How is a smart metre connected?

[JohnW2]

With a pair of 50cm tails that have passed a particular test

As a matter of interest, what 'particular test' are you suggesting that meter tails have to pass?

 

[morqthana]

View attachment 351397

That looks like an unnecessarily high-spec display.

Surely they could have used something cheaper?

 

[morqthana]

Edwardian, Victorian and 1960s engineers knew a thing or two.

Yeah, but what did the Romans ever do for us?

 

[morqthana]

'Twas my silly sense of humour Harry, i bet that Aristotle and Archimedes were Scottish Engineers really

Harry Stottle & Archie Meades?

 

[ericmark]

That looks like an unnecessarily high-spec display.

Surely they could have used something cheaper?

The unit has a single display, I have combined the displays shown by pressing the button as a single picture. It does actually show even more, but my point is the amount of information means it is overwhelming, as it was I could go down and take a single picture to send to my wife who is the account holder who would in turn give the reading, I could not do that now.

Had E.on ring today about changing the Radio Teleswitch out for something

This has been said before, they can't force you to have a smart meter, however neither can you force them to give you a split tariff.

I have been having a problem with British Gas, so looked at changing supplier, they give the tariffs many names, and the off-peak is by no means a fixed rate, at the moment it seems with fixed rates, the EV rate is the lowest, far lower than Economy 7, as to if Economy 10 is still offered I don't know. It does seem with most the supplier can switch on the supply at varying times, the EV rate with Octopus they want the details of your EV charging point, so they can select when it turns on. With my British Gas EV tariff they don't want the details of the EV charging point and I have a fixed time zero to 5 am, where Octopus give I think 8 hours of charge.

I have no output from my smart meter to turn on any contactor to control the supply to any devices I want to use only with off peak, I have three ways to view my usage connected to the smart meter, the meter its self, the in home display (IHD) and the phone app, they do not seem to agree on the time, some show BST and some UTC, since I don't need 5 hours, I set use 1 am to 5 am so it does not matter which it uses.

The IHD has the option to display Gas usage as well, since we don't have mains gas, it just means the display default is half size for electric. The phone app has only been showing today's use for around 3 weeks, the same with display in pounds, it does not show the standing charge for the current day. At the moment will only show yesterday, it says I have used 0.08 kWh or £0.03 with standing charge added £0.62. And it shows Max usage of £0.08 at 23:30, this is incorrect, my solar panel software shows my battery was at 13% at 01:00 and was charged to 100% that alone is 2.784 kWh, so 01:00 to 05:00 there should have been some power used, which is not shown.

Go back to the 7th August 2024 and the display seems correct, that was an unusually day, so looking at the 6th, it shows 5.39 kWh, and £0.61 cost, (£1.20 with standing charge) from that I have to use Excel to try and work out how much used at each rate, seems 5 kWh at 8.95p and 0.39 kWh at 31.31p which seems about right, but would have been nice if it showed how much at each rate.

But I have to manually select when items run, my battery is charged each day 01:00 to 05:00 the washing machine, tumble dryer, and dish washer I have to select when they run, and this depends on what solar I expect to get that day, summer will run during the day, winter when the battery will never be fully recharged by the sun, would want them to run 00:00 to 05:00 winter there is only UTC so can use full 5 hours. (Note UTC = unified time constant it was called GMT but since the observatory is no longer at Greenwich the name was changed.)

Since I don't use electric to heat the house, I don't need 7 or 10 hours off peak. And my solar software used the internet to get it's time, so no worry about a clock being fast or slow. How the new smart meter is used to replace the old White meter, or teleswitch I don't know, I suppose my internet fixed time is a form of teleswitch, the tele is either Latin or Greek for distance, so telephone is speech at a distance, we have allsorts of telemetry, but can't see energy providers using internet, as it would need pairing to the homes router.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The unit has a single display, I have combined the displays shown by pressing the button as a single picture. It does actually show even more, but my point is the amount of information means it is overwhelming, as it was I could go down and take a single picture to send to my wife who is the account holder who would in turn give the reading, I could not do that now.

My two smart meters also provide a multitude of screens, and data. Each of which is accessed, by a single button press, or combination of button presses, out of the mass of buttons on the front panel. The thing is, I only need to see the basic consumption display, the meter readings, and on both meters that is obtained by pressing one button - the 9 button.

If you are overwhelmed by the number of buttons, and the number of displays - The simple answer is to read the manuals, as I did, and make a note of the button presses which match the data which is of interest to you personally.

I think the above, is what we all do/have to do, with complex modern equipment - learn how to access, what we most use/ read the manual, for the less used functions.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Some people struggle with sarcasm.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have been having a problem with British Gas, so looked at changing supplier, they give the tariffs many names,

Many customers do have issues with BG, myself included, but it's nowt at all to do with smart meters..

It does seem with most the supplier can switch on the supply at varying times, the EV rate with Octopus they want the details of your EV charging point, so they can select when it turns on. With my British Gas EV tariff they don't want the details of the EV charging point and I have a fixed time zero to 5 am, where Octopus give I think 8 hours of charge.

The major point of advantage of smart over old dumb meters, is that the customer gains access to a wide variety of tariffs. It is then down to the customer, to make best use of it, and pick the supplier/tariff which best suites them. My own choice, based on my having no EV, no use of off-peak, was the Octopus Tracker tariff, where the unit rate of each energy source varies from days to day, based on the wholesale cost, but the cost is fixed for the full 24 hours. As a result, I have paid a cost somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3rds, of what I would have paid, had I been on a basic tariff set by the CAP - but only available to me, because I have a smart meter.

