Can’t get a smart meter

stupidboy74

Apologies if already discussed, but a brief search only brought up smart meter issues, or people not wanting one.

I have an electric car and home charger, but not a smart meter.This means I can’t access any cheap overnight tariffs.
Eon Next are adamant I can’t have one, with various excuses including bad mobile signal.

I pointed out that a SMETS2 wouldn’t need a good mobile signal so that came back saying I needed an updated comms hub and they don’t fit them.

I have offered to pay to have a local electrician for both the comms hub and smart meter, but I’ve been told I cannot do this?

Am I completely at the mercy of Eon on this, or is there a way I can get a smart meter fitted? 

MattMattMattUK

stupidboy74 said:

Apologies if already discussed, but a brief search only brought up smart meter issues, or people not wanting one.

I have an electric car and home charger, but not a smart meter.This means I can’t access any cheap overnight tariffs.
Eon Next are adamant I can’t have one, with various excuses including bad mobile signal.

I pointed out that a SMETS2 wouldn’t need a good mobile signal so that came back saying I needed an updated comms hub and they don’t fit them.

I have offered to pay to have a local electrician for both the comms hub and smart meter, but I’ve been told I cannot do this?

Am I completely at the mercy of Eon on this, or is there a way I can get a smart meter fitted? 

It may be Eon, it may be an issue in your location. Have you asked any of your neighbours if they have a smart meter? Depending on which part of the country you are in smart meters may operate over the mobile phone network.

Whilst it is theoretically possible for one to have a meter fitted by their own electrician, in practice it is impossible, that is not a route you can go down.

You could try changing supplier, Octopus would be my choice as they offer by far the best EV tariffs, but if there is a technical reason why smart meters cannot currently be fitted and/or operate where you live then they will not be able to bypass that. 

stupidboy74

MattMattMattUK said:

stupidboy74 said:

Apologies if already discussed, but a brief search only brought up smart meter issues, or people not wanting one.

I have an electric car and home charger, but not a smart meter.This means I can’t access any cheap overnight tariffs.
Eon Next are adamant I can’t have one, with various excuses including bad mobile signal.

I pointed out that a SMETS2 wouldn’t need a good mobile signal so that came back saying I needed an updated comms hub and they don’t fit them.

I have offered to pay to have a local electrician for both the comms hub and smart meter, but I’ve been told I cannot do this?

Am I completely at the mercy of Eon on this, or is there a way I can get a smart meter fitted? 

It may be Eon, it may be an issue in your location. Have you asked any of your neighbours if they have a smart meter? Depending on which part of the country you are in smart meters may operate over the mobile phone network.

Whilst it is theoretically possible for one to have a meter fitted by their own electrician, in practice it is impossible, that is not a route you can go down.

You could try changing supplier, Octopus would be my choice as they offer by far the best EV tariffs, but if there is a technical reason why smart meters cannot currently be fitted and/or operate where you live then they will not be able to bypass that. 

Thanks for your reply Matt.
If I can’t get one fitted independently then it does sound like i’m stuck.
I have raised a complaint with Eon, and they gave me £20 off my current balance, at least that’s something, but I have asked to elevate my complaint as far as I can.
As futile as it may be if it’s the suppliers decision to fit/not fit a smart meter, I’ll be taking this to OFGEM after I’ve exhausted options with Eon.
I can’t be the only person in this situation either.

MattMattMattUK

stupidboy74 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

stupidboy74 said:

Apologies if already discussed, but a brief search only brought up smart meter issues, or people not wanting one.

I have an electric car and home charger, but not a smart meter.This means I can’t access any cheap overnight tariffs.
Eon Next are adamant I can’t have one, with various excuses including bad mobile signal.

I pointed out that a SMETS2 wouldn’t need a good mobile signal so that came back saying I needed an updated comms hub and they don’t fit them.

I have offered to pay to have a local electrician for both the comms hub and smart meter, but I’ve been told I cannot do this?

Am I completely at the mercy of Eon on this, or is there a way I can get a smart meter fitted? 

