UK Smart meters and Economy 7

[torchy]

Have to say "DIYer", but I have no intention of doing any work myself - so "Consumer" might be better. Just adding 13A spurs is my limit.

I want to understand smart meters and Economy 7 in detail, before getting anything done at all. That will be after Covid, since there is no hurry.

I also want to have new consumer units. I have 1970s fuse boxes with internal isolation switches.

I assume the DNOs actually change meters, but all the marketing tells us to contact our 'energy supplier'. The national marketing website for them tells me by email that 'many suppliers are not yet able to supply Economy 7 smart meters', and that has started all this research and questioning.

I've got a large analogue meter with two sets of dials, for Economy 7 and daytime rates.
Alongside that, there's a similar size of unit that is a clock and a contactor that energises the Economy 7 circuit for my storage heaters. It also has a signal wire that runs to the meter to tell it to change over to the Economy 7 dials.

Now, I COULD keep all of the above, because it works fine. Suppose then that do NOT get a smart meter...

Shall I get the DNO to put isolating switches between the meter and E7-contactor and the consumer units? The DNO would presumably seal those switches but my electrician would access the top half, perhaps weeks later, to fit new tails from new consumer units.

If so, would the DNO move the existing consumer unit tails up to the top half of the isolating switches? And use some new cable to connect the meter and contactor to the bottom half of the switches and seal them?

A complication is that I am not sure the existing tails would reach back up to where isolating switches would have to be.

If not, the existing tails could be used to the bottom half of the switches instead, BUT would a DNO be prepared to fit new tails from inside the fuse boxes to the top half of the switches?

I suppose I could get the DNO to visit one morning, do all their work and leave, and find an electrician to visit that afternoon to fit new temporary tails to the fuse boxes.

An electrician could come back later on, to replace the consumer units.

This post is long enough, so I'll stop there for now.

 

[Vortigern]

An isolator will get around any future needs regards disconnection and new CU. As to E7 are you sure that is the right tariff? You need to be using at least 4Kw of electricity before it pays off to use E7. Otherwise it is an expensive tariff. What they lose on the E7 is more than made up by the day time tariff cost. Do you need to change your CU? A smart meter record and charges for things that the old analogue meters will not pick up, such as initial surges such as heating. This explains the increase in charges many complain of when fitting smart meters. I hope your research highlights this when considering your proposed plans.

 

[Zerax]

Torchy... you're getting too far into trying to solve problems that don't even exist yet.

Firstly, I'd be very clear on what your objective is with all this change... is it to save money ? is it to update the installation because you're worried about it ? is it to 'future proof' it etc. etc.

If it's to save money... If I were you, I'd do some detailed calculations on what your electricity usage is (in kWh) for each hour of the day. You really need a spreadsheet for this. Then once you know this, you can have a stab at what tariff would be the cheapest. As has already been said, E7 type tariffs allow you to save on night time usage but there's usually a hell of a price to pay for this with inflated daytime rates. But once you have your usage profile, you can easily calculate what your bills would be.

I would also consider what usage I could move to the night time period... such as heating water or running washing machines, dryers or dishwashers etc. This may need additional expenditure with time switches or buying new appliances... so the cost should be factored in. Also, you have the noise aspect... I have no idea of your property layout/construction or indeed your aural abilities, but is it even possible to run these things over night ??

Then of course we have the advent of electric vehicles... if this is a consideration, then that might affect things.

All of that without thinking about the DNO once !

 

[snowhead]

D.N.Os don't own or change the meters any longer, that changed at Deregulation of supplies.
Their responsibility stops at the main fuse / cutout.

As you've said you've got Storage heaters E.7 is essential.

Not all Energy suppliers have E.7 meters, you'll have to pick one that has if you want to change to "Smart" metering.

The setup you have now is a Timeswitch and contactor plus 2 rate meter.
They stopped using that system years ago and changed to Teleswitch and contactor.
The Teleswitch picks a radio time signal from the BBC to change the meter and enable the contactor.

That system has also gone now and the Teleswitch is built into the meter, the meter does the load switching, no contactor required.

The meter fitter working for the Energy Supplier will remove the timeswitch and contactor and sort the tails out.

 

[brianmoooore]

If you have a time switch and dual dial old style meter with a rotating disc, I'd recommend keeping it for as long as you can.
The time switches are often many hours out from the correct time, which you can often use to your advantage, with the cheaper tariff being available at a more useful time of day than was originally intended.
Sometimes you will find that the clock has stopped completely, leaving the meter permanently switched to one tariff or the other, but this will normally be picked up by the billing company.
Note that as long as no fraud is involved, the energy supplier can only correct the bill for the last twelve months.