[PeterS]

Hello,

I am on Economy 7 (which I wish to remain on) and as part of your
'Next Winter Support Fixed 25 tariff (due to disability and low income), I agreed to have a smart meter fitted as part of this tariff.


However, I have tried many times to book an appointment to have a Smart Meter fitted, however I constantly get the following message when I try to book:


We're Sorry.
We really appreciate your interest in booking a smart meter.
Unfortunately because of the way your meter is set up, it’s currently not possible to install a smart meter at this time.




I am worried that you may thus remove me from theNext Winter Support Fixed 25 tariff, hoever feel this is unfair as per the above it is not my fault that you cannot fit a smart meter.

Can you offer any advice and reassurance?

Someone from eon next keeps ringing me, but being partially deaf it is difficult to understand them so prefer online booking.

Many thanks.

[retrotecchie]

@PeterS

The 'way your meter is set up' has no bearing on whether or not a smart meter can be fitted, with one broad exception pertaining to legacy timeswitching systems.

If you have a Radio Teleswitch System (RTS) meter then it will need to be replaced by the end of March or it will stop working.

If you have a conventional two-rate economy 7 meter, then this can be easily replaced with a smart meter like for like.

Where things become a little more complicated is where you have a two meter (black meter and white meter) setup as was common in the 70s in Scotland or the South of England and you originally had a 'complex' electrical heating setup such as Heatsave or Flexiheat. Replacing these metering systems with a smart meter is rather more complex as it often entails other electrical work on your side of the meter to make everything work.

Another problem occurs when you have a clock controlled switching device for heating and hot water that also controls the meter itself. This is known as a 'ratechanger' system and is something that can be replaced with a smart meter but not without additional electrical work.

Meter engineers can swap a meter, but aren't able to do any additional works to get these older legacy systems working correctly.

If you have one of these setups, then you will need to get a competent electrician in to make modifications before the meter can be swapped for a standard smart meter.

If you could take a picture of your meter arrangements, the consumer unit, and any additional gubbins (timeclock, etc.) and post it on here, we'll be better able to offer an opinion.

I've converted several of these legacy systems myself, but they are all a bit of a mystery to most meter installers who really don't understand anything forward of the meter on these archaic setups.

[PeterS]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@PeterS

The 'way your meter is set up' has no bearing on whether or not a smart meter can be fitted, with one broad exception pertaining to legacy timeswitching systems.

If you have a Radio Teleswitch System (RTS) meter then it will need to be replaced by the end of March or it will stop working.

If you have a conventional two-rate economy 7 meter, then this can be easily replaced with a smart meter like for like.

Where things become a little more complicated is where you have a two meter (black meter and white meter) setup as was common in the 70s in Scotland or the South of England and you originally had a 'complex' electrical heating setup such as Heatsave or Flexiheat. Replacing these metering systems with a smart meter is rather more complex as it often entails other electrical work on your side of the meter to make everything work.

Another problem occurs when you have a clock controlled switching device for heating and hot water that also controls the meter itself. This is known as a 'ratechanger' system and is something that can be replaced with a smart meter but not without additional electrical work.

Meter engineers can swap a meter, but aren't able to do any additional works to get these older legacy systems working correctly.

If you have one of these setups, then you will need to get a competent electrician in to make modifications before the meter can be swapped for a standard smart meter.

If you could take a picture of your meter arrangements, the consumer unit, and any additional gubbins (timeclock, etc.) and post it on here, we'll be better able to offer an opinion.

I've converted several of these legacy systems myself, but they are all a bit of a mystery to most meter installers who really don't understand anything forward of the meter on these archaic setups.

Many thanks.

The meter was changed in December 2021 from a single 'complex meter' with two mapans to this one which isn't a smart meter.

Here are the photos - hope they are okay:

[retrotecchie]

@PeterS

I can't zoom in to read the meter details clearly but it looks to me like the meter is a standard four wire meter, connected via a two pole isolator switch (because the distance between the meter itself and the consumer unit is more than 2 metres distance) to the consumer unit. In this instance, it doesn't look like you have any external timeclock, RTS controller or anything out of the ordinary.

