Smart Meter

Spoonie_Turtle

Marvel1 said:

born_again said:

LadyNumbers said:

I have been told by my utilities company that my electric meter certification is coming to an end and to book for a smart meter to be installed. I have never heard of this before and can't seem to find out when and if it is due to expire, i have looed on the national database but it just says it come under scottish power, i am now trying to contact Scottish Power to get more information, can i just upgrade my meter as I really don't want a smart meter, also what will happen if I do nothing, will i be cut off ?

Given this is MSE & Smart meters allow for cheaper tariffs. Why not?

perhaps it is time now for that push to get everyone on smart meters & failure to have one fitted means higher standing charges?

What about those smart meters that don't send regular meter readings for time of use times?

Having one fitted and it not working is not the same as refusing to have one.  All meter info is in the national database so suppliers could probably go by whatever method of filtering out smart meters (serial number?) for such a tariff.

Scot_39

LadyNumbers said:

I have been told by my utilities company that my electric meter certification is coming to an end and to book for a smart meter to be installed. I have never heard of this before and can't seem to find out when and if it is due to expire, i have looed on the national database but it just says it come under scottish power, i am now trying to contact Scottish Power to get more information, can i just upgrade my meter as I really don't want a smart meter, also what will happen if I do nothing, will i be cut off ?

All meters are certified for a finite period - and their is a govt list of many - and their certification period.

My old RTS meter not sure - but the analogue meter it was paired with - had 30 years - the digital E10 that replaced both had 10 years - but was pulled by EOn years before its end date (maybe when only few years old) - and the smets1 smart that replaced that has 15 years.

So would need to know the certification date for your meter - and the model and try to find it on that list.  Certification often a sticker - sometimes small and round on face - others a label - on very old meters - but the yy often built into CE type labelling on more modern ones.

Without a photo showing model and certifcation - difficult to say - when the intended end of life was - but its not something suppliers can easily lie about given most people can double check.  

But its only an initial guide and suppliers can change early (even in pre smart days) - and often have done in case of faulty series / batches (There was a case where one meter had a defective reading circuit - that as started to fail read progressively over actual usage - nearly all manufactured for a finite period - were identified and changed to protect consumers ) - let run late in some cases.

The list can be found here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schedule-4-uk-nationally-approved-electricity-meters

Suppliers are now adivsed by Ofgem to replace all end of life meters with smart meters where technically possible.  

The wording regarding other exemptions - including potential valid customer objections - gone.

And two further points

a) its the suppliers meter - not your meter

b) legally they have to provide you with an in certification period meter - in order to be sure billing you accurately - as part of their license conditions - a govt / Ofgem requirement

Reed_Richards

Having a smart meter has been really beneficial for me.  I have an EV.  With my smart meter I can charge it overnight very cheaply because the smart meter gives me access to time-of-use tariffs.  And I get the same cheap electricity for everything else in the house from midnight to 7 am.

dunstonh

Alfrescodave said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Alfrescodave said:

I had a similar communication from my supplier 2 years ago; like you I'm not keen to switch to a smart meter.

I ignored the letter and 2 years later nothing has happened; it will come but no need to speed the process along. Many others have posted of similar demands but inaction seems to be working (unlike many of the smart meters)

Any source for that mis-information?

16% of "Which" members (10,000+ surveyed) reported that they had had problems within the previous 12 months

Like many statistics, they can be erroneous.
For example, many people get the IHD mixed up with the smart meter.  Some IHDs are completely useless.  But that doesn't mean the smart meter is faulty.  Yet many people think it does.    Indeed, WHICH themselves include IHD issues in that 16%.

SMETS1 was a bit of a mess.   However, SMETS2 is much better.  How many of those replying to the survey with issues had SMETS1 or SMETS2.

WHICH also say the most common problem is that the readings are not transmitting. So, meter readings are still required.   So, that makes it no worse than an old fashioned meter.  A number of the other reasons they listed appear to be related to SMETS1.

The bottom line is that there is an awful lot of BS posted about smart meters.  A lot of that BS came from issues with SMETS1.   But you wont get a SMETS1 installed today.

Qyburn

dunstonh said:

WHICH also say the most common problem is that the readings are not transmitting. 

This is a big problem, not necessarily in terms of the number affected, but in terms of the crappy protocols and implementation. I'm making these comments as one suffering from flakey smart meter comms, and as one who's written data transfer protocols running over unreliable networks. 

Just as an example there's the absolute nonsense of needing an onsite technician to reset the comms hub.

Ildhund

Qyburn said:

Just as an example there's the absolute nonsense of needing an onsite technician to reset the comms hub.

Are you sure that's a 'need'? I rather thought there was a remote command to power the CH down and then back up again, but only DCC can request it. It's my understanding that it's not necessarily cheaper, but much more effective just to send a meter engineer round to unplug the CH and then plug it back in rather than wait for DCC to get round to it.

Qyburn

Ildhund said:

Are you sure that's a 'need'? I rather thought there was a remote command to power the CH down and then back up again, but only DCC can request it. It's my understanding that it's not necessarily cheaper, but much more effective just to send a meter engineer round to unplug the CH and then plug it back in rather than wait for DCC to get round to it.

Operationally it's a "need" if the supplier will only do it that way. But also if the reason is to try and resolve a non-communicating hub, maybe it wouldn't respond to a remote command anyway. Any half arsed design would include a watchdog to reset comms if it doesn't see any traffic for some predetermined period, and to reset the firmware if that's locked up. Even if they couldn't be bothered designing the basics, there could be a hard reset switch since the comms hub isn't service or revenue affecting. 

By the way how long would it take the DCC to issue that command? It takes weeks or month to schedule a site visit, is that really quicker?