Now there's a thought: a 5:2 diet tariff! Set prices higher 2 days a week to encourage customers to eat less those days. Lets the supplier shift domestic use from 2 weekdays (different ones for different cohorts) to weekends. Supplier saves overall and can share benefits with customers.
Nothing I have said is at odds with your above description, the hub - HAN I think they call them, is in the electric meter and powered from the mains. The gas meter only communicate with the hub, the electic meter talks to the supplier, the IHD and receives data from the gas meter.
I see it the other way, with SMETS1 the hub is an integral part of the elec meter, with SMETS2 the hub "clips" to the top of the elec meter and is powered from it, different types of hub provide different comms options.
OK. From the Ovo pictures, there was definitely a separate hub (made by Trilliant) on some SMETS1 installs.
I thought you were suggesting there was a comms hub separate to the elec meter? So if you aren't dual-fuel and your gas supplier wants to install a smart meter, they install the gas meter (with battery) and the comms hub, without replacing the electric meter?
In which case the question I'm asking is: how is it wired to get power? It's not the sort of thing you can just plug into a socket or add on a spur, so it needs to be wired at the meter board.
So do they put a Henley block between the cutout and the electric meter to tee off a feed for the 'comms hub' if you don't have a smart electric meter?
Or are you just saying that sometimes on SMETS1 it was integrated into the elec meter and sometimes it was a separate box, and on SMETS2 it is always a separate box, which can be mounted on top of the elec meter? But in both cases you need a smart elec meter installed to power it, because there's no standalone comms hub without a smart elec meter?
Well it is separate, but it clips/bolts on top of it, the meter is supplied by your DNO (or maybe they're owned by the elec retailer these days?) the hub is supplied by the DCC.
So if you aren't dual-fuel and your gas supplier wants to install a
no, why would they want a gas meter under those circumstances?
yes, it gets power from the elec meter
I think with SMETS1 it's always inside the elec meter, and with SMETS2 it's always a bolt-on to the elec meter, but thetype of hub can vary around the country (south=mobile, north=arqiva) but with mobile+mesh versions for awkward locations.
No figures but variable tariffs that offer cheap rate charging make absolute sense when you have a large night time load. You?d be a fool not to be on such a tariff when the advantages are so plain.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.