Current Tariff requires Smart Meters to be fitted

  • verdunpotter's Avatar
    Level 1
    Good afternoon.

    So i keep getting text and Email messages which tell me i have to have Smart Meters fitted due to the tariff i am currently on. I was well aware of that when i signed on over 1 year ago.

    The trouble is when i first joined E-On i had an engineer come round to fit said meters. It only cost me 5 hours in lost wages waiting for him but when he finally turned up he informed me he couldn't fit Smart Meters at my property even though British Gas had managed to do so previously.

    Anyways i try to book an appointment online but it says there are no appointments left in my area at the moment and i need to phone the number shown. Now i've phoned said number four times and waited 15 minutes each time and not got through. I never wait more then 15 minutes on the phone unless it's something i feel is important like the Doctor's for instance. That's just me.

    So my question is what will happen if i don't persevere in trying to book an appointment? I provide regular meter readings. It's no bother to me to continue doing so.

    Should i start looking for a new supplier?

    Thank you for your time.
  • 5 Replies

  • meldrewreborn's Avatar
    Level 91
    @verdunpotter

    If you already have smart meters Eon Next will not fit new ones, because in their view its unnecessary (it might cost them money and not add anything to their performance stats). Your meters are probably of the SMETS1 type, if so, without an update, will currently only work with the supplier that fitted them. There is a national company, the DCC, that sits between you and Eon Next and they collect and distribute the smart meter data. They have a programme of work that still has up to 18 months to run to remotely upgrade all the SMETS1 meters so that they will work with any supplier.

    Therefore at some point in the future all the SMETS1 meters will once again become smart. When yours will be is anyone's guess - I haven't yet found out how the upgrade programme is structured and how customers find out their meters have been upgraded.

    If however your meters are of the SMETS2 type they should be capable of smart functionality now.
    Current Eon Next customer, ex EDF, Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.
  • verdunpotter's Avatar
    Level 1
    Thank you for the reply.

    I think i'll just wait it out until they start growling at me.
  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Hi @verdunpotter ,

    If it's OK with you, I know how to get these messages to go away for the time being. I can definitely ask @Beki_EONNext to place a long term block on them being sent to you again so that you don't get bombarded.

    Could you show me the current meters as well please? I'll see what I can figure out.
    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!
  • Beki's Avatar
    @verdunpotter Hi there, it's Beki here!
    I had a quick look at your account because these ones really interest me and you have NSS meters or Non Smets Smart which means it's super unlikely to be transferable between suppliers and we will need to update them. I've checked and I can get an appointment for you so I'll ping you over some questions now and get that all sorted for you 😎
  • theunknowntech's Avatar
    Level 80
    Ahh yes. That old chestnut.

    Unfortunately, any Smart Meters that do not meet the SMETS1 or SMETS2 specifications - or any future versions - will be almost always incompatible with DCC and are non-compliant for basically all intents and purposes as DCC can only swallow meters that comply with the SMETS specifications. It's often impossible to migrate such meters to any network other than the one they were originally set up with. It's extremely rare that I come across these cases to be honest and I don't think I've seen one for over a year now. Apparently, in a handful of cases it is possible to do, but I can personally already see that causing nightmares elsewhere later on.

    Ultimately - and I hate to say this - it's not even worth trying to migrate an NSS meter and you're better off just replacing them with S2 meters. Given their age by this point, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are getting close to end of life and recertification anyway.