Smart Meters

jrpatten
jrpatten Posts: 3 Newbie
edited 9 November 2017 at 3:33PM in Energy
Official MoneySavingExpert Note November 2017:

We now have a dedicated Smart Meters guide that may be of use.

Back to jrpatten's original post...

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I currently have British Gas smart meters installed in June 2017, however looking to move to a different company as the price for gas and electricity is rising quite a lot after my fix ends.

Does anybody know if other companies use the same Smart Meters as British Gas? It will be a pain to have to go back to taking meter reading, or have to wait in again for another company to install different smart meters. It took British Gas 3 appointments to install them.

If not, do any energy companies use the same meters?
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Comments

  • Undervalued
    Undervalued Posts: 8,851 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    This thread may answer your question.....

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5704876

    But the answer is probably not unless you are lucky and they have fitted the very latest versions.
  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    jrpatten wrote: »
    I currently have British Gas smart meters installed in June 2017, however looking to move to a different company as the price for gas and electricity is rising quite a lot after my fix ends.

    Does anybody know if other companies use the same Smart Meters as British Gas? It will be a pain to have to go back to taking meter reading, or have to wait in again for another company to install different smart meters. It took British Gas 3 appointments to install them.

    If not, do any energy companies use the same meters?
    British Gas use Landis and Gyr smart meters .They are accepted by everyone to act as dumb meters.They will not need exchanging unless you go to Ovo or Utilita who use the awful Secure Liberty keyboard meters.
  • AndyPK
    AndyPK Posts: 4,241 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    what about sainsburies energy ? who is basicially BG ?
  • krisl
    krisl Posts: 16 Forumite
    With Sainsbury’s they’ll still work as smart meters, sending readings etc but some of the fancy BG website reports aren’t available via Sainsbury’s.

    However last time I checked Sainsbury’s weren’t offering any good pricing, and it was pretty much identical to BG.
  • House_Martin
    House_Martin Posts: 1,462 Forumite
    krisl wrote: »
    With Sainsbury’s they’ll still work as smart meters, sending readings etc but some of the fancy BG website reports aren’t available via Sainsbury’s.

    However last time I checked Sainsbury’s weren’t offering any good pricing, and it was pretty much identical to BG.
    BG were using Sainsburys for their best prices, a no frills cheaper option.
    They were up there near the top of the cheapest until OFGEM stuck its unwanted oar in and made them , and any other "white label " supplier, more or less the same as the mother supplier..so its OFGEMS fault once again.
  • consumers_revenge
    consumers_revenge Posts: 3,545 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary
    House_Martin wrote: »
    British Gas use Landis and Gyr smart meters .They are accepted by everyone to act as dumb meters.They will not need exchanging unless you go to Ovo or Utilita who use the awful Secure Liberty keyboard meters.

    Presume you don't have to have a smart meter fitted if you join ovo?
  • jmnathan
    jmnathan Posts: 20 Forumite
    I'm in the same boat as I plan to leave BG. I know my smart meter will become a "dumb" terminal when I leave, but will my usage monitoring still work from the device (presume I will no longer be able to use the fancy BG app and and it won't interface with my new supplier's app)?
  • jrpatten
    jrpatten Posts: 3 Newbie
    Thank you for your replies. It seems crazy that the smart meter itself has not been standardised when they rolled out the technology, so that each company could just send you their own branded home device when you switch.

    I have enquired with eversmart (the top of the comparison list for me at the moment) and they said they would need to switch out the existing meters. Although looking at their website on the smart meter page, I have seen these same home device pictures used on many company websites, so maybe they are more common? Not sure what model they are.
  • C_Mababejive
    C_Mababejive Posts: 11,654 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    For reference here is what the liberty secure smart meter looks like
    934d613fda91996d9878c75ee8048c33_f823.png
    Feudal Britain needs land reform. 70% of the land is "owned" by 1 % of the population and at least 50% is unregistered (inherited by landed gentry). Thats why your slave box costs so much..
  • AndyPK
    AndyPK Posts: 4,241 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    My meter is in the ground with a display on the top.


    Do they do a smart meter with a display on the top?


    or if I moved supplier, would I have to use a low tech solution like a mirror to get my reading :lol:
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