My consumer unit keeps tripping, is this connected to the smart meter?

Going to a Heritage Meter will just make your problems worse I’m afraid. At best, it merely hides what the real issue is and doesn’t fix anything. At worst, you’ll land back on RTS again…

Either way, it also merely delays the inevitable when that Meter also needs replacing  again anyway due to the limited Service Life of all Energy Meters. You might only push it back by a few years (as in 2-5 years) if you get especially unlucky.

You should cancel that job and try one more electrician from somewhere else - and get them to actually do the tests. I’m not convinced the Meter is the issue.

Thanks for the advice.  I have now contacted a third electrician who can’t come till middle of next week, but he is going to check all the circuitry in kitchen and the rcd switch for us before we agree to changing to a Heritage meter.  Hopefully he will be able to pinpoint a fault and solve the problem and its not the smart meter that’s the culprit. Keeping my fingers crossed

Hi ​@Sine,

Glad to hear the advice was useful. Please let us know how you get on.

My electric has tripped three times now. First time in October in early hours. Electrician checked sockets etc, all okay.

Past 2 nights it has tripped again between hours 02.30 and 05.30.

Could it be the smart meter causing this, when it's updating or whatever. Only the sockets go, not overhead lights

Hi ​@Jan71 ,

This isn’t strictly the Meter per-se - it’s more likely an RCD or RCBO in the consumer unit being excessively sensitive and tripping in response to nearby RFI/EMI activity. You might want to check all of those checked and replace whichever one(s) keeps tripping.

Smart Meters aren’t the only thing that can cause this - other stuff can too!

That is a circuit trip then rather than the whole feed. Is there something (heater, immersion etc) that switches at that time. 
As Blastoise mentions, a sensitive RCBO is most likely at fault (unless a faulty appliance). They are difficult for many electricians to diagnose as it is a specialised test to find the problem. 

​@Blastoise186 ​@BPLightlog 

Thank you for the reply.

The heating is a combi boiler and it doesn't switch on at that time. The fridge freezer is on but nothing else.

If it was the fridge  wouldn't it retrip when I put the power back on?

Because it only goes in the early hours, I thought it might be to do with something updating like the smart meter or the WiFi.

The electrician who came out thinks the wiring of the RCD switch has been affected when our new smart meter was wired up.  When he checked the CU he recommended installing a new one as ours is very old and he thinks there might be a “mismatch” between it and the new smart meter.  He has given us a temporary solution which so far has worked, but will come back in New Year to install a new CU.  Thanks to everyone for their advice , hoping this will be an end to our problems.  Happy Christmas

That sounds like good advice, even though it’s a significant expense you probably weren’t expecting just now. It will be money well spent.

In the meantime, could you tell us whether your current CU enclosure (the box with the hinged lid) is made of plastic or metal? Older ones were often plastic, newer ones often metal. The current rules only say that it has to be fire-resistant, so the right sort of plastic wouldn’t be a problem in that respect. However, plastic wouldn’t shield the RCD from electro-magnetic fields, while steel would. There’s some evidence that the tiny bit of radiation from the smart meter’s communications hub may be enough to trip a less-than-optimal RCD.

It would be interesting to know what that solution was. Did he perhaps install a different (better) RCD? With a higher threshold, for example (e.g. 100mA instead of the normal 30mA)? 

I’m pleased to hear you have a solution (if only temporarily over the festive period) & they can get this sorted in the new year. Have a great Christmas ​@Sine 😊