It looks to me like the meter itself is potentially a smart meter but has a blanking cover fitted where the smart communications hub would normally be installed. Obviously without that hub, the meter can't work as smart.

Now, either you live in an area where there is no communications so the hub couldn't be fitted thus making it a bit of a pointless exercise or the meter installer has installed the new meter, updated the MPAN data on the database and that is showing up to E.On Next as being a smart meter and therefore they can't fit a replacement as they think you already have a smart meter.

Was this meter installed by a previous supplier or has this been done since you have been with E.On Next?

I'm also guessing that your property is fairly small as the main incoming fuse is only 60A so any complex heating system would be pretty small...just a hot water tank and two or three storage heaters, maybe?

The tariff you are on is conditional on having a smart meter fitted 'where eligible' and if they cannot, or don't want to, fit a smart meter, then that should be their problem, not yours. That tariff ends this spring anyway so whether or not they plan to extend the scheme or put a similar one in place next winter, I cannot say.

The sticker on the meter says SSC, which I think is Scottish and Southern Contracting. Only Scottish and Southern regional areas, back in the days of Heatsave and Flexiheat used complex metering systems as a legacy of the old Magnox nuclear days when off-peak electricity was cheap and they were pushing 'all electric' heating options. That is why SSE exist today (as part of OVO now) , as a merger of two geographically separate areas who both had a lot of these legacy systems which didn't exist in other regions.

[PeterS]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@PeterS

I can't zoom in to read the meter details clearly but it looks to me like the meter is a standard four wire meter, connected via a two pole isolator switch (because the distance between the meter itself and the consumer unit is more than 2 metres distance) to the consumer unit. In this instance, it doesn't look like you have any external timeclock, RTS controller or anything out of the ordinary.

It looks to me like the meter itself is potentially a smart meter but has a blanking cover fitted where the smart communications hub would normally be installed. Obviously without that hub, the meter can't work as smart.

Now, either you live in an area where there is no communications so the hub couldn't be fitted thus making it a bit of a pointless exercise or the meter installer has installed the new meter, updated the MPAN data on the database and that is showing up to E.On Next as being a smart meter and therefore they can't fit a replacement as they think you already have a smart meter.

Was this meter installed by a previous supplier or has this been done since you have been with E.On Next?

I'm also guessing that your property is fairly small as the main incoming fuse is only 60A so any complex heating system would be pretty small...just a hot water tank and two or three storage heaters, maybe?

The tariff you are on is conditional on having a smart meter fitted 'where eligible' and if they cannot, or don't want to, fit a smart meter, then that should be their problem, not yours. That tariff ends this spring anyway so whether or not they plan to extend the scheme or put a similar one in place next winter, I cannot say.

The sticker on the meter says SSC, which I think is Scottish and Southern Contracting. Only Scottish and Southern regional areas, back in the days of Heatsave and Flexiheat used complex metering systems as a legacy of the old Magnox nuclear days when off-peak electricity was cheap and they were pushing 'all electric' heating options. That is why SSE exist today (as part of OVO now) , as a merger of two geographically separate areas who both had a lot of these legacy systems which didn't exist in other regions.

Thank you.

I was originally with npower (from 2010) and was transferred to eon.next circa 2021 when npower closed down. I have been with eon.next ever since.

It was eon.next who fitted the meter back in 2021 to replace the npower complex meter as the heating was changed to run on straight Economy 7 - it was previously on a 'Super Tariff' with npower which had an afternoon boost to the heaters. Eon.next didn't support this tariff, hence the change to Economy 7 requiring the change of meter to the current set up.

I didn't have any chioce in whether or not a smart meter was fitted back in 2021 - it was just what they fitted when the came to change the meter from the complex meter.

The consumer unit is actually about 80cms above the meter.

Yes, it is a small bungalow in rural North Yorkshire.

Thanks for the info re 'where eligible' etc. I hadn't realised this.

Many thanks again.

[EmmaN]

Hey @PeterS 👋

I can see our members have provided lots of helpful information. If you do have any further questions don't hesitate to ask!

That's what's great about this community, it's a safe space to share knowledge and get advice from each other, find inspiration and chat about anything and everything.
We do hope to hear from you again soon 😊