It may be Eon, it may be an issue in your location. Have you asked any of your neighbours if they have a smart meter? Depending on which part of the country you are in smart meters may operate over the mobile phone network.

Whilst it is theoretically possible for one to have a meter fitted by their own electrician, in practice it is impossible, that is not a route you can go down.

You could try changing supplier, Octopus would be my choice as they offer by far the best EV tariffs, but if there is a technical reason why smart meters cannot currently be fitted and/or operate where you live then they will not be able to bypass that. 

Thanks for your reply Matt.
If I can’t get one fitted independently then it does sound like i’m stuck.

You cannot get one fitted independently, but that does not mean you are stuck, at least not until you have exhausted all options.

stupidboy74 said:

I have raised a complaint with Eon, and they gave me £20 off my current balance, at least that’s something, but I have asked to elevate my complaint as far as I can.

Why not leave Eon and move to Octopus and see if they can help, they are generally regarded as the best out there, but they may still say no.

stupidboy74 said:

As futile as it may be if it’s the suppliers decision to fit/not fit a smart meter, I’ll be taking this to OFGEM after I’ve exhausted options with Eon.

It is not the suppliers decision, it is the decision of the network operator in that area. Now it could be down to incompetent customer service, or it could be because the network operator has said that no meters are to be installed in that area at the moment, complaining to Ofgem will not change that and will take months. The easiest way would be to change supplier and ask for a smart meter, if one can be fitted then it would be, if it cannot then you will be told it cannot. A complaint to Ofgem could still be pending a year from now with all the backlogs. 

stupidboy74 said:

I can’t be the only person in this situation either.

You are not, but that is largely irrelevant. In some parts of the country smart meters cannot currently be fitted, no amount of complaints will change that. In other instances they can be fitted but are not currently being fitted whilst issues are worked out an in other cases there is a short delay or customer service issue. Workarounds are being worked on for areas with technical issues and they will be solved in due course, but that will be years in some locations.

Change supplier, ask for a smart meter, if they say no you know the issue is technical, there is no benefit to keep fighting Eon's customer services. 

dealyboy

There must be a special situation, is it your location? Do you need a super duper comms hub?

They fitted a SMEGS 2 meter and hub for me in Jan 22 (requirement of tariff), but I'm in a bog standard town, no EV.

stupidboy74

MattMattMattUK said:

stupidboy74 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

stupidboy74 said:

Apologies if already discussed, but a brief search only brought up smart meter issues, or people not wanting one.

I have an electric car and home charger, but not a smart meter.This means I can’t access any cheap overnight tariffs.
Eon Next are adamant I can’t have one, with various excuses including bad mobile signal.

I pointed out that a SMETS2 wouldn’t need a good mobile signal so that came back saying I needed an updated comms hub and they don’t fit them.

I have offered to pay to have a local electrician for both the comms hub and smart meter, but I’ve been told I cannot do this?

Am I completely at the mercy of Eon on this, or is there a way I can get a smart meter fitted? 

It may be Eon, it may be an issue in your location. Have you asked any of your neighbours if they have a smart meter? Depending on which part of the country you are in smart meters may operate over the mobile phone network.

Whilst it is theoretically possible for one to have a meter fitted by their own electrician, in practice it is impossible, that is not a route you can go down.

You could try changing supplier, Octopus would be my choice as they offer by far the best EV tariffs, but if there is a technical reason why smart meters cannot currently be fitted and/or operate where you live then they will not be able to bypass that. 

Thanks for your reply Matt.
If I can’t get one fitted independently then it does sound like i’m stuck.

You cannot get one fitted independently, but that does not mean you are stuck, at least not until you have exhausted all options.

stupidboy74 said:

I have raised a complaint with Eon, and they gave me £20 off my current balance, at least that’s something, but I have asked to elevate my complaint as far as I can.

Why not leave Eon and move to Octopus and see if they can help, they are generally regarded as the best out there, but they may still say no.

stupidboy74 said:

As futile as it may be if it’s the suppliers decision to fit/not fit a smart meter, I’ll be taking this to OFGEM after I’ve exhausted options with Eon.

