Just had a very patronising email from Octopus, informing me my Electric meter`s calibration date has expired and needs to be replaced. ( I would hazard a guess it was installed about 10 years ago, very small digital type ) It then goes on to say it will need to be replaced with a smart meter as they are the only type of meters being manufactured of refurbished these days. Is this true ?
Octopus Smart meter.
- Thread starter BQW
- Start date
As the government say you don't HAVE to have a smart meter I find that difficult to believe. Is your current meter labelled saying it has to be calibrated after a certain date. A new one on me to be honest. I thought they were only supposed to need doing after 25 years if ever. I also would have thought that any meter could be made dumb by not inserting a sim card.
My supplier has tried many different tactics to get my dum meter changed. They use very carefully written letters that on first glance sound reasonable but read it again and its not so cut and dried.
They have also sent fake "booked dates" with an option to contact them to change the "date" if not convenient. I ignore it and surprise surprise no one comes on the "booked date"
They have also sent fake "booked dates" with an option to contact them to change the "date" if not convenient. I ignore it and surprise surprise no one comes on the "booked date"
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I did not want a smart meter, and I resisted, until not having one was going to cost me money.
I do believe they can be fitted in a dumb mode, and my smart meter came in two parts, the top part does the coms work.
But I still can't read the smart meter direct. Two buttons control the display, and I need three readings, export, peak and off-peak, the rest is really of little interest. But I have been told what it should say, and I have found one or the other every so often, but I pressed buttons many times and still not a clue how to get the readings.
I can with smartphone or PC see what I have used or exported, and the in home display says if importing or exporting, and without one I will not be paid for export, so I need one.
So if you have an EV, solar panels, off-peak heating, no option, but otherwise, can't really see any advantage. And when I wanted one, September 2023 it took until February 2024 and three visits to get it fitted. And I had to get the solar installers back to move their consumer unit to make room for the larger meter.
As to if the deals with weekend free power etc, make it worth while I don't know, my annual bill is around £100 to £200, due to solar panels, so never used the offers.
I do believe they can be fitted in a dumb mode, and my smart meter came in two parts, the top part does the coms work.
But I still can't read the smart meter direct. Two buttons control the display, and I need three readings, export, peak and off-peak, the rest is really of little interest. But I have been told what it should say, and I have found one or the other every so often, but I pressed buttons many times and still not a clue how to get the readings.
I can with smartphone or PC see what I have used or exported, and the in home display says if importing or exporting, and without one I will not be paid for export, so I need one.
So if you have an EV, solar panels, off-peak heating, no option, but otherwise, can't really see any advantage. And when I wanted one, September 2023 it took until February 2024 and three visits to get it fitted. And I had to get the solar installers back to move their consumer unit to make room for the larger meter.
As to if the deals with weekend free power etc, make it worth while I don't know, my annual bill is around £100 to £200, due to solar panels, so never used the offers.
Thanks for the replies, no off peak or PV Panels here also virtually no phone signal... think I will tell em to poke it !
I very much doubt that it is literally true. However, if they are buying 'smart' meters 'by the million', but 'dumb' ones only occasionally in very small batches, the latter might be much more expensive for them.
However, the main issue is undoubtedly the silly government-imposed 'targets' for installing 'smart' meters.
As I often say, although it's a long time since I've read one, my recollection is that the Agreements/Contracts that we are deemed to have signed (even if we've never seen them!) usually include our agreement that the supplier can install whatever 'metering or other equipment' that they see fit in order to be able to provide an electricity supply.
I'm not close to my ('dumb' electronic) meter to look for any labelling, but the manual says this:
if the readings are only 'certified' (I presume 'to be accurate') for 10 years, I'm not sure what the 15 year 'Product Life' means!
Indeed. I'm not sure that they necessarily use SIM cards, per se, but the comms module is usually a separate entity which can be removed (or not installed) - so, even if it were true that they could only get (or only wanted to get) 'smart' meters, they would certainly not have to use them as such..
