Smart meter - half hourly readings

MWT

Gerry1 said:

MWT said:

Gerry1 said:

Stand by for Surge Pricing and Load Limiting !

... or wider access to things like the 2 hours of free electricity that Octopus customers with working smart meters will be getting tomorrow morning...

That's just the bait.  Do you really think it will last forever?

Like the others who have commented, yes, I do believe that there will be opportunities to benefit from the flexibility that HH metering brings for many years to come.

I do think you are right about one thing though, if you continue to ignore the benefits and resist making the move for too long, you will eventually find you are paying an even higher price for your electricity than you are already doing now...

... if you don't make the move and take advantage of the low-rate periods all you will eventually be left with is paying higher prices over all...

Ildhund

Scot_39 said:

DAPF means 1/2 hourly frequency data is a consumer opt-in - daily the default - and if super worried - you can opt out of daily for monthly.

No longer true, I think. The defaults changed in 2022. From Get a smart meter | Ofgem:

If you are a domestic customer:

• If you had your smart meter installed before 3 November 2022 and have not since switched supplier or agreed a new contract since that date, you will automatically share data at daily resolution. However, you are able to “opt-in” to sharing your half-hourly data, or “opt-out” to only sharing it monthly instead.
• If you had your smart meter installed, or have switched supplier or agreed a new contract, after 3 November 2022, you will automatically share data at half-hourly resolution. However, you are able to “opt-out” to only sharing it daily instead.

There is also often confusion about what is meant by readings. Some suppliers will offer three read-frequency options; the three choices are half-hourly, daily or monthly. This is what I think they involve:

 

Selected schedule	What it prescribes for usage data	What it prescribes for meter readings
Half-hourly	48 quantities each day	1 reading each day
Daily	None	1 reading each day
Monthly	None	1 (or more) readings each month

 

Scot_39

Ildhund said:

Scot_39 said:

DAPF means 1/2 hourly frequency data is a consumer opt-in - daily the default - and if super worried - you can opt out of daily for monthly.

No longer true, I think. The defaults changed in 2022. From Get a smart meter | Ofgem:

If you are a domestic customer:

• If you had your smart meter installed before 3 November 2022 and have not since switched supplier or agreed a new contract since that date, you will automatically share data at daily resolution. However, you are able to “opt-in” to sharing your half-hourly data, or “opt-out” to only sharing it monthly instead.
• If you had your smart meter installed, or have switched supplier or agreed a new contract, after 3 November 2022, you will automatically share data at half-hourly resolution. However, you are able to “opt-out” to only sharing it daily instead.

There is also often confusion about what is meant by readings. Some suppliers will offer three read-frequency options; the three choices are half-hourly, daily or monthly. This is what I think they involve:

 

Selected schedule	What it prescribes for usage data	What it prescribes for meter readings
Half-hourly	48 quantities each day	1 reading each day
Daily	None	1 reading each day
Monthly	None	1 (or more) readings each month

 

Yes the 2012 DECC response proposed Basic Framework for supplier access was curious in that it defined in terms of granularity of data not the actual collection of it.

I guess as meter specs were being developed in parallel and the network access to them pre DCC and Smets2  wasn't uniform but supplier / meter bespoke for smets1.

So ....monthly (or less granular)...
.... daily (or less granular)...

In the proposed basis in section 3.2 of 

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/smart-meter-data-access-and-privacy

And it's footnote 27 actually makes reference to collecting 7 daily readings at the end of week instead of daily as a valid approach.  But I suspect that's not how DCC and supliers via them now normally operate - to actually collect the data.


And the exclusions were included to access at other times and for different reasons - switching suppliers, e.g. if opted out of daily I presume, suspected meter theft tampering etc.

Qyburn

Gerry1 said:

Stand by for Surge Pricing and Load Limiting ! 

At which point conspiracy theorists who refused smart meters will be charged the "surge" price 24/7 as they won't be able to show that any of their use was at non-surge times. That's apart from those disconnected because their meter is outside its certification and they've refused to let the supplier fit a legal meter.

ScubaMike

Many thanks for all the comments.
Much food for thought.

I'll be opting in for HH readings, and probably switching to Octopus for one of their flexible ToU tarrifs.
Still got to do the sums to find what is going to work for us, but we can make the minor lifestyle changes to ensure that we use our high usage devices (Dishwasher/Washing machine) are used when the tarrifs are cheapest.
Combined with charging batteries over the winter months (when solar production doesn't cover our daily use) it should result in a reduction in bills.

Thanks again for your useful comments.

EssexHebridean

Just remember is switching to Octopus to make sure you ask around family and friends to get a referral code Mike - £50 each for you and the referrer!