Smart Meters and EV charging

poetryplease

I have been struggling for three years to get a series of energy companies to get my smets2 meter to talk to them. Changed meter once and promised now to reset yet again 

They blame poor reception. Problem is I cannot access off peak charging tariffs for an electric car. Can I claim compensation?  Lots more people will suffer this problem as more get EVs 

Any ideas!

Reed_Richards

It may be possible to fit a better aerial to the communications hub attached to your meter that would enable it to talk to your supplier.

It has been in the news recently that only 90% (IIRC) of smart meters communicate.  I don't think any compensation is proposed.

I would not recommend getting an EV before your problem is sorted.  

Netexporter

Have they fitted a booster antenna to the meter?

Reed_Richards

You might like to listen to "You and Yours" from October 25th, starting 33 minutes into the programme:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001rq5h

MattMattMattUK

Reed_Richards said:

It may be possible to fit a better aerial to the communications hub attached to your meter that would enable it to talk to your supplier.

It has been in the news recently that only 90% (IIRC) of smart meters communicate.  I don't think any compensation is proposed.

I would not recommend getting an EV before your problem is sorted.  

Even on standard rate running an efficient EV still has a lower cost per mile than an ICE vehicle. 

dunstonh

poetryplease said:

I have been struggling for three years to get a series of energy companies to get my smets2 meter to talk to them. Changed meter once and promised now to reset yet again 

They blame poor reception. Problem is I cannot access off peak charging tariffs for an electric car. Can I claim compensation?  Lots more people will suffer this problem as more get EVs 

Any ideas!

Have you considered economy 7?   
That doesnt need any connectivity with the meter as the meter time dictates when it switches between peak and off peak.

How is your internet reception in your garage or where your car will be kept?     Charging points need an internet connection.    

lohr500

dunstonh said:

poetryplease said:

I have been struggling for three years to get a series of energy companies to get my smets2 meter to talk to them. Changed meter once and promised now to reset yet again 

They blame poor reception. Problem is I cannot access off peak charging tariffs for an electric car. Can I claim compensation?  Lots more people will suffer this problem as more get EVs 

Any ideas!

Have you considered economy 7?   
That doesnt need any connectivity with the meter as the meter time dictates when it switches between peak and off peak.

How is your internet reception in your garage or where your car will be kept?     Charging points need an internet connection.    

Wouldn't the smart meter need to communicate though to be enabled for Economy 7 or do they bring along the meter preconfigured with the times/registers to use, etc? 

poetryplease

Thanks for commenting and ideas. Visit from engineer to reset in a week and will ask about aerial (again) 

JSHarris

This sounds awfully familiar.  I had a smart meter installed a bit over 4 years ago, and looked forward to being able to charge the car at a nice low price.  After months of the meter not working, and many visits by engineers to change meters, communications boxes, etc, we finally had an older engineer around and the first thing he said was " we are wasting our time here, there's no signal".  He was incredibly helpful, removed the non-functioning smart meter in minutes and replaced it with a new Economy 7 meter. 

To get the car to charge at the cheap rate overnight I had a time switch fitted to control the charge point.  That works like a dream, I plug the car in, flick a switch to set it to charge overnight and it always charges at the cheap rate, ready for the next morning.  This has never skipped a bit in four years, and is rock solid reliable.  

Reading the EV forums there are always tales of woe about smart charging not working properly, and people being left with cars that haven't charged as they expected.  Does make me wonder if the simple approach of using a nice reliable time switch might have a definite advantage.

Petriix

Sadly 'reliable smart meter 30 minute data' is one of the prerequisites to getting an EV for good old money-saving reasons. Try for either a booster aerial or a regular E7 meter.

MeteredOut

Petriix said:

Sadly 'reliable smart meter 30 minute data' is one of the prerequisites to getting an EV for good old money-saving reasons. Try for either a booster aerial or a regular E7 meter.

To get the best savings, yes, but you can still make significant savings compared to ICE cars on an SVT.