the rate will change at set times but the standard smart meter is agnostic when it comes to which circuits it powers. Depending on your circuitry I can envisage a situation where the time switch just opens a circuit but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the smart meter will switch from peak to offpeak at the same time.

I should add that the installer doesn’t configure the meter re tariffs and timings. This is undertaken by the supplier as part of the downstream commissioning process. A few days after installation you will get a message ‘ESME Commissioning completed’

inspectorperez

[Deleted User] said:

Is the supplier aware of your heating set up? I ask because not all set ups and smart meters are equal. You might need a smart meter with ALCS. When an ACLS meter is fitted, I believe that the supplier has to set up the meter timings.

One alternative is that you get an electrician to re-wire your circuits to allow for standard meter control without a time switch.

I confess that I am not exactly sure how a standard time switch works in a smart metering situation? Each smart meter has 4 registers. For an E7 meter, the supplier will set up a dual-rate tariff (2 registers) and the rate will change at set times but the standard smart meter is agnostic when it comes to which circuits it powers. Depending on your circuitry I can envisage a situation where the time switch just opens a circuit but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the smart meter will switch from peak to offpeak at the same time.

I should add that the installer doesn’t configure the meter re tariffs and timings. This is undertaken by the supplier as part of the downstream commissioning process. A few days after installation you will get a message ‘ESME Commissioning completed’

Thanks for the detailed and helpful response.

I have attempted to have this conversation with EDF customer services but the person I spoke to had little or no knowledge about this type of arrangement. At the moment I am hoping that I can have some meaningful dialogue with engineer on the day of installation with fingers crossed.