Yup Chris, its a bit of a minefield. My buddy bought a Tesla, but cannot charge from home, and he has a smart meter (SM) he was with Octupus Energy.
What his supplier has said is, they cannot communicate with the SM as it is a First Generation model and the SIM is not sending data to the supplier. It could be the SIM is in a dead zone and that is why it doiesnt communicate.
I reckon SM technology is a bit out of whack with current technology and with everyone ordering EV’s they need to make a Gen 3 SM to accomodate EV charging.
I moved to a SM a couple of years ago thgrough British Gas, and it is supposed to tell me in real time how much energy I am using on their Website. It has never worked as it should.
I can see my energy useage in realtime on the small monitor they fitted.
Best guess is that British Gas does not have the infrastructure to handle the realtime data coming from the smart meters. Or just maybe they are overwhelmed by taking on new custmers after the carnage of energy suppliers going to the wall.