Smart meter & SEG

New system up & running but no smart meter & so can't access SEG. EDF can't seem to supply.
Any recommendations on supplier with quick meter provision & good SEG rate ?
Thanks

You don't have to get your SEG from the same company that supply you incoming energy, but companies tend to offer the best rates to their own customers. If you aren't on a good fixed rate and can change supplier too try Octopus - good SEG rate, not sure about how long to install smart meter - give them a ring 0808 164 1088. Once installed it takes a couple of weeks to get it all connected up to the grid and Octopus systems.
I think Scottish power offers the best rates to non customers
https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/solar-panels/smart-export-guarantee

I had solar installed in Sept 2022 and requested Outgoing Octopus immediately but needed a smart meter install. This was done in January 2023 so it can take a few months. Once the meter was installed, it was another month before the meter readings and export admin was done to start getting paid to export.

I had my smart meter installed by British Gas in May of last year. I don't think it took that long, may be about 6 weeks. I applied at the same time as I put in my order for solar panels. Why not ring around and ask the different companies what their time lines are like. Once installed you don't have to stick with them, just wait until they can confirm they can take half hourly readings and then go to your chosen SEG provider. I wouldn't stick with British Gas though - their customer service was pants!

Pat

Hi Pat, if you are getting some kind of energy deal, eg reduced prices, then I would hold off changing supplier as it will generally cost you more money overall.

HOWEVER if you are just paying the Government Price Cap for Electricity and Gas then you will not be any worse off and switching to another supplier could be beneficial.

You CAN switch to Octopus but you will have to call them to instigate the switch.

Once you have successfully swapped over to Octopus they usually allow you to switch to a different tariff.

That is the exact route we took from EDF when they couldn't get our smart meter working - which Octopus got up and running within 24hour of swapping to them.

Here is a small bonus if you quote the following when you switch we both share half of the referral fee - £50 each just for changing.

https://share.octopus.energy/open-yak-351

One thing to bear in mind is that consumer energy prices are forecast to reduce later this year. They have already dropped at the wholesale level but these savings haven't yet been passed on to consumers.

Karen

Pat good advice from Karen. If you do go down the install from one supplier, then switch, make sure you follow the advice to wait for the meters to be working on the installing suppliers systems. I was too quick switching to octopus after install.
Octopus ended up getting the old meters, missing the new electric meter, and now it's a real pain to get fixed.

I had my meter installed by BG last April and moved to Octopus in July and was very shocked to find BG had installed a smet1 meter so it had to be taken out and replaced with smet2, apparently BG have been doing it so its not eaasy for you to change 🙂

justpassing I had something similar - they magic'd up a number that I didn't recognise on my first bill - turns out they had picked up the last reading from the old meter that had been removed 5 months before, even though BG had been charging me from the new smart meter for that time. I think there may be a step to mark the old meters as decommisioned that hasn't been happening in all cases. I just e-mailed Octopus a copy of my old gas bill showing where the reading had come from and a copy of a newer bill to show the meter I was on now and had been using for the previous 5 months. They then sorted it out quite quickly

spawneydave I'm not surprised! They tried every trick in the book to try to get me to stay put, including outright lying about how the Ofgem price cap and government intervention worked - either their customer service reps are not properly trained or it's a deliberate ploy as there are lots of similar stories on other forums. I was also told by two people - including one of their tech reps that even though I had a Gen 2 smart meter I would need a new meter to switch to Economy 7. Bulls**t! I told them Octopus and EDF had said I didn't need one - it could be done via the Smart meter - they denied it - I moved!!! BG never again!!

I have started down the SEG road now that our solar and batteries have been installed. We do not have a Smart Meter but have discovered that all of the suppliers that do offer SEG say that a Smart meter is mandatory. I thought that this was an issue as we are in an area that is a blackout for mobile signals and so even when expressing an interest no one would fit one. Now I learn that for SEG payments a Smart meter can be fitted in "dumb" mode so that you have to give the readings periodically to the SEG payer.

I think it is going to take me several months to sort out. I wish someone had told me about a dumb mode smart meter when I first enquired about solar as I could have arranged for fitment sooner.