[NoHope]

After many attempts to get an answer following solar panel installation and switching to eon to obtain a seg export payment.

The short answer - No. You are not legally required to have a smart meter but...

a/ You may get cheaper tarrifs or occasional rewards/ cheaper short term tarrifs if you do have a smart meter.

b/ If you do get solar panels and wonder why your old non smart meter is whizzing backwards you should hopefully decide to have a smart meter so you can get paid through am export tariff for your surplus energy. There are conditions though, too lengthy to list here.

c/ If you are lucky you wont get the installation engineer who likes to lecture about health and safety for 30 mins. If you had him you know what I mean.

d/ Is there any alternative to a smart meter (particularly as you may have to send a photo of your not too smart smart meters read out to obtain your payment).
Well here is the answer I got but from Eon but I am certain there are stories out there as the ground rules seem to change regularly !

Received today from Team Radiance

'To apply for SEG you would need a smart meter at the property to record your export reading. In cases where a smart meter is unable to be installed as a working smart meter, we would review this on individual circumstances to find a work around.
To apply to SEG you would need an approved meter that records export, there are also standalone export meters. But you would need to purchase/discuss this with a separate company.'
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- Everything is on a journey to somewhere - Gerald diPego

Edit - From The community team/Team radiance - we have in the past suggested that if we were not able to get a working smart meter then we'd install it as what we would call a non working smart meter (dumb mode) however we no longer offer this as a solution as it will be non compliant for us to install a smart and not set it up as a smart meter and is against OFGEMS requirements. We are working on all the issues with anyone who has a smart meter but is not working as a smart meter and working on signals that sometimes prevents an install of smart meters so there are lot's of work arounds now and each circumstance will be looked at on an individual basis - I've passed on feedback as a reminder an apologise for any confusion that this may have caused. Anasa - Community Manager - Team Radiance.

[HelenaP_EONNext]

@NoHope Welcome to the Community! 👋

This is a great topic for discussion when exchanging to smart and applying to the SEG scheme! You're correct there are many benefits to exchanging to a smart meter, such as:

• Meter readings sent in automatically each month
• Being able to see your usage with the in-home display
• Greater selection of tariff offers if you have a smart meter installed

Switching to a smart meter or an approved meter after installing solar panels also allows customers to obtain their export reading, in which they can provide to sell their excess energy back to the grid and receive any due payments!

With regards to the meters being smart on the SEG scheme, although the readings will be obtained automatically for your fuels, to request a SEG payment the export readings would still need to be provided manually. The smart meter models will provide the option to obtain the export whereas some of the older meters would not have this ability.

Please keep us updated on your smart and SEG journey! we love to hear about our members experiences! 😊

[NoHope]

@HelenaP_EONNext
Well its great that the advice is above good but better really for new customers that everything is set out in a 'what will happen next' senario, with a realistic timeline, and staff on eons general enquiries number who have all the information. I have three close neighbours who will be going through this - 2 with Eon - as we were all fitted with solar pv through the local council. I hope their experience is better !!

Latest bit of gobbledgook on the end of a seg team email today. Can you explain what the following is supposed to mean ? .

16.5p/kW
We may have linked your new export account to your energy account which means you may need to log out and log back in.
In the meantime you may receive correspondence asking for meter readings, setting up tariffs and setting up direct debits for your SEG account. These are system generated emails and not required with your SEG. Please ignore these emails as we will only ask for readings in 12 months time and we only currently pay by cheque so there is no need to set up a direct debit.
You may also receive emails advising we need these readings to send to your old supplier or we are switching your supply these are also system generated emails that the system automatically sends out when we are registering your export mpan. Please also ignore these emails.'

The seg team.

[NoHope]

Just an addendum. This is definitely NOT a recommendation or an advert for a smart meter. If you would also like to explain what exactly WOULD happen for those who choose to fit solar AND retain their old meter it really would be useful so people can make their own choice ?

[HelenaP_EONNext]

@NoHope As the SEG is a new/separate account, the system can automatically send a welcome email to customers which can be for setting up a tariff and direct debit etc... when in relation to the SEG account, these emails can be ignored 🙂 You will receive correspondence advising of your new SEG account number once this has been processed and you can access both your accounts online!

This would depend on the customers model of meter, if the meter is unable to record the export then this would prevent them from applying to the SEG Scheme. But there are options that can be looked into, such as the installation of a standalone meter that records export through a separate company. Although the solar panels should work automatically and produce energy to be used in the home, separate to selling any excess energy not used.

[NoHope]

@HelenaP_EONNext Ah well thats cleared it up then. I thought for a moment that as the seg application is a completely separate process that your computer programme would be clever enough to not to send out wrong emails ! Actually isnt it a bit like the 'smart' meter that isnt smart enough to send a quarterly export reading and requires a photo to be sent of the meter readout ?
it all makes work for the working man to do..

[Lee_EONNext]

@NoHope Hey, thank you for the reply.

The SEG application is a completely different process, however what happens is when we add the Export Mpan to our system. The system initially thinks it is a live account.

Live accounts are Electric and Gas accounts where we bill our customers. After the MPAN is added, we then change the account status however this can take some time to be changed as it's something we do manually. We have lots of requests for this.

Some smart meters can be read remotely (polled) to obtain export reads however the requirement for a SEG Payment is that the customer sends in a photo of the Export Read from the meter, which we use to pay those exported units.

SEG is forever changing and we're always looking at improving things.

We also then have customers who have had solar installed who can't have a functioning smart meter. In these cases we would install a Non Functioning Smart meter, which would record the exported units or an installer can install a specific export meter.

Let me know if you have any other questions at all, I will be more than happy to answer them 🙂

[NoHope]

Originally Posted by Lee_EONNext

@NoHope Hey, thank you for the reply.


'Some smart meters can be read remotely (polled) to obtain export reads however the requirement for a SEG Payment is that the customer sends in a photo of the Export Read from the meter, which we use to pay those exported units.'

🙂

You say it is a requirement by EON that a photo is needed ? . I believe that the SEG requirements are set by OFGEM. Their SEG Guidance states

'1.20. Applicants that have a meter that can read export and be read remotely by a SEG licensee will be able receive payments without taking manual meter readings.'

Are you trying to say that the smart meter you had me install does not qualify, or have the OFGEN rules changed ?

[meldrewreborn]

@NoHope

perhaps the automated method isn’t used by Eon Next so they require a photo. It also means then that somebody has to use the data from the photo to manually insert the reading into the accounting system. Not the most swift process but presumably one that works for the limited numbers of SEG payments currently.

[Lee_EONNext]

@NoHope At the moment the option to remotely read every export meter read is not in place, if we can read the meter remotely we will. If you have been asked for a photo then you would need to submit the photo until the process of reading/polling export reads is fully rolled out.

The process is being slowly migrated out as this is a new process. One of the biggest issues with a Smart Meter is a loss of communication, if this was to happen, then we wouldn't be able to read the meter anyway until this is resolved. Some meters have been experiencing this for many years.

The regulation you have sent me, is that about setting up a new account? or paying an account?


Thanks