EV Tariffs with Smart meter that has never worked

brightont

Does anyone know if there are any consumer rights around being able to access EV Tariffs (or other tariffs that rely on smart meters) when the consumer has a smart meter but it's one of the many that doesn't work? There is a list of meters that the elec companies have that are not working and never will, and there is a list of meters that just might work if someone somewhere tweaks something or more receivers are installed (I assume). Our meter is still on the list of meters that might just be able to got working (although it's been on that list for 5 years I assume) so elec companies won't do anything in the hope they spring into life one day. I get that installing a new SMETS2 meter (over an old SMETS1 meter) might not fix the problem if it's all about reception (we are in the middle of a city though so you'd think it would be OK) but I'd like them to try at least. Any advice/info on rights? Happy to send them meter readings manually showing when units are consumed if necessary :-)

CSI_Yorkshire

If you can't meet the requirements for a tariff, there is no consumer right that says you have to be allowed it anyway.

There is also no requirement to replace a meter that works (i.e. measures usage and shows a reading on the screen).

Dolor

Welcome to the forum. SMETS1 meters do not suddenly ‘spring into life’. The communication hub has  to be upgraded with an Over-the-Air firmware update deployed by your supplier. You can check whether your meter is smart by checking here:

https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Ofgem is presently consulting on an end of SMETS1 meters date. Once agreed, suppliers will have to either update all SMETS1 meters or replace them with SMETS2. The last time I looked over 10M SMETS1 meters had been upgraded and now connect to the DCC network: I would not describe that as ‘doing nothing’.

Out-of-interest, what is your meter make and model and who is your supplier?

QrizB

Some suppliers (I'm thinking of the many-tentacled one but maybe others too) will arrange for your meter to be replaced if you express a firm interest on joining one of their smart tariffs.

brightont

Dolor said:

Welcome to the forum. SMETS1 meters do not suddenly ‘spring into life’. The communication hub has  to be upgraded with an Over-the-Air firmware update deployed by your supplier. You can check whether your meter is smart by checking here:

Ofgem is presently consulting on an end of SMETS1 meters date. Once agreed, suppliers will have to either update all SMETS1 meters or replace them with SMETS2. The last time I looked over 10M SMETS1 meters had been upgraded and now connect to the DCC network: I would not describe that as ‘doing nothing’.

Out-of-interest, what is your meter make and model and who is your supplier?

Thank you Dolor. Supplier is Eon and meter make is Landis Gym, an E470 by the looks of it and if I do a look up on the site you link to it says "We can't find your meter" unfortunately. 

brightont

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If you can't meet the requirements for a tariff, there is no consumer right that says you have to be allowed it anyway.

There is also no requirement to replace a meter that works (i.e. measures usage and shows a reading on the screen).

OK good to know, thank you. This was more about the connecting back to the network as we've never had an in home screen since moving in (we do have a smart meter though :-) ). I did request a new in home screen but the provider wouldn't supply one. I honestly can't remember the reason if they gave one. 

CSI_Yorkshire

brightont said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If you can't meet the requirements for a tariff, there is no consumer right that says you have to be allowed it anyway.

There is also no requirement to replace a meter that works (i.e. measures usage and shows a reading on the screen).

OK good to know, thank you. This was more about the connecting back to the network as we've never had an in home screen since moving in (we do have a smart meter though :-) ). I did request a new in home screen but the provider wouldn't supply one. I honestly can't remember the reason if they gave one. 

The reason is basically that they don't have to.  There's a lot of the metering stuff that's a bit like that.

Once the emphasis moves from 'replace all old meters with smart meters' to 'make the smart metering system work properly' - no idea when that will happen though - maybe things will change.

lohr500

I could be wrong on this but I believe that the tariff time of use rates/times used by the smart meter are pushed out to the smart meter by the communications network. So if your meter can't communicate, it can't be updated with the relevant EV tariff.

Certainly when we switched from EDF E7 to EDF Go Electric 96 in August 2021, it required a push update to the smart meter to change the timings for register 1 and register 2 on the smart meter.  

So without ths, even if we wanted to send in the readings manually, it wouldn't have worked.

Dolor

lohr500 said:

I could be wrong on this but I believe that the tariff time of use rates/times used by the smart meter are pushed out to the smart meter by the communications network. So if your meter can't communicate, it can't be updated with the relevant EV tariff.

Certainly when we switched from EDF E7 to EDF Go Electric 96 in August 2021, it required a push update to the smart meter to change the timings for register 1 and register 2 on the smart meter.  

So without ths, even if we wanted to send in the readings manually, it wouldn't have worked.

On credit meters the tariff information sent out to smart meters is advisory only: that is, it plays no part in the billing process. Tariff information is sent out by the designated supplier.

For its time-of-use tariffs, Octopus’ default position is a single register set up with an average unit price set in the meter tariff matrix. Billing is based on 30 minute usage not meter index readings. For example, I am on a tariff comprising of 4 periods 0200 to 0500 (offpeak); 0500 to 1600 (mid peak); 1600 to 1900 (peak) and 1900 to 0200 (mid peak) with 3 import and 3 export rates.

The daily smart meter data pull returns a single index reading and an XML file containing 30 minute usage data. This file is used for billing. It follows that for Octopus’ time-of-use tariffs there is a contract condition that there must be a working smart meter which is capable of providing 30 minute usage data.