Photo of the front of the meter will show manufacture and any re-calibration date almost certainly as well as make/model to find how often they need to be calibrated. They do have a life... LCD digits may fade away, mechanical motors and indicators stick. Smart apparently have a more frequent calibration need... that's progress for you!
My 'simple' digital mechanical electric meter failed (to detect any electrical consumption) after around 15 years from install (new build) so EoN fitted a second-user non-smart electronic digital LCD screen meter. Then gave me £50 to get a smart one fitted less than 12 months later.
Non smart means missing out on most of the cheapest tariffs, including 30 minute TOU ones which can pay you to move your load or give free electricity... allegedly! (I've never had either offered me).
My 'simple' digital mechanical electric meter failed (to detect any electrical consumption) after around 15 years from install (new build) so EoN fitted a second-user non-smart electronic digital LCD screen meter. Then gave me £50 to get a smart one fitted less than 12 months later.
Non smart means missing out on most of the cheapest tariffs, including 30 minute TOU ones which can pay you to move your load or give free electricity... allegedly! (I've never had either offered me).
Mine is not all that clear (see photo). It bears a date ("2016"), which I assume (although it doesn't say) relates to manufacture, and also "Certified 02 16". If, per my previous post, it's 'certified life' is 10 years, then that seems to suggest that it has probably recently become due for replacement. However, it does not explain what these markings mean, and certainly does not explicitly indicate any replacement/re-calibration date.
It also contains a back-up battery which is said to "last for the life of the meter" - so that may well be the limiting consideration?
In a previous life I worked for EDF and metering was one of the areas I had some involvement in. Categorically meters have a certified life, and this can change as meters are replaced and then recalibrated, which informs whether other similar meters are good for a longer or shorter period. The old black meters used to be any where berween 10 and 25 years. The newer smaller digital type became cheaper to buy than it was to refurbish the old style black meters.
Smart meters, especially the SMETS 1’s may well have been certified for 10 years as it was the early stages of the smart meter roll out.
Your supplier is not lying although they will want to encourage you to have a smart meter fitted because they have targets set by the Government. Get a smart meter and ignore all the hype about big brother and disconnections, its scare mongering.
Smart meters, especially the SMETS 1’s may well have been certified for 10 years as it was the early stages of the smart meter roll out.
Your supplier is not lying although they will want to encourage you to have a smart meter fitted because they have targets set by the Government. Get a smart meter and ignore all the hype about big brother and disconnections, its scare mongering.
That meter seems to have 6 'line' and 2 'neutral' tails (presumably three phase in and out?) and also has an Economy 7 times sticker for multiple registers.
It's certainly out of certified calibration and due for replacement as of February. Why resist
Three phase and E7 that'll be deep joy for Octopus to (potentially) mess up things,
It's certainly out of certified calibration and due for replacement as of February. Why resist
Three phase and E7 that'll be deep joy for Octopus to (potentially) mess up things,
Yep.
Again, yep. As I recetly wrote in another thread ...
.... although 'dumb' it's not that far from being 'smart', other than lacking comms (although a comms module is available for it). Although mine is configured to just use two of the registers ('day' & 'night') for my E7 tariff, it actually has a total of 8 TOU registers (a 4 maximum demand' ones) for each of which it stores both kWh and kvarh, and can cope with a maximum of 48 switching times, GMT/BST changes and 'seasonal' changes. It also stores lots of events (e.g. 'lost power') and 'tampering' data. Although mine is configured in a pretty 'limited' way, it can, if so configured, display something like 250 different bits of data. The manual runs to nearly 160 pages, but this summarises what it can handle, 'tariff-wise'....
I'm not resisting anything. Even though, as you say, it appears to be out of certified calibration, I have yet to be offered either a replacement or an 'upgrade'.
I've never had anything to do with Octopus, and have no immediate plans to change thatThree phase and E7 that'll be deep joy for Octopus to (potentially) mess up things,
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