Dumb! ‘Smart’ meters that can’t read power from solar panels
THE latest crisis to hit the controversial ‘smart’ meter is that the technology does not have the intelligence to correctly read the energy created from solar panels.
The £ 11billi on roll out has proved chaotic since the meters began to be installed four years ago on the orders of the Government. Despite a £224 million marketing campaign urging households to ‘save money’ by signing up, the project is costing £420 per home – a cost added to our energy bills.
The current model of meters – known as SMETS 1 – often becomes ‘dumb’ and only works like an old fashioned meter if you change energy supplier.
The industry has also been criticised for tricking people into having the new meters installed against their will – wrongly claiming that the older equipment is becoming ‘unsafe’.
At least half of the almost one million homes with solar panels run into problems if they want a smart meter installed, the Solar Trade Association believes.
Spokeswoman Leonie Greene says: ‘ We welcome the potential that these new meters can bring – but at t his stage we would not recommend anyone who has solar panels to also have a smart meter installed. The existing equipment usually needs an upgrade so it can read not just the amount of energy that is being used – but also the amount that i s generated by solar panels going back on to the National Grid.
‘Solar powered homes with a smart meter might end up paying more than they should.’
She points out that although the technology is already available to make the meters compatible with solar panels, the necessary changes are being held up by a ‘spaghetti of official regulation’ that could cost hundreds of pounds per meter to fix.
The trade organisation’s findings are supported by figures compiled by the consumer group Which?. It found 5 per cent of those with solar panels could not have a smart meter fitted, as the technology was incompatible. Of the 18 per cent of solar powered homes with a smart meter, 53 per cent said they experienced problems with measuring the energy exported back on to the grid.
Users of solar panels save on average £120 a year by using energy generated by the sun. They also receive a small ‘feed-in tariff’ that can work out at £50 a year plus a further ‘export tariff’ for energy generated back on to the grid that averages £80 – which a ‘smart’ meter often ignores.
Among those firms that have experienced problems fitting meters to homes powered by solar panels due to ‘ technical constraints’ are E.On, Npower and SSE.
A smart meter enables energy companies to read usage wirelessly using radio wave signals – so they do not have to pay to send someone to take readings.
It also includes a separate handsized device showing near-time energy use for homeowners that can sit in the kitchen and aims to provide an incentive for people to cut energy use.
Robert Cheesewright of Government- backed body Smart Energy GB, says: ‘Smart meters have been specifically designed to work with solar panels. In the future your in-home display may also be able to reflect the energy you are generating yourself.’