E.On Next. No you can’t have a smart meter.

TheTopdog

I have bought an electric car.  E.On say that to have an electric car tariff I need to have a smart meter fitted.  They then say that I can’t have one fitted because the Wider Area Network in my area is insufficient.  My next door neighbour has a smart meter as does a neighbour two doors away.  Nobody has been to check whether I can have a smart meter.  How can I progress this.

MikeJXE

Move supplier 

mmmmikey

Yes, the simple pragmatic thing to do is to change supplier to one that's more helpful. Might be worth checking that your neighbours' smart meters are working in smart mode first, though, i.e. actually sending data back to their suppliers and not just working in non-smart mode. 

Edit, if that's got you scratching your head because you've no idea what I'm talking about or how to check, just say.....

Scot_39

Not all smart operate as smart.

Have you checked your neighbours meters reliably report data to suppliers.

Some suplliers will even supply smart meters with comms hubs that use a secondary external antenna to boost signal strength on WAN in certain parts of uk.

As no rliable WAN connection just one of the reasons nearly 4m (over 10%) smart meters aren't as smart as advertised / marketed.
They still work as meters - just more like traditional.

Some ev tariffs rely on 1/2 hourly data and certain brands of charger / car to report specific ev use.

Simpler ones may still just use two fixed peak and off peak times and rates and rely on meter daily registers - which could be provided manually - just like traditional e7 type metering.

It's intuitively IMO unlikely EOn Next are deliberately misleading you - they are under a lot of pressure to fit smart meters.

But would you want tge upheaval if ended up with a non functioning device.

And to be fair to EOn - did you ask before buying the EV ?
(Surely a smarter order)


But iirc anti smart folk had to have good reason iirc poor wan / not likely to work was one of the last recognised defences.  Being cynical, its maybe possible that reduces Ofgem pressure on suppliers too.

Try other suplliers but maybe ask before switching for your region / postcode - there are still delays in months not weeks in sone areas (high demand, limitted resources etc) at some suppliers.

Swipe

This thread should be a reminder to make sure people have a working smart meter before buying an EV. Hoping the OP is able to get this sorted by moving supplier.

Lorian

Is this a fylingdales issue or something else - roughly what part of the country OP?

MP1995

TheTopdog said:

I have bought an electric car.  E.On say that to have an electric car tariff I need to have a smart meter fitted.  They then say that I can’t have one fitted because the Wider Area Network in my area is insufficient.  My next door neighbour has a smart meter as does a neighbour two doors away.  Nobody has been to check whether I can have a smart meter.  How can I progress this.

Check that your neighbours smart meters are working and providing 30 mjnute readings. Find out who their supplier is. Phone them up to see how long it would be to get a smart meter fitted should you join them. Get a referral code off your neighbour so you both earn some money (if applicable) and hey presto.