A 1/3rd 1/2 price discount on the cost of energy, is not something to be sniffed at.

 

[ericmark]

The simple answer is to read the manuals

To do that, one needs the manuals.

My own choice

I can see that it does depend on your personal circumstances, I was told if I want paying for export, then I need a smart meter, so no real sensible option, other than get a smart meter.
My objection to the smart meter, was the ability to turn off ones supply remotely, I worried about it being turned off in error, since I have battery back up, I am not so worried about the slim chance of an error.

the Octopus Tracker tariff

For you and me, this is likely a good option, I can afford to gamble, and it is a gamble, and at an average of £10.70 per week, plus standing charge, does it really matter? If I was using electric directly for heating, then clearly a very different story.

I have to admit I did go OTT when I got the ability to view use from my arm chair. I went out Wednesday and spent £20 on a meal out, without really worrying about it, but worry how much my freezer is using yes it would be nice to turn one off, but even those figures are not correct, average cost is (5 x 8.95 + 19 x 31.31)/24 = 26.65p per kWh average, and I set the monitor to 31.31p and also not allowing for solar, so in real terms, more like £1.50 a month to run.

OK look after the pennies and the pounds look after them selves, but not had pennies for years.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

To do that, one needs the manuals.

Most/all meter manuals are available online, for those who are interested. Mine are.

For you and me, this is likely a good option, I can afford to gamble, and it is a gamble, and at an average of £10.70 per week, plus standing charge, does it really matter? If I was using electric directly for heating, then clearly a very different story.

I don't see as really that much of a gamble. Given my consumption circumstances, I had a choice of the CAP, or the Tracker. Tracker simply passes some of the risk of sudden wholesale price rises, on to the customer to accept the risk, but mitigated with a large discount. Not much of a risk, for how much cost I have saved so far, besides which, I can swap back to the CAP, in under 14 days.

 

[Ragnar_AT]

Both smart meter reading and teleswitch control can be done via the power grid (PLC). That seems to be the most reliable method used in Europe and doesn’t require additional wiring to the meter (the Germans decided to use telephone lines instead, so if you‘ve got a landline connection at the house (even if you aren‘t actually a subscriber) you‘re required to run a phone cable to the electric meter.

 

[JohnW2]

Both smart meter reading and teleswitch control can be done via the power grid (PLC). That seems to be the most reliable method used in Europe ...

That corresponds with what one might expect but, as far as I know, it's not something that is done in the UK ... from what I've heard, if they cannot establish (directly or indirectly) some sort of 'wireless' communication, they usually 'give up'. Is that the case?

I think all electronic dual-rate meters have built-in clocks, but I don't know if there is any control of them (to keep them #''accurate/correct', which would have to be over the power network) or whether the clock would have to be reset 'manually', by someone 'on-site', if it became 'wrong' (not that I'm sure how they would know how it had gone wrong!)

 

[ebee]

I reckon the Technology is there to do all of those things, over your incoming electric supplies, WiFi, Telephone etc etc etc and indeed a mixture to access data form some less simple locations, I think it more to do with lacking the will and the ability to take more time training and spend a bit more to do it. Keep it simple and speak in maxims and , example, 98% might comply, without that say 90% comply and the problem is the other 10% , you have change a 10% to a 2% in my purely theoretical example and whatever the truths it saves the suppliers thousands and thousands by being intransigent . Makes good business sense to them but a bloody nightmare to us humble customers.

Just look how things have changed over the years, you used to be able to go into banks and council buildings, Local Gov, HMRC, DWP and all manner of places or ring them up and actually speak to them. Now you can go online or email them etc etc so therefore you now have even more ways to contact them. "Hoh that should make things better then!" .
No it does not, you que on hold for 8 days or weeks and have to be IT Savvy or you get no joy.
We now get service worse than any Third World Country.
Where did most of these annoying protocols come from - I have an inkling (The country I calls the most uncivilised on Earth )

 

[Mottie]

I went out Wednesday and spent £20 on a meal out, without really worrying about it,

You wastrel!

 

[ebee]

Twenty Pounds Eric? Blimey! I do hope it was a meal for more than one person.

Laughing aside - A few years back I made a comment on another forum about my astonishment at the price of Fish and Chips to take away from a place in Harlech.
Answers came back suggesting many thought the price reasonable, unlike me.
Our most expensive locally were perhaps best best in the area and particularly massive portions too but the price was very high compared to other local outlets, some very good and some not as good. It was renowned locally as expensive.
The price - £10 if you bought Fish and Chips separate but only £9.99 if you bought them together. LOL. I am not kidding,

I do not eat Fish and Chips often, nice but very naughty in my opinion.
However when travelling a bit, two that stand out when visiting Yorkshire north coast are Magpies at Whitby (usually very good but sometimes changeable though). Thompsons on the A64 just outside York and boy are they yummy and massive portions too.

A few months ago an incident occurred there, a customer in the car park rammed the eating are wall twice in a few seconds, seemed the customer fell ill at the wheel of his Porsche poor fellow.
The Thompsons staff were absolutely brilliant, they cleared the easting area, gave everybody a free replacement meal (as if you could eat one of those after you`d already half eaten one) , even though it was not their fault, one member of staff mentioned in their 20 years there never seen such an incident.
The staff were absolutely brill and I can not praise them enough - and they make brill Fish and Chips.

Here is a review I saw recently.