On 23/05/2017 19:43, Phil L wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
OVO installed SM's for us last June. In Nov we changed suppliers to
First Utility. FU then said they could not enable the SM's to work
with them, but months later changed their minds and said they could
use them.

Gas SM then began working, but not the E SM. More enquiries to FU and
if I agreed they would send an engineer to swap the E SM for another.
I agreed and the engineer arrived last Tuesday. He said he would have
to swap both meters and the indoor display too. Both meters and
display were swapped out for _identical units_.

Gas SM then worked with display, but not the E SM. Engineer said it
might take 48 hours before it all worked.

E SM and there web site consumption still not working properly
yesterday, 6 days later, so I rang FU late afternoon - who said
engineer was wrong, it could take 28 days. Come around midnight, when
data is exchanged - the E SM suddenly began to work.

Coincidence - probably not, I had exactly the same delayed operation
when OVO originally installed them, until I rang OVO to complain they
were not working, then suddenly they began to work.

The _identical units_ suggests that the only difference between OVO
SM's and FU SM's is the firmware in the units.

So for less than 50% of the time, despite agreeing to have SM's
fitted, they have been none functioning as SM's. Come Nov when my
contract with FU ends and I will reassess suppliers, likely the SM
fiasco will begin again.

In other words, you are now discovering why the power companies wanted smart
meters installing everywhere. It's so that customers can't change suppliers
as easily like in the past by using switching sites and apps....well you can
swap suppliers, but you'll be given a six month runaround like this every
time you do

It wouldn't be too bad if they were actually smart enough to operate
with any supplier and secure enough that some script kiddie with a
stolen bag of NSA tricks can't switch them all off at once.

I will resist having a "smart" meter installed until such time as they
are cryptographically secure. Mine is still of the prehistoric counter
rotating indicator dials on 10:1 gears type. There is little chance of
ever seeing a viable GSM phone signal where the meter is located.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown