Smart Meter too big

Reed_Richards

I had the same problem.  I had to get an electrician in to move things around in order to make room for the smart meter.  If you consult an electrician they will tell you whether this is feasible in your case.

I also made sure I had the smart meter fitted before I purchased an EV.  

MultiFuelBurner

Which isn't always possible when it's company car arriving etc and many other reasons and not everyone is as energy savvy as the regulars here.

you are obviously a model of what to do in this situation and have told the OP in no uncertain terms what they did wrong lol.

born_again

If OP is getting a EV, then that needs to be factored into any changes to the board. 
 (Op appears to have 2consumer units) Do they have solar or batteries? As not all EV set up's use customer consumer boards. Some wire a whole new set up to supply Wall Box. To keep it totally separate. 
Which is how ours is set up. Much neater.

Reed_Richards

MultiFuelBurner said:

Which isn't always possible when it's company car arriving etc and many other reasons and not everyone is as energy savvy as the regulars here.

you are obviously a model of what to do in this situation and have told the OP in no uncertain terms what they did wrong lol.

Just my own experience.  I began looking at EVs in March 2023 but concluded that they are only really economical to run if you can charge at home using cheap rate electricity.  So I tried to get a smart meter fitted and when the installer came I was told it did not fit.  So then I got my electrician to move some things around to make more room and got a smart meter fitted at the second attempt - but was told it could not quite manage to communicate.  Fortunately that installer was wrong and it communicated perfectly well.  Finally at the end of September 2023 I bought an EV and switched my electricity to an EV tariff withing a day or two of my purchase.  So far I have never had to charge it away from home (which can be punishingly expensive).   

Benno28

Reed_Richards said:

I had the same problem.  I had to get an electrician in to move things around in order to make room for the smart meter.  If you consult an electrician they will tell you whether this is feasible in your case.

I also made sure I had the smart meter fitted before I purchased an EV.  

I don't choose cars based on fuel prices.  I have had the EV for 2 years in April, I wanted the car, that's that, the energy tariff etc wasn't a deal breaker.  

Benno28

My main reason for wanting a smart meter was overall energy prices, in the past 3 years my energy bills have increased from £320 per month to £650.
I use between 5500 and 6000 kWh per year for the EV.  So the increase per month isn't that alone, nothing else at home has changed, so i'm just trying to reduce where I can to get the monthly bills down, hence the smart meter and having a different night tariff.
I can then charge the car at night, and delay the dishwasher and washing machine coming on etc.

Benno28

born_again said:

If OP is getting a EV, then that needs to be factored into any changes to the board. 
 (Op appears to have 2consumer units) Do they have solar or batteries? As not all EV set up's use customer consumer boards. Some wire a whole new set up to supply Wall Box. To keep it totally separate. 
Which is how ours is set up. Much neater.

No solar or batteries.
Been in this house for 17-18 years, it was rewired just before we got here and this was the setup.

Reed_Richards

Benno28 said:

Reed_Richards said:

I had the same problem.  I had to get an electrician in to move things around in order to make room for the smart meter.  If you consult an electrician they will tell you whether this is feasible in your case.

I also made sure I had the smart meter fitted before I purchased an EV.  

I don't choose cars based on fuel prices.  I have had the EV for 2 years in April, I wanted the car, that's that, the energy tariff etc wasn't a deal breaker.  

You're not as dedicated to money saving as I am!  Nevertheless, I bet an electrician could make you room to have a smart meter fitted.  And the cost of so-doing would be rapidly recouped from savings made on charging your EV.

Qyburn

Benno28 said:

Been in this house for 17-18 years, it was rewired just before we got here and this was the setup.

Why two consumer units, is it just to accommodate the number of circuits? (Noting that in that case a single "double decker" CU could have been used.

I think you should have an isolator after the meter and before the tails are split, to give a single point of isolation.

doodling

Hi,

Qyburn said:

Benno28 said:

Been in this house for 17-18 years, it was rewired just before we got here and this was the setup.

Why two consumer units, is it just to accommodate the number of circuits? (Noting that in that case a single "double decker" CU could have been used.

I think you should have an isolator after the meter and before the tails are split, to give a single point of isolation.

Installing an isolator wouldn't be a bad idea but not essential to sort the meter issue (and might take up space needed for the meter).

I would.note that the tails are split into 3 after the meter so there may be 3 CUs or at least consumer unit like devices.

That is why I said that the whole arrangement needs looking at, not just the bits we can see in the photos.

I suspect, given that we can't see the main fuse, that the overall tail length is in excess of the 3m permitted by the DNO but that's just speculation.  Logically it might make sense to install the meter next to the main fuse but maybe there is a reason why that can't be done.