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UK Electricity Tariffs for EVs
- Thread starter interbear
- Start date
MrBadger
Badger out
Anyone who has had an Octopus fitted smart meter had the whole house isolation switch fitted at the same time? Did you have to ask and did it cost.
Was going to have an charge point fitted a few years back, but installer required the isolation switch. Octopus could fit for free but the installers insisted on fitting smart meter. Wondered if its still the same now that SMETS 2 rolling out.
Was going to have an charge point fitted a few years back, but installer required the isolation switch. Octopus could fit for free but the installers insisted on fitting smart meter. Wondered if its still the same now that SMETS 2 rolling out.
tj333
Member
Sounds like you have an incomplete installation, what did the engineer say at the time?
Has your old meter been removed? I'd assume it must have been, but when you say the smart meter isn't connected to anything yet it is a little confusing.
Was this an AES install or a different team?
I think it was a company called AES, I can’t remember to be honest. They were based in Essex I believe?
There was no existing meter on the circuit. It was a new electrical connection (well, a previously decommissioned one). The only thing that existed before the 23/09 install was the DNO master fuse box.
The meter appears to work, I get data from it to the screen that you plug in. That took a few minutes to start working, so I assume some kind of setup was completed. The engineer didn’t say anything that left me with the impression that it was unfinished or would need a second visit etc. The only anomaly was that his worksheet said for him to install a SMETS1 meter but I told him on the day that I’d requested a SMETS2 (and presumably would need for Go). That’s what he installed.
Beyond that I’m in the dark really. I’m not particularly impressed as a new customer of Octopus, really.
The smart meter is connected to an isolation switch and that’s it. Nothing is connected to the isolation switch. The people installing my charger are going to supply a CU. Hope that makes sense.
(Just to be clear - the house is supplied by a separate electrical connection. The connection I’m talking about is just going to be powering a charger, and that’s it)
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tj333
Member
There's an interesting blog from Octopus regarding smart meter installation at the link below. It reads like they have a preference for SMETS1 over SMETS2, in the long term it looks like they will be the same as far as the customer is concerned anyway, only difference being what network they use to transmit data.
Smart Meters - The Innovators’ Challenge
I had my smartmeter installed by a different energy company (first utility) which didn't go smoothly (in fact after 2 visits I gave up on the gas one). Interested to hear from others more knowledgeable on the overall process but I wonder if Octopus are any better /worse than any other energy suppliers at this or whether it really comes down to the particular contractor who happens to get assigned your address.
Smart Meters - The Innovators’ Challenge
I had my smartmeter installed by a different energy company (first utility) which didn't go smoothly (in fact after 2 visits I gave up on the gas one). Interested to hear from others more knowledgeable on the overall process but I wonder if Octopus are any better /worse than any other energy suppliers at this or whether it really comes down to the particular contractor who happens to get assigned your address.
I’ve had similar problems getting smart meters. It really does seem pot luck if you get offered one, and then if the installer puts it in properly.
I’ve had smart meter troubles with First Utility and British Gas. My previous supplier OVO Energy offered and fitted smart meters within two weeks of me joining. Given that good experience, and on my suggestion, my sister moved to OVO. It took her well over a year of pestering to get OVO to install her smart meters!
TBH I find that all the utility companies seem pretty useless, particularly if something goes wrong. Unfortunately we need gas and electricity. In the case of smart meters many of the problems seem to stem from the various companies contracted by the energy company to install the meters. Considering that is what they do day in, day out, it makes you wonder why there are so many issues. In the case of my OVO meters I mentioned above, OVO did their bit ok, but on the install day I ended up with three vans and six blokes trying to do what was really a simple meter swap. The mind boggles!
My meter installer (on behalf of Octopus) had several SEMTS 1 meters in his van that were clearly second hand. The first 2 he fitted turned out to have been preset to operate on the basis of prepayment so he had to remove them again. The third meter was ok but he had no confidence that it was going to communicate as intended as it didn't seem to be making the required indications. A couple of weeks later there still was no indication online that my meter was sending in readings but once I emailed Octopus about it they then (to my surprise) confirmed that the meter was sending readings as required and that I could be transferred to the "Go" tariff which then happened within 24hrs.
Possibly. The display does show the tariff and standing charge that currently applies to my account (Octopus 12M Fixed April 2019 v1), and my balance is incrementing on the display per the standing charge. So there does appear to be some communication going on.
Mark77a
Member
I'm considering British Gas' EV tariff with headline 4.7p/ kWh 12 to 5am. 25p/ day 20p at other times. (Acceptable with PV's and PowerWall).
Advantage over Octopus go is they do proper FIT rates for pre-existing PV panels.
They need an existing smart meter, but vague over smets 1 or 2.
Question: has anyone signed up ?
What's the experience ?
Advantage over Octopus go is they do proper FIT rates for pre-existing PV panels.
They need an existing smart meter, but vague over smets 1 or 2.
Question: has anyone signed up ?
What's the experience ?
Jason71
Well-Known Member
I signed up to Octopus, I have smets 1. Octopus said they’re compatible if they have “Secure” on them.
Switch over was straightforward for me and took about 3 weeks.
The tariff is 5p for 4 hours and only 13.45p otherwise, 25p per day.
I’ve sent you a referral code if you decide to do Octopus anyway!
MrBadger
Badger out
Thats not a problem at all. FiT and Electricity tarrifs are completely separate entities, so for example one does not offset the other. Plus FiT is a controlled pricing structure, so no benefit in shopping around to get a better price. What does differ between FiT suppliers is how long it takes to get paid after submitting a reading. It can range from several days to many months.
What Octopus does offer though solar wise is their FiT export tarrif opt out. You can opt out of the FiT 50% deemed export (fit is split into total generation and [50% of total generation] deemed export) and instead join up to the Octopus Outgoing tarrif that replaces the deemed export with actual metered export. The total generation part of the FiT remains with the original FiT supplier. There may be a benefit in joining the Octopus Outgoing tarrif if you normally export more than your deemed 50% amount. But for many, especially EV owners who charge when their solar is producing, the 50% export may still be a better bet. With Octopus outgoing, your previously 'free' Solar generated power, effectively starts costing 5.x p per kWh as you lose this amount from export tarrif if you use it, where as with deemed export, you got 50% of your total generation as an export payment whether you used it or not.
You can be on Octopus Outgoing whilst on Octopus Go, but not whilst on Octopus Agile.
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