Secure SMETS1 meter enrolment progress

  • Ed93's Avatar
    Level 3
    I'm a Sainsbury's Energy customer, but as there's no dedicated forum, I'll post here.

    I've got first generation meters - they are the Secure brand. They were already installed when I moved in a couple of years ago, and the IHD was missing. Since then, they've never sent readings to any energy supplier, but having looked at a couple of guides online, the HAN and WAN indicators seem to be fine.

    I contacted Sainsbury's Energy customer services to see about getting them to work in smart mode, and was told that this was dependent on migration to the DCC network, that there were no timescales available, and I'd be told when my meter was upgraded.

    I'd already done some googling about enrolment and adoption, so I may have been a tiny bit of a thorn in the agent's side at this point, though not rude I hope. I asked if they could advise what proportion of Sainsbury's Energy customers with Secure meters had already been adopted and were in smart mode again, so that I could draw my own conclusions about whether mine is likely to take weeks, months or years. I was told repeatedly that Sainsbury's Energy would not hold that information, that only DCC would know.

    I don't think that's plausible - of course Eon/Sainsbury's Energy would hold that information. I also recognise they're under no obligation to tell me, but I thought no harm in asking.

    With prices as they are, I would quite like to be able to monitor my usage, so I'm wondering if the mods here would have any info about adoption progress at Eon or Sainsbury's Energy. Maybe it's commercially sensitive or something like that but I don't see how!
  • 4 Replies

  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 78
    Hi @Ed93 ,

    I'm theunknowntech , a mysterious forum volunteer who holds the keys to many secrets, yet rarely reveals any of them. :)

    I'm exactly the kind of person you need though.

    Unfortunately, I can't get the data for Secure meters specifically, but I can tell you that just over 8.2 million S1 meters have been migrated to DCC as of today and that number is rising non-stop. More granular data isn't available and I suspect it's because it'd be too complicated and too computationally expensive to crunch for the minority of interested parties to justify doing it. Shame really, as I'd be curious myself.

    I also can't predict when you'll get the upgrade, but perhaps I can ask @PeterT_EONNext to see if he can get it moving a bit faster. :)
    Just another guy passing by... The unknown tech way...
    Pete is an IHD Tariff Update Robot! 🤖 Anasa is a Giant Enemy Robot Spider 🕷 🤖 Hannah is neither! Need Customer service? click here! Replacement IHD Guide? Here it is!
  • Ed93's Avatar
    Level 3
    Hi @theunknowntech, many thanks for your reply.

    Appreciate more granular data isn't available in the public domain. I also understand from reading elsewhere that migration to the DCC network is not the end of the story, and that the supplier still has to take action on their end (I think this is the "adoption" bit in the terminology?) to get the meters working.

    Hence my wondering where Eon specifically are in the process. I imagine the answer is sitting in a spreadsheet somewhere, though I appreciate it's a bit of a long shot asking for those details to be dug out.

    To thicken the plot somewhat, I'm a bit dubious about whether my meters will ever work in smart mode again, as my previous supplier Pure Planet seemed quite keen on replacing them. I could never get a straight answer as to why, but it didn't matter in the end as they went bust before getting around to it.
  • Ed93's Avatar
    Level 3
    Hello, excuse the thread bump but I was thinking about this today and coincidentally it's been about 6 months since I asked about it the last time.

    Are there any updates on Secure SMETS1 meter adoption?

    Would be good to know if my meter is an outlier with a problem, or just one of many not yet adopted.

    Thanks
  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 78
    Howdy @Ed93 ! This is the VoiceMail Module of TechBot here. I'm sorry, but theunknowntech hasn't been available recently as he's currently away training with his friends and left me in charge. Anything you post in this thread now, I will ensure that theunknowntech is notified about when he's back. Just so you know, I'm a bot that sometimes runs under his account, so I might not always understand your questions. If I can't figure them out, an automated alert gets sent to theunknowntech asking him to stop by.

    However, my programming suggests I can help you now while my master is away. It sounds like you're asking about SMETS1 Secure meter adoption to DCC, is that right? Here's the latest information from my databanks:

    Almost all SMETS1 Secure Liberty Meters should now be adopted to DCC. There may still be a few outliers or failed units, but DCC will know about these and will be working on them. You can check the status of your meters via https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/ where it'll perform a lookup with DCC. TechBot unfortunately doesn't have access to any sources of information that can help you identify when your meters will migrate, and TARDIS Functionality is still under development. Sorry about that!

    Thanks!

    Your friendly local neighbourhood TechBot