It is not the suppliers decision, it is the decision of the network operator in that area. Now it could be down to incompetent customer service, or it could be because the network operator has said that no meters are to be installed in that area at the moment, complaining to Ofgem will not change that and will take months. The easiest way would be to change supplier and ask for a smart meter, if one can be fitted then it would be, if it cannot then you will be told it cannot. A complaint to Ofgem could still be pending a year from now with all the backlogs. 

stupidboy74 said:

I can’t be the only person in this situation either.

You are not, but that is largely irrelevant. In some parts of the country smart meters cannot currently be fitted, no amount of complaints will change that. In other instances they can be fitted but are not currently being fitted whilst issues are worked out an in other cases there is a short delay or customer service issue. Workarounds are being worked on for areas with technical issues and they will be solved in due course, but that will be years in some locations.

Change supplier, ask for a smart meter, if they say no you know the issue is technical, there is no benefit to keep fighting Eon's customer services. 

Switching is indeed on the cards.
Thanks for your help.

[Deleted User]

As futile as it may be if it’s the suppliers decision to fit/not fit a smart meter, I’ll be taking this to OFGEM after I’ve exhausted options with Eon.

You cannot take a complaint to Ofgem as such. Ofgem uses a private company, Energy Ombudsman Services,  to arbitrate on customer complaints. That said, your situation is complicated by the fact that The DCC is responsible for the smart meter network and all communications hubs and they are not subject to the EOS process.

For those living in the Central and Southern DCC regions there are options. The supplier can fit a SKU2 comms hub with a T1 or T2 aerial. Also, where there are at least 4 SMETS2 smart meters that are in range of each other, the DCC can enable the built in MESH facility. Your data would cascade across the mesh network until it finds a comms hub that has mobile connection to the DCC network. I confess that I have absolutely no idea why this is not enabled by default or how the DCC determines whether it is needed.

If you want access to one of the best smart meter teams in the market, then switch to Octopus. Before doing so, I suggest that you seek some advice on what Octopus might be able to do to help you by contacting smart.help@octopus.energy

stupidboy74

Thanks all for your replies.
I reckon it’s down to location and possibly as i’m on the edge of the North York Moors, the mobile signal being extremely poor.
Could be they are just not fitting smart meters in this area currently?
I’ve had a reply to my complaint email saying they’ll fit a smart meter, again.
I’ve provided the same details I did previously 
when they had said they would fit one.I fully expect to get another reply saying they cannot, again!
I’ll update this with any further developments!
Thanks again for your replies and advice.

Gerry1

stupidboy74 said:

I reckon it’s down to location and possibly as i’m on the edge of the North York Moors, the mobile signal being extremely poor.

Smart meters don't use the O2 mobile network in the North.  They use Arqiva's Long Range Radio network.

However, the normal comms unit is isn't suitable in some areas because of an interference issue with RAF Fylingdales so a variant has to be used.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/smart-energy-meter-yorkshire-nuclear-weapons-raf-fylingdales-b983058.html

Reed_Richards

I'm also on Arqiva, or would be if there was a strong enough signal.  My installer insisted that he could not test the signal until he had fitted the meter (and then the comms hub) whereupon the signal was judged to be too iffy to work.  I'm told in the fullness of time a new aerial may fix my problem.  Perhaps where the OP lives the signal is known to be so weak that they don't even try?    

stupidboy74

Reed_Richards said:

I'm also on Arqiva, or would be if there was a strong enough signal.  My installer insisted that he could not test the signal until he had fitted the meter (and then the comms hub) whereupon the signal was judged to be too iffy to work.  I'm told in the fullness of time a new aerial may fix my problem.  Perhaps where the OP lives the signal is known to be so weak that they don't even try?    

Hopefully I’ll get to the bottom of it at some point, but as i’m 23 miles from Fylingdales it could definitely be that.
It would be nice to know why, rather than just being fobbed off.