My home is un-occupied - Would a smart meter be a smart choice for me?

Hello James @hydroskye, so sorry to hear of your travails with the smart meter…when they work, they’re a great idea! Interesting that the installation engineer was wandering about near your Skye home on three other jobs, presumably they couldn’t all be without a suitable signal? But, as you say, meter location behind stone walls might indeed have a bearing.

His notice about the state of the wiring might be purely advisory about recommendations, or it could be asking for essential safety action by your own electrician or possibly by the District Network Operator (“DNO”) who provide the electricity infrastructure on Skye (which I believe used to be North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board, but now Scottish and Southern Electricity Network) before any other engineers can proceed with meter work at your house.  If your kindly neighbour could once more step into the breach and let you know what the notice says, then you can make plans.  
 

In more general smart meter terms, though, my understanding is that OVO do carry out some checks on the signal in any given area of the Country and wouldn’t expect an appointment to be booked where there’s not currently Wide-Area-Network (WAN) coverage…and general coverage there must be with that installation engineer fleeing up and down all morning past your house! But of course there’s no guarantee that a particular location within a particular house will enable the smart meter to communicate.

Sometimes (but only sometimes) an aerial can be installed to boost the signal and ensure readings can be received from your meter, and it may be possible for you to reschedule another engineer visit when you are next on the island to actually discuss the particular requirements of your home? It’s a shame that the meter wasn’t installed, because even with poor communication that wouldn’t have prevented the meter being read in the same way that your existing meter is read. The engineer must have really been convinced about the poor signal, because, normally, removing a smart meter completely wouldn’t be recommended as the signal in your area could improve, for example, or the meter could be relocated, at which point it would hopefully re-gain its “smartness”.
 

In the meantime, regardless of those difficulties you're experiencing, hopefully now that your online account is up and running and accessible by you, you can keep a sharp eye on your usage figures, and with the help of your kind neighbour’s good offices keep things under observation until you return next time. The OVO customer services team will be helpful with any query I am sure, now that everyone is happy about who you are! Were I you, though, I would ask your neighbour to relay to you the contents of that notice the engineer left, as that will be a useful first step in making future plans.  I do like the sound of your possibly considering hydro on the croft, challenging as well as exciting, like wind power, but more so; we all wish you the very best of luck with all your endeavours in this matter, please do stay in touch on the forum and let us know what transpires. 
 

And I know it’s been mentioned above, the difference between standing charge (a kind of daily connection fee, if you like, to have electricity laid onto your property from the National Grid) and the actual charges for your electricity usage or consumption. I’m guessing, as has been mentioned above, that these two things have been conflated when OVO have mentioned that huge monthly jump from £30-odd to £90-odd. 
 

All the very best….

Hello Waltyboy,

Many thanks for your comprehensive comments and suggestions.

My cottage walls are around 3’6” thick. But to me it’s odd that radio signals, for example, seem to get through them O.K.

I’m  not quite clear what the engineer’s note says about my wiring. (My neighbour emailed me a copy). The form is sideways on my computer screen… The note seems to be advisory. The wiring, like the old cottage, is idiosyncratic, but both function well!

OVO has been in touch with me since the installer’s visit, and they seem to think I have filed a complaint.

My problem with the exiting meter remains; how the heck do I read the meter and submit readings each month when I’m abroad? 

In many ways, we have advanced, technically speaking - I am grateful for my pacemaker(!) but we can’t read a meter inside an old house, and can’t cure the common cold!

Thank you again, Waltyboy, and thanks, too, to the most helpful Forum!

Aye.

James Sleigh.

Hello again, James

I’m sorry to hear that the smart meter installation failed. I mentioned earlier that the only way to find out whether a smart meter could communicate from an obscure location was to ask for one and see how the engineer got on. In Scotland, there’s currently no way of ‘boosting the signal’ by means of an external aerial - the wide-area network (WAN) for smart meters ‘up there’ operates over long-range radio rather than a cellular network like that used for mobile phones. 

Like Walt, I’m surprised that the engineer didn’t just leave the new meter in place - it wouldn’t be any dumber than the one you already have, even though you’d still have to impose on your long-suffering neighbour to take regular readings.

I also wonder just why the LR radio signal isn’t getting through. It might be possible to relocate the meter so there aren’t any stone walls or other obstacles in its way, perhaps to an outside box. This wouldn’t be free, and it would probably involve SSEN (formerly Scottish Hydro) as the electricity distributor if it meant extending the supply cable. You’d have to compare the cost to the inconvenience to your neighbour. OVO as the supplier would also have to be involved: Our energy charges and fees | OVO Energy 

The engineer is bound by his licence to inform the owner of anything he notices which isn’t in accordance with current regulations. This could be something as simple as having the wrong colour cables - red and black instead of blue and brown, for example. It should be clear from his notice whether whatever he found should be remedied as soon as possible or just when you can get round to it, or perhaps not at all, so long as you’re aware of it. He wouldn’t have reconnected the meter if there were any danger. You might even consider having an EICR prepared.

Good luck!