Rollout of free smart meters

Participant said:
Do the sceptics think Ofgem would allow energy retailers to lock customers in just because they'd chosen a smart meter that the government is supporting?

I'd be very surprised if companies were allowed to turn down customers for new supply based on the suitability of their meter.

Interesting area I'd never considered though. I had assumed all the meters were cross compatible.
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Well people have already stated they have had issues. And they are all competing with one another so they have all made their own systems.

I can see it being like this. Change to smart meter. Want to change to another supplier. New supplier states you need to wait 4 months until they are doing your area again with their smart meters. They do them in batches by area. They are doing my area this month so I don't expect to see them again in this area for about another year. That is my supplier though, different suppliers will be doing different areas at different times.

Therefore you now have to choose between staying on the most expensive tariff for 4 months then changing or stay with current supplier and lock yourself into a 12 month contract on a cheap deal which is more expensive than the deal you wanted to switch to.

No company is going to send out someone whenever you change suppliers and need another meter. They would make zero money or they would need to start charging a £100 installation charge which would stop people from switching.

So yes I expect multiple complaints by people who have had them fitted to ofcom before they pull their finger out and then the suppliers pull their finger out and band together.

I can wait the 5 years it will take for the above to take place.

So yes I wouldn't switch until a standard is in place your only asking for issues tbh. Plus when it is standardised no doubt they will be better / newer / smarter meters anyway.
 
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you can change to any supplier, you just loose the smart features and send in a reading from the new smart meter as you would now. it just reverts to non-smart mode.
 
Participant said:
Do the sceptics think Ofgem would allow energy retailers to lock customers in just because they'd chosen a smart meter that the government is supporting?

I'd be very surprised if companies were allowed to turn down customers for new supply based on the suitability of their meter.

Interesting area I'd never considered though. I had assumed all the meters were cross compatible.
Click to expand...

Robin Hood energy (Nottingham City Councils non profit energy company) can't currently support smart meters so arent able to take you as a customer, if you have one. As they were considerably cheaper than anyone else then it made no sense at all for us to accept an installation of a new meter.
 
LOAM said:
Robin Hood energy (Nottingham City Councils non profit energy company) can't currently support smart meters so arent able to take you as a customer, if you have one. As they were considerably cheaper than anyone else then it made no sense at all for us to accept an installation of a new meter.
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They are able to take your as a customer what a load of rubbish.

From the site even.

"Smart meters - We do not currently support smart metering functionality. We can still supply your meter but you may lose some of the benefits of your smart meter."
 
What I don't understand is how the technology can be so different from supplier to supplier.

Surely it is something within the meter software itself which locks it to a provider and if that is the case then providers need to just stop holding people to ransom and let people use them with whichever provider they want!
 
It's about where the data goes from what I have read. A central database needs setting up for all providers to be able to access. At the minute the readings go directly to the provider.
 
robj20 said:
They are able to take your as a customer what a load of rubbish.

From the site even.

"Smart meters - We do not currently support smart metering functionality. We can still supply your meter but you may lose some of the benefits of your smart meter."
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Im only going on what they told me back in October, when I spoke to them that is what they said to us. If its changed since then or they gave us the wrong information then I can't help that.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
so all they need to do is swap out the sim card or change the number on the gadget?
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That's they way I read it, so meters that are being fitted will just need settings changed or an update.
It would be a huge waste of all meters needed scrapping and a new one fitted in a year or so. But stranger things have happened.
 
We had one fitted by First Utility a few years ago and the hour by hour consumption data was very useful to help us fine tune our usage to make the most of our solar install.

Now we've gone over to Sainsburys Energy i'm back to reading the number off the meter like some caveman.
 
From what I was told the backend part of the smart meter than sends the data back to the suppliers is the same on all of them, its the front part that differs from supplier to supplier.

Kimbie
 
Seems they test all of the networks using a signal meter and install an appropriate sim card (according to the best information i can find).

Im not sure their tests would ever be successful for us, this seems a bit of an oversight to not be able to use wifi
 
WiFi to what not everyone has unlimited data, or even Internet. Mobile network or a mix of technology is the only way. Personally I would prefer land line phone.
 
Or land line phone would work, but i guess the days of this are numbered too.

I guess i meant that it would probably be best to have a whole range of connection options. For the foreseeable i cant see a smartmeter working here unless it has an incredibly good antenna (perhaps they do?).
 
robj20 said:
WiFi to what not everyone has unlimited data, or even Internet. Mobile network or a mix of technology is the only way. Personally I would prefer land line phone.
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I don't have a landline. Got 200MB internet so happy for them to use that but it looks like these first gen smart meters aren't very smart.

Another reason not to get one atm. Upgrade in a few years when they have ironed out all the issues.
 
Participant said:
I'd be very surprised if companies were allowed to turn down customers for new supply based on the suitability of their meter.
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They're not. But they can refuse to use the smart meter capabilities, reverting your usage of it to effectively an analogue one in which case whats the point?

I'd much rather the government had shown some simple common sense and delayed the rollout until a standard was in place.
 
robj20 said:
It's about where the data goes from what I have read. A central database needs setting up for all providers to be able to access. At the minute the readings go directly to the provider.
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The government loves central databases that are easier to hack and much more of a security risk. It won't be long.
 
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