Can’t install smatt meter, will EV tariff work?

No, in order to get an EV tariff from most, if not all suppliers, you will need to have a smart meter.

Ovo definitely needs a smart meter for charge anytime.

​@Hammerhead66 

If you could post pictures of your meter and the pipes, etc. around it then we may be able to offer some suggestions.

eg. A standard setup with the communications hub sat on top of the meter might not fit,  but it is possible to separate then using a flying lead and that setup might fit- IF the engineer knows that it will need a flying lead and so brings one long. (They don’t always have a spare one  on the van).

Thanks so much for the quick responses! This is the elect meter, it’s weirdly in the ground floor toilet and the pipes near it are toilet/water pipes but the consumer unit is in the loft. Hopefully there are options?

My first reaction is wow, what a mess.

Whilst there does look like there might be enough room to fit a smart meter there are other very obvious issues - I can understand why the engineer didn't want to touch it.

Is this a rental property?

A 33 year old meter shouldn't be an issue, but those adjacent pipes certainly are.

I can only assume that the large pipe came later than the meter, but TBH running any water pipes through an electric meter cabinet is asking for trouble.

Is it a macerating toilet? The pipe doesn't look big enough for a normal toilet soil pipe.

I would say that the piping needs to be re-routed before any electrical work can be carried out in safety.

If it is a macerating toilet then the pumped discharge should allow the waste pipe to be redirected.

Anyone else care to comment?

​@Hammerhead66 good morning, I hope you’re well and had a good weekend.

I’ve worked in the industry for a fair while now and have seen some weird and wonderful metering setups, and this is certainly a unique one! I’m no plumber, but I think that’s exactly what’s required here. Those pipes will need moving, as ​@Nukecad suggests, for a smart meter to fit in that space.

I’m going to call upon our resident metering expert ​@Lukepeniket_OVO to see if he has any further advice for this one.

There’s possibly another approach avoiding replumbing: those cylindrical boxes above the meter look to be eccentric (or even centric!) connection blocks. I can’t tell what the black box to the left of the meter is or does, but it doesn’t appear to matter much if the cables to the cylindrical connection boxes come from the black box or direct from the meter: the boxes themselves could be shifted out of the way to the left and right, leaving space for a new smart meter between them. A bit of chipboard on top of the ply would give a basis for the new meter (and perhaps some 21st century Henley blocks instead of the round ones) to be mounted on.

The metal sheeting could be a problem, depending on its orientation and extent. No radio signal is going to have an easy job getting through that, so a flying lead might well be needed if the meter’s to make contact with the outside world.

Let’s see what the oracle Ben summoned has to say.

Thanks for those suggestions ​@Firedog - I’ve passed them down the line internally. I’ll hopefully have an answer for ​@Hammerhead66 from our engineers soon.