Smart Meter caution

[Oldwolf]

This might be a very obvious thing but as I was unaware I wanted to share it

I've ordered an electric car and Solar / Battery setup so need a smart meter. I'm currently with British Gas so requested a Smart Meter through the app, got a choice of dates, engineer turned up on the appointed date and time (all good so far!)

When the engineer looked at my existing meter he mentioned it's dual tariff, did I need it? Erm.. yes, electric car etc.
Apparently British Gas don't (yet) provide a dual tariff capable Smart Meter

There are others who do so I'll change provider, but I was glad I found out before he'd removed the old meter.

[TheDrownedApe]

erm weird. I converted from my old leccy meter (which had 3 possible tariffs, 3 different readings rotated on the screen) to a "smart meter" and nothing was said to me on conversion.

Then i moved to Oct Go and have had no problems. However I'm not sure if it tracks the meter readings or just communicates the usage instantaneously and i am billed for time/rate.

[Toaster Pilot]

Oldwolf said:

This might be a very obvious thing but as I was unaware I wanted to share it

I've ordered an electric car and Solar / Battery setup so need a smart meter. I'm currently with British Gas so requested a Smart Meter through the app, got a choice of dates, engineer turned up on the appointed date and time (all good so far!)

When the engineer looked at my existing meter he mentioned it's dual tariff, did I need it? Erm.. yes, electric car etc.
Apparently British Gas don't (yet) provide a dual tariff capable Smart Meter

There are others who do so I'll change provider, but I was glad I found out before he'd removed the old meter.

Surely they mean dual tariff as in Economy 7? Do you have electric storage heaters? Normally wired on a separate circuit so they come on when the time clock specifies etc.

Very different proposition to a smart EV charging tariff.

[Oldwolf]

It is the old economy 7.
The engineer was adamant his smart meter wasn't for me and walked away.

No problem, I'll take my money elsewhere

It seemed very strange as I hadn't read about it elsewhere but just in case it is a genuine thing I posted.

[Toaster Pilot]

Must say I haven’t heard of it being a problem, be interesting to hear if anyone else has had the same experience.

[SWoll]

Nope. Had our old meters replaced last week, dual tariff working fine from midnight to 7:30am.

[brman]

SWoll said:

Nope. Had our old meters replaced last week, dual tariff working fine from midnight to 7:30am.

are we not talking about two different things.

Old economy 7: Dual meter and a complete seperate circuit for the overnight stuff (storage heaters).
Modern Dual tariffs: All circuits go through the same , single meter. It just adds up what is used during the day and during the night seperately and charges you different rates.

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

[Dave Hedgehog]

brman said:

are we not talking about two different things.

Old economy 7: Dual meter and a complete seperate circuit for the overnight stuff (storage heaters).
Modern Dual tariffs: All circuits go through the same , single meter. It just adds up what is used during the day and during the night seperately and charges you different rates.

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

totally correct

time is recorded with usage on a smart meter, that's how they apply the rate

[kambites]

brman said:

SWoll said:

Nope. Had our old meters replaced last week, dual tariff working fine from midnight to 7:30am.

are we not talking about two different things.

Old economy 7: Dual meter and a complete seperate circuit for the overnight stuff (storage heaters).
Modern Dual tariffs: All circuits go through the same , single meter. It just adds up what is used during the day and during the night seperately and charges you different rates.

Smart meters can't generally cope with dual tariffs such as economy seven. They can however cope with dual- (or multi-) rate tariffs like Octopus Go.

[BMR]

BG don’t offer a smart capable two rate meter yet for economy 7 set ups. But there are trials happening

[LightningBlue]

If you’re currently on economy 7 you could switch to a single rate tariff even with the dual rate meter and a smart meter could be installed. If you can get away without it might be a good thing though, I find the smart meter useless (it often stops providing data to BG and has long stopped providing an accurate cost reading).

[Richard-D]

Oldwolf said:

I've ordered an electric car and Solar / Battery setup so need a smart meter.

Why is a smart meter required for that system? I would expect the battery to be used where possible and any further requirements to be brought in via the mains (with the meter simply recording that usage). Is that not the case?

[Toaster Pilot]

Richard-D said:

Why is a smart meter required for that system? I would expect the battery to be used where possible and any further requirements to be brought in via the mains (with the meter simply recording that usage). Is that not the case?

Charging the battery from the grid at 7.5p on Octopus Go is far better than charging at peak.

[dreamcracker]

National Grid/Octopus-Energy to Drain Electric Cars When Plugged In


BRITAIN'S energy crisis is given a helping hand through a trial that will draw power from parked cars at times of low supply or high demand.

[brman]

dreamcracker said:

National Grid/Octopus-Energy to Drain Electric Cars When Plugged In


BRITAIN'S energy crisis is given a helping hand through a trial that will draw power from parked cars at times of low supply or high demand.

I do love that headline though. Implying they are going to flatten everyones car batteries overnight when they feel like it, whether you like it or not.
Perhaps "Octopus energy trial offering to pay owners who can use their cars as mass storage when not being used" is not sensational enough for them

[aestetix1]

Yeah, we are talking very short times, like 15 or 30 minutes, and low power too. All with the owner's agreement up front. Can opt out any time, or just not plug in.