EDF. Smart meter

Supatramp

Supatramp said:

Went for the Essential 1 year tariff, and now waiting for new meters to be fitted.  Although they'll probably have fun, the existing ones are on opposite sides of the house.

Sorry, should have said, thanks for the help and reassuring comments.

EssexHebridean

The opposite sides of the house thing  *may* mean that the gas meter won’t communicate with the communications hub on the electric meter - in which case you will essentially end up with a smart electric meter and a “dumb” gas one - so no change to your current situation in relation to the gas, you may still need to give readings manually. Not the end of the world though - and you never know, it may all work fine! 

Supatramp

EssexHebridean said:

The opposite sides of the house thing  *may* mean that the gas meter won’t communicate with the communications hub on the electric meter - in which case you will essentially end up with a smart electric meter and a “dumb” gas one - so no change to your current situation in relation to the gas, you may still need to give readings manually. Not the end of the world though - and you never know, it may all work fine! 

The electric meter is quite near the router and also where any control unit may be positioned, the gas meter is further away in the oposite direction.

Ildhund

Supatramp said:

The electric meter is quite near the router ...

That may not be a good thing, depending on how near 'quite near' is. Wi-fi routers often use the same spectrum of frequencies as the Home Area Network (HAN) for communication between the electricity meter, the gas meter and the In-Home Display (IHD). The HAN is designed to select the best channel, so there's usually no problem with interference, but it could happen. The smart meter itself doesn't use wi-fi. 

Have you asked EDF to make sure the installation engineer knows that the gas meter is some distance away from the electricity meter? If he doesn't know in advance, he might not bring all the gear he would need to deal with a situation like yours. It might also be an idea to switch the router off while the engineer is establishing communications; if problems arise when it's switched back on, you might have to move it a bit.

Scot_39

Supatramp said:

 EDF have been hassling me for some time to fit a smart meter, and now I can save £40 odd a month on both my gas and electricity.  Interestingly, not the £149 mentioned on Martin's latest update.

But I hear alsorts of stories re problems with them. If I go ahead with them, and have issues, will I ever have an issue with supply, particularly as it's now coming into winter.

And what's the difference between the SME1 and 2 meters?  Is it an age thing?

TIA

No one will be fitting a smets1 meter now I would suggest.

Differences - Age - and importantly comms to suppliers.

Smets1 had a problem where the comms to suppliers was not to a common standard - but many have since been upgraded - and integrated into the same UK wide DCC reporting network - as smets2 devices.

Smets1 stopped being rolled out (at least as far as counting towards suppliers targets) maybe 4-5 years ago iirc - c2018/19 - a bit later than an earlier July 2018 deadline - think prepay went to spring 2019 in end last I read - but its been a while.

Smets2 roll out began in 2017 iirc.

As long as smets1 integrated to DCC or smets2 - it is far easier to move supplier.

But some smets1 devices could be moved even before - between a limited subset of suppliers - sharing the same interface.

But there are some out there - from few posts here that have older non integrated smets1.

EssexHebridean

Supatramp said:

EssexHebridean said:

The opposite sides of the house thing  *may* mean that the gas meter won’t communicate with the communications hub on the electric meter - in which case you will essentially end up with a smart electric meter and a “dumb” gas one - so no change to your current situation in relation to the gas, you may still need to give readings manually. Not the end of the world though - and you never know, it may all work fine! 

The electric meter is quite near the router and also where any control unit may be positioned, the gas meter is further away in the oposite direction.

It is the distance between the Gas and Electricity meters which will be the possible issue - your own home wifi network/router  doesn't really have any bearing on anything. There also isn't a "control unit" for the meters either - there will be an In Home Device (IHD) supplied, but that doesn't "control" anything - it's an information centre if you like - enabling you to see current electricity energy use, and do things like reading the meters remotely as long as communication occurs. 

Qyburn

Supatramp said:

 EDF have been hassling me for some time to fit a smart meter, and now I can save £40 odd a month on both my gas and electricity.  Interestingly, not the £149 mentioned on Martin's latest update.

I can't think why anyone would claim everyone would save a standardised amount per month. That would clearly be nonsense. Maybe "Martin" was saying that's what he saves.

BlueonBlue

The EDF website today says 

Beat the October price cap by £150!(1)

https://www.edfenergy.com/