Do I have to get a smart meter if I switch to OVO?

@Blastoise186 thanks for the reply. Disappointing to hear about the relays being discontinued- seemed that this might be a solution.

One challenge is that the connection currently is intermittent- sometimes I get gas metering info on the IHD, sometimes not - and gas data rarely makes into into the EDF energy hub, whereas electricity is more reliable.

I’m trying to get to the bottom of an issue with heating/water controls for which hourly gas data would be really helpful.

Obviously at the moment there is no benefit in terms of cost from changing suppliers, but I’d hoped it might be a chance to get changed over to SMETS2.

Right apart from other issues with SSE/OVO we now have the Smart Meter threat of our long wave or something disappearing and we must have one of the Smart Meters fitted. Really? We have a dual meter fitted at present which surely does not run on anything wireless as it’s been here over 30 years.

We have solar panels connected to the electricity grid for Feed in and we have economy 7 and a very poor mobile phone system. We have broadband but no community wi fi as we have no close neighbours.

We have not booked a new smart meter as a neighbour says his doesn’t do what it is supposed to do and he gets asked still to give meter readings.

Where do we stand legally on this issue and how could not giving in and having a ‘smart but not smart’ meter installed affect our electricity supply and feed in from solar?

Solar won’t be affected, but if you’ve got the old Radio Teleswitches, you will be affected badly if you don’t upgrade. Time is ticking I’m afraid and the last transistors down at Droitwich Transmission Station that are capable of broadcasting the RTS Service are likely to go pop soon - assuming the BBC doesn’t kill the Radio 4 LW service before then!

Please post photos of your meters and all equipment near to them. I’d like to check something.

Legally speaking (!!!AND THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE!!!), the meters remain property of the supplier at all times. You can’t prevent the supplier from replacing them if they have to be replaced for safety reasons or if they have to be replaced to keep your configuration in support, such as Economy 7.

If you are able to upgrade, I strongly recommend it anyway. Your neighbour might have an older SMETS1 Meter, which are no longer being installed. SMETS2 has a MUCH better chance of working in areas with poor phone signal.

Our neighbour only had his smart meter recently so don’t think its out of date. When did these tele wotsit meters come in ? I am not sure how to add a photo to this site?

To add a photo, click the little black square with a white mountain, at the top of the reply box.

A couple of thoughts there.

If your neighbour only had the meter installed within the last six to eight weeks, it’s probably still commissioning and won’t be ready to submit readings yet. Either that, or it’s not due to send one yet and they opted for Monthly readings, which means a long wait until it pings the first one. Daily or Half-Hourly is recommended for this exact reason.

Your electric meter is also near the end of service life and will be up for Recertification soon. You’ve got maybe two years left before you are required to have it replaced.

If a regular SKU1 Comms Hub can’t get a link, there’s a good chance an SKU2 with either a T1, T2 or T3 Aerial can. :)

So you believe we will not be inconvenienced by having a smart meter in a mobile black spot area yet risk having no supply if the tele wotsit loses signal?

Correct. If the current RTS Device doesn’t get a control signal, it’ll be stuck in whatever state it was in when the last successful control signal was received. This may cause your house to become a furnace if that signal was to energise your heating circuits, or an ice cube if it was to de-energise them.

Smart Meters however, control this stuff locally, so E7 functionality remains available even during a Comms Outage. There’s other magic tricks available as well, such as Mesh Comms which uses the WAN Connections of other meters in the area to fill in any coverage gaps for any SKU2 and SKU3 Comms Hubs in range of the Mesh Network.

There are no other meters close by because we live in the countryside. Nearest house is not within range I don’t think. We have had issues with a burglar alarm system which relied on mobile and now has to be linked to the landline instead.

How do the engineers know of individual circumstances when they fit Smart meters as I have heard poor reports?