Smart Meter

teecee90

I'm currently with British Gas and they are constantly trying to get me to have a smart meter. 

We have a 4kW solar PV system with iBoost installed in November 2015 and receive the relevant FIT payments with 50% deemed export. No battery storage and no EV.

I've resisted having a smart meter so far because of the all the reported problems with the early versions of the meters. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to having a smart meter at this stage? Will I be forced to move from deemed to actual export and if so, is it likely to make much difference?

Thanks

QrizB

teecee90 said:

I've resisted having a smart meter so far because of the all the reported problems with the early generation meters.

Smart meter problems were IMO over-stated in the interests of getting clicks onto red-top newspaper websites. The early SMETS1 models didn't always switch gracefully between suppliers, but the SMETS2 models which came in 4-5 years ago are mostly trouble-free.

Yes, you'll still hear of problems but there are 30+ million of them installed and they can't all be problem-free.

teecee90 said:

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to having a smart meter at this stage? Will I be forced to move from deemed to actual export and if so, is it likely to make much difference?

You probably won't be forced onto metered export, but it might be beneficial.

Your FIT pays 6.79p per kWh for half of the kWh you generate. With a 4kWp system, you should be generating around 4000kWh per year and being paid £136 a year for export.

No-one knows exactly how much you actually export, as you don't have an export meter, but (despite your iBoost) it could well be more than 50%. But let's assume it's only 30%, 1200kWh a year. With a smart meter you can choose a paid export tariff. A popular option is Outgoing Octopus Fixed, which currently pays 15p/kWh for export. Your 1200kWh could be earning you £180 a year, and extra £54.

And of course if it turns out that you're really exporting 60% of generation, those 2400kWh would be worth £360.

Edited for typos.

teecee90

Many thanks for the helpful response.

QrizB said:

 With a smart meter you can choose a paid export tariff. A popular option is Outgoing Octopus Fixed, which currently pays 15p/kWh for export. Your 1200kWh could be earning you £180 a year, and extra £54. And of course if it turns out that you're really exporting 60% of generation, those 2400kWh would be worth £360.

If I moved energy supplier from British Gas (also my FIT provider) to Octopus would I also need to move to them as FIT provider, or can the export payments and FIT payments be separated?

Thanks

paul991

no  Fit and  Energy supplier are different so no need to change that although Octopus are very good  Fit providers

Reed_Richards

teecee90 said:

If I moved energy supplier from British Gas (also my FIT provider) to Octopus would I also need to move to them as FIT provider, or can the export payments and FIT payments be separated?

Your FIT has two components, a payment for generation and a payment for export.  I think these two components must come from the one provider.  The provider that pays you for generation also has to pay you for export, either deemed export or metered export.  But, as per the previous response, your energy supplier does not have to be your FIT provider.

Edit:  I have crossed out my comment as I'm told it was incorrect

pete-20-11

Reed_Richards said:

teecee90 said:

If I moved energy supplier from British Gas (also my FIT provider) to Octopus would I also need to move to them as FIT provider, or can the export payments and FIT payments be separated?

Your FIT has two components, a payment for generation and a payment for export.  I think these two components must come from the one provider.  The provider that pays you for generation also has to pay you for export, either deemed export or metered export.  But, as per the previous response, your energy supplier does not have to be your FIT provider. 

nope, you can have generation with one company and export payments with a different one. I had FIT with British Gas, moved just the export part to Octopus.

dusty269

I’m with Scottish Power and had a Gas and Electric smart meter installed by them way back when they were a new thing. My display unit worked for about a month then showed nothing for around two years so I unplugged the thing and it’s been moved from place to place I don’t even know where it is now. The thing is my electric meter is working fine but the gas one doesn’t communicate with SP. So I still have to move furniture and get down on the floor to take a meter reading at 73 it’s not an easy task. When ever I upload my reading on the web site it says that doesn’t look right well it would if they would bother to send an engineer out to fix it but I’m sick of being told someone will come and it gets cancelled. The bot thing online is a complete waste of time and phoning is all well and good when you get an answer but it goes round in circles. I regret having smart meters installed they are really not smart at all

MeteredOut

dusty269 said:

I’m with Scottish Power and had a Gas and Electric smart meter installed by them way back when they were a new thing. My display unit worked for about a month then showed nothing for around two years so I unplugged the thing and it’s been moved from place to place I don’t even know where it is now. The thing is my electric meter is working fine but the gas one doesn’t communicate with SP. So I still have to move furniture and get down on the floor to take a meter reading at 73 it’s not an easy task. When ever I upload my reading on the web site it says that doesn’t look right well it would if they would bother to send an engineer out to fix it but I’m sick of being told someone will come and it gets cancelled. The bot thing online is a complete waste of time and phoning is all well and good when you get an answer but it goes round in circles. I regret having smart meters installed they are really not smart at all

Whilst the issue is with your smart meter, you're in no different a position to what you'd be in if you did not have a smart meter - getting down on the floor and take a meter reading.

If having to do that is causing you issues, get registered with your suppliers priority services register and then ask them to read the meter for you. Raise a complaint regarding the gas meter not communicating to your supplier and if its not sorted within 8 weeks, take it to the energy ombudsman and they'll hopefully push for a resolution and you'll be given a few £ compensation.

Qyburn

MeteredOut said:

dusty269 said:

So I still have to move furniture and get down on the floor to take a meter reading at 73 

Whilst the issue is with your smart meter, you're in no different a position to what you'd be in if you did not have a smart meter - getting down on the floor and take a meter reading.

At least he only has to do that for the gas meter, so there's some benefit to the new meters.