100% ‘green’ energy now only with a smart meter - how does this work?

Hmm

Does the smart meter have to be sending readings to get renewable energy or is a smart meter working in dumb mode sufficient? The statement isn't clear.

Personally I can't see this policy being around for too long.

I think the marketing people need to go back to school.  Or perhaps better any bonus they were liable to get be shared instead with forum volunteers who have to sort out the confusion they inadvertently spread.

The clarifying statement is balderdash - hope that’s polite enough to get past the moderators.

Hi @Staff242 and everyone else that’ posted. We’ve had another topic about this change coming up from the 1st October, over the weekend. I’ll copy what I posted there:

What are the changes to the core green proposition?

From 1 October 2022, 100% renewable electricity is only available to customers who currently have an electricity smart meter or choose to have a smart meter installed.

Why are these changes happening?

We’re committed to tackling climate change and enabling the energy transition here at OVO. We want to bring our customers into the new era of green energy and getting a smart meter is the first step. Smart meters let the national grid better estimate energy demand so we maximise the use of renewable power. Meaning that we rely less and less on fossil fuels. Since the inception of REGOs (renewable energy certificates), the energy market has developed and moved on and we believe there is now no such thing as a non-smart green energy plan.

We want our customers to engage with their energy usage, and with these changes we are encouraging them to be active participants in the energy transition. With thousands of customers actively involved - the difference is huge.

How is the energy I use 100% renewable?

OVO can’t ensure that the energy from the national grid to your home is renewable. It all gets mixed up when matching supply with demand. OVO buys renewable energy from power purchase agreements, and via REGO’s, ensuring that the right amount of renewable electricity goes onto the grid. 

@nealmurphy it’s a good question about a non-communicating smart meters. For these customers they would still get 100% renewable. 

I’d welcome more discussion and feedback about this change. Are you on board with the reasoning about encouraging our customers to be active participants of a smart grid? 

@Tim_OVO I totally agree that smart meters are a good thing, from the user’s perspective they can see the time of day things are using power and that’s key to try to reduce usage. Also I understand the energy suppliers can use all that data to more accurately plan to have the power there for us (or whatever goes on behind the scenes).

But that sentence just doesn’t make sense: 100% renewable electricity is only available to customers who currently have an electricity smart meter We’ll all get whatever is coming down the wires, after all.

As we have an EV I make sure it’s plugged in at the times when the grid is using the least fossil fuels, by checking on the NationalGridESO app. It’s a bit of a blunt instrument as it seems to give a forecast value for the whole country rather than any chosen area. There’s a map of regions showing the current carbon intensity, so with that and the ‘when to use’ timetable I can get an idea of the highest ‘renewables’ plug-in time. As there’s been so little wind this summer it’s been about 50% gas powered for months.

Hi @Tim_OVO I feel a bit sorry for you having to post that press release. It does nothing for OVO’s reputation and if those who are engaged in energy matters on these forums are failing to understand OVO’s stance it’s probably going to make less sense to the average consumer.

Smart meters are great, they help people engage with their energy use and encourages a greener grid, but there’s no reason not to supply 100% renewable energy to all customers.

OVO are still promoting 100% renewable electricity “as standard for everyone” on their homepage with the reasoning that “Renewable electricity is cleaner than traditional electricity sources because it produces less carbon emissions and pollution. “ Why would they now choose to supply electricity that was less clean and produces more carbon emissions and pollution? It’s a massive marketing mistake in my opinion.

I’m afraid I’m against OVO on this one - and as many regulars here know - this is a very, very rare stance for me to take. I would back this decision being reversed because I just can’t see it working out tbh.

To be clear, I believe in a smart grid and everything else, I just can’t see forcing people’s hand to work out all that well. There’s already enough people that I have to convince that smart meters are worth it - and even then too many of that crowd are just too set in their ways to listen.

However, I’m going to balance this up. I do think OVO is moving in the right direction, just not the right timing. I’d rather wait until the entire inventory of SMETS1 Smart Meters are migrated to DCC across all suppliers (excluding dead and/or non-compliant SMETS1’s and SMETS1 meters that are being replaced anyway) before making this move, as well as maybe transitioning slowly, rather than just dumping it on everyone at once.

I also feel as if it might be better to do it by targeting certain regions first. So for example, start by targeting a hamlet/village/town/city/county/region/insertgeographicalentityhere where there’s over say, 95% adoption of working Smart Meters across all OVO members in that hamlet/village/town/city/county/region/insertgeographicalentityhere and keep an eye on the rest. Only once a hamlet/village/town/city/county/region/insertgeographicalentityhere reaches Target X, should the new rule come into effect.

This shouldn’t be as hard to achieve as it may sound. Almost all electric and gas meters will reach the end of their service life eventually, so you could adopt the new policy on a rolling basis as the legacy fleet of traditional meters are rotated out of service by recertification.

Hi Tim

Thanks for your reply but again you are not clearing up my point on 100% renewable electricity that the email stated. 

As you stated you have no control on what power comes down the power grid so how can you define what power comes into people's house's. So doesn't this make your marketing email redundant. I understand you would like everyone to have smart meters fitted but again as you state it only defines how much usage is needed or used Not whether you can get renewable engery or not.

As I stated we would all love to be carbon neutral and have renewable energy but having a smart meter or not does not define who should or should not be allowed this.

As pointed out smart meters do not mean what type of power comes down the grid.

Surley your sales and marketing should of thought off a better strategy to push the smart meters than try to alienate us house holders who at the moment are undecided to have one fitted. In my mind this amounts to scare mongering and maybe making people have them fitted thinking that they may be lose power or worst cut off if no smart meter fitted.

Again this is only my opinion but the reason I joined and sent this opening question to the forum.

Maybe you should rephrase your very misleading statement then. It gives an erroneous impression that only those with smart meters will get green energy or maybe you should just retract it.