British Gas, Smart Meters & Solar Panels

danboy775 · 13 April 2019 at 11:23AM

Hi,
I had solar panels installed a few years ago and I love them as I seen an instant saving with regards to my energy usage. I would see a red light on my leccy meter and the word RED displayed on the screen indicating that I was not drawing anything from the grid as I was using less than the panels were generating.

In October last year BG said BG wanted to install a smart meter. So I agreed. Since then my bills have went through the roof. My current DD is sitting at over £160!!

I called BG today and asked to have the smart meter removed. The woman I spoke to said that they dont remove smart meters however she agreed the bills were high, my account was in credit and that she would reduce the DD but I got cut off. I called back and got a different woman who was telling me that my bills were correct and that I couldnt reduce my DD. I said I would look into changing supplier so she replied saying that if I wanted to change supplier I would need to clear an outstanding balance, this despite paying around £700 since October. At that point I hung up.

I had a quick browse online and found a few articles such as this one:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/09/households-solar-panels-risk-overcharged-smart-meters/

I have submitted a complaint to BG requesting the smart meter be removed. I was wondering if anyone on here has had a similar experience?

Michaelw · 14 April 2019 at 12:19AM

while the two devices are capable of working together, energy firms say they are unable to access correct information about excess energy being generated by people's solar panels.

The smart meter rollout and solar should be decoupled until these issues are resolved so you should be able to put in a smart meter but you should be able to retain your deeming.

https://utilityweek.co.uk/sta-warns-smart-meters-solar-panels-decoupled/

Theres been a number of reports of problems with these panels and smart meters.

MeterMan · 14 April 2019 at 10:51AM

Danboy, if you press button A on your electric meter, it will cycle the meter display. Keep pressing until you get to export rate 1, or something similar. If there is a meter read there, then the panels are working correctly. IF there is no read, then you're panels are not switched on or connected properly, as a result your bills are likely to be correct.

sevenhills · 14 April 2019 at 11:43AM

A BEIS spokesperson said energy firms were to blame, saying: “Smart meters are compatible with microgeneration, including solar panels."

I have no idea if my energy bills and solar panel payments are acurate. I have a smart meter.
Is it just a matter of the smart meter being fitted correctly?

thorganby · 14 April 2019 at 5:59PM

danboy775 wrote: »

Hi,
I had solar panels installed a few years ago and I love them as I seen an instant saving with regards to my energy usage. I would see a red light on my leccy meter and the word RED displayed on the screen indicating that I was not drawing anything from the grid as I was using less than the panels were generating.

In October last year BG said BG wanted to install a smart meter. So I agreed. Since then my bills have went through the roof. My current DD is sitting at over £160!!

I called BG today and asked to have the smart meter removed. The woman I spoke to said that they dont remove smart meters however she agreed the bills were high, my account was in credit and that she would reduce the DD but I got cut off. I called back and got a different woman who was telling me that my bills were correct and that I couldnt reduce my DD. I said I would look into changing supplier so she replied saying that if I wanted to change supplier I would need to clear an outstanding balance, this despite paying around £700 since October. At that point I hung up.

I had a quick browse online and found a few articles such as this one:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/09/households-solar-panels-risk-overcharged-smart-meters/

I have submitted a complaint to BG requesting the smart meter be removed. I was wondering if anyone on here has had a similar experience?

Have you not been reading your meters?

It should be obvious from looking at your meter readings, if your DD has not been sufficient to cover your actual usage since the smart meter was fitted six months ago.

You should know your normal imported electricity kWh figure is and you should be aware of your of your export kWh figure since your panels were fitted last October.

Have you not submitted readings from your generation meter for your FIT payment in the last six months?

Smart_Energy_GB · 15 April 2019 at 11:21AM

Hi Danboy.

Smart meters have been designed to be able to work with solar panels and other microgeneration. The microgeneration source connected to the export smart meter will provide accurate information to the energy supplier to provide an accurate bill based on how much energy you have imported and exported. The current in-home display will not show you your export electricity, but suppliers are free to offer access to this consumer data through other routes. The information should be available to the consumer directly from the panel on the smart meter.

Just to add, smart meters can also work in a traditional mode, so you can ask your supplier to disable the smart functions of the meter. If you were to opt for this, the meter would simply operate in the same way as a traditional meter and will not transmit any data to your supplier. You would need to send in your meter readings manually, though, in order to receive an accurate bill.

Michaelw · 15 April 2019 at 3:42PM

They might end up paying more than they should': How smart meters can’t read energy from solar panels

The existing equipment usually needs an upgrade so it can read not just the amount of energy that is being used – but also the amount that is generated by solar panels going back on to the National Grid.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-6375923/How-smart-meters-read-energy-solar-panels.html

Those SMETS1 meters should never have been installed,their interim technology relying on an outdated communications system and have a number of problems beginning with the inhome display not showing the true information,never rely on that gadget always by what the meter displays.

Doodlabird · 8 October 2020 at 12:32PM

We have a 6kWp solar panel array and a bank of 4 batteries. In August we were charged for the use of 18.8KWH per day of electricity by Octopus who refuse to accept that something is wrong. We had the solar panels installed along with an air source heat pump in August 2019. Octopus insisted on fitting a generation 1 smart meter - which never worked. A generation 2 meter was fitted in January 2020 - since then our electricity bills have rocketed. I queried the August bill because I knew that the air source heat pump hadn't been on, other than to heat water for the two of us and most of the time that was coming from the power stored in the batteries. Octopus say the bill is right but it isn't. We have a luxpower app that I can read electrical usage from so know that none of our household goods are faulty, we don't have underfloor heating that we've forgotten to turn off etc. We did a creep test but in order for the SMArt meter to show any "creep" there would have to be at least 1KWH of electricity produced and that's not going to happen in 10 minutes. I wouldn't mind if they conceded that something was wrong and explored the options but they are insistent that we must be using that amount of electricity - our neighbours, in the same village with the same alignment of solar panels and the same equipment paid just £5 a week in August for their electricity. Any suggestions please?

[Deleted User] · 8 October 2020 at 7:00PM

You have the right to ask for a meter test. All suppliers will raise a charge for a test meter which is refundable if your smart meter is found to be faulty. Deploying the argument that a similar house down the road uses less electricity is unlikely to convince CS staff of a meter fault as households use energy in different amounts and at different times. Out of interest, are you on one of Octopus’ 30 minute usage tariffs? The graphs that Octopus provides in support of these tariffs gives an easy way of seeing when energy is being used.

Ectophile · 8 October 2020 at 7:06PM

Have you actually been watching what the meters are doing? There should be flashing red lights on both the generation meter and smart meter. When it's sunny and the batteries are fully charged, the generation meter should be flashing, and counting up the units. The smart meter should not.

You won't have been generating much at all back in January, but the spring and summer have been excellent for generation.

British Gas, Smart Meters & Solar Panels

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