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Hi
I have been going around in circles on the phone for hrs this morning
Going through the process of having a electric charger installation
Just had a contractor do a load test and as thought further work to tails/upgrade fuse is needed
Was told to contact my electric supplier ( British Gas ) to let them know the outcome and arrange with them to do the work
Here is the problem
I have rung 3 times on British Gas dedicated contact number which as I have since found out is via ( I assume) India
Clueless and plainly untrained to deal with my concerns
and each time was kept on hold or hung up on
Each time they failed to have a clue about my concerns
Now in a catch 22 situation and right now unable to go forward with the works needed prior to installation
Also getting mixed advice as told by instllation guys I am able to keep my PAYG Prepayment meter Load checker hinted that I may have to have a smart meter
I want to keep my PAYG Meter as their is no advantage to having a smart meter ( having read about the problems people are having with them and seeing that my charges will soon be no more than by direct debit )
So I will just wait and see who if anyone contacts me
Couldnt make it up
Has to be one of the worse customer experiences I had next to DWP/Drs/Tax office lol
- Replies
Try contacting BG via Twitter or Facebook, they tend to put you through to the correct people.
Hi @Burgerman333,
are you sure it’s your electricity supplier that you need to contact to arrange work and not your DNO? (Distribution Network Operator)
Sean
Current car Hyundai Kona Ultimate EVI always thought the DNO was responsible, might be worth a call if you’re getting nowhere with your supplier.
We have a smart meter for payg and it makes paying easier, online payment with card and it’s all done from home, no need for a trip to a shop. I too can’t wait for the price correction.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Hi
My elec bill is with British Gas who has a call centre in India
The load check print out this morning was conducted by a firm called Haste in Petersfield ( been in touch cant help)
They are contractors to load test by DNO Scottish and southern
Been in touch with them and cant help as I do not have a direct account with them
I am still in a catch 22 situation
Looking like a granny lead at this rate
I was under the impression you had to have a smart meter fitted for EV charging. The reason being
that overnight charging is at a cheaper rate, and the supplier can only know that if the smart meter tells them when the EV charger is being used.
Currently if you only have a Paygo meter you will be paying a higher rate for charging your EV.
If there is no data link to your supplier, it will be rather costly.
I’m not sure if there are new Paygo meters that can differentiate EV charging is being used??
Looking in detail, your dno will change the fuse, your supplier is responsible for upgrading the tails.
Bulb are accepting responsibility and will get on with it. British Gas, by contrast, put the whole process on the dno. https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/charge-point-dno-process.html
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
With the Standing Charges were all paying around £300 per year at moment without even using any electric so at the very least this should be free, after all, that’s what the SC is for, paying for supply chain so there happy to tell us.
I’ve been unfortunate to have been dumped with BG after my energy company went bust and I’ve also spent an hour on the phone talking to a dumb head about my Smart Meter not having the correct rates set so meaningless as the rate is set 16p per KWh but after arguing for an hour that there was nothing wrong with my SM but just needed the correct rates pushed to the meter they suddenly realised I had the SM installed in 2017 so was not covered by any guarantee. I explained again and again that there’s nothing wrong with the meter but British Gas need to push over the network the correct rates and they said, after an hour that is, I’d have to speak to their technical department. Think I’d be still on the phone now had I done that but hopefully we will be given the choice to a supplier of our choice next month when they say comparison sites might return.
Cheers understood and many thanks
{Looking in detail, your DNO will change the fuse, your supplier is responsible for upgrading the tails.]
You are indeed correct and this is the first time anyone has told me this
Ordinarily this would now be a simple process but the plan falls short simply because I have no way of communicating and addressing my concerns with my supplier B/G
3 drawn out attemps to resolve via India is enough for me
Polite people for sure but they do not have resolution training
Head spinning and back to 3rd phone call to my Easee charger installer
(They may have a solution and one for others to note)
Been advised by Easee as followers
Taking into account my energy suppliers failure to facilitate a reasonable line of communication they will contact Motorbility explain my dilema and ask if the Motorbility contingency fund ( which exists to fund/help with additional charger installation costs ) can be used to cover the cost of their installer taking on the work that B/S would need to have done.
Leaving it with Easee for now and see what pans out over the next week
Just to add reliable PAYG metre is quite the norm when installing a charger and will soon be no dearer than direct debit
My low mileage dosent warrant a Smart metre and off peak tariffs
If it aint broke
Thanks for the explanations as its helped no end
Will update asap
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.
Sorted at last ( fingers crossed)
Like a dog with a bone I have been attacking this ALL day
Stage 1 of 3 supplier B/Gas doing their bit this Mon
Then I have to set up a DNO visit
Then easy part getting installer on site
It was only because I was given B/Gas complaints email that I was able to be listened to
thanks to those of you on here and also
Great customer care from Easee and also @wepoweryourcar
What a faff
There needs to be a better way its not the 1930s lol
That’s Amazing and well done for sticking with it.
It’s a new thing, remember while EVs have been around for a good few years, these installs have only picked up a decent pace over the last 3 or 4 years. EV Charger installers, electricity suppliers and DNOs are still getting used to who does what and in what order it needs doing and, compared to the scale of their businesses it’s still a relatively unusual requirement. Hopefully they’ll all get better before too long. It doesn’t help that some suppliers are particularly awful at customer service.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
My low mileage dosent warrant a Smart metre and off peak tariffs If it aint broke
This is quite a conundrum. I have done a paper exercise some time ago and like you, I didn’t think it worth going onto an EV tariff due to low mileage. However, Intelligent Octopus at 7.5p for six hours overnight and a peak rate of 30p I will have to take a serious look again.
Well done on getting your ducks in a row. It is just a one time faff (I hope!) and I hope plain sailing from now on.
Skoda Enyaq Race Blue
Seems a Faff that I have had to have so much trouble at stage 1
just getting my landlords permission for my charger install
I live in a city and was left with the impression that I was the first to seek such a thing ( there is no direct line of communication just confusion as everything is done through a 3rd party switch board
Badly managed and zero excuse imo
Fortunately I had previously amassed a few contacts whilst undertaking ( during covid lock down )an 18 month quest/securing/completing ( another untold story lol ) Disabled facilities Grant application for the installation of a double brick paved driveway.
Driveway has been a god send as it now allows me to be able to go forward and get a home electric charger installed
My tone is not one of complaint as I am very grateful for all I have
I am simply telling my tale to show some others that what may seem like a mountain can be overcome with a little tenacity
My Guess is
Thats something that many on here already relate too.
Brilliant Burgerman, glad that you are now sorted.
But you are breaking new ground here, and no doubt others will have similar problems with Hpme Charging and their energy supplier. Good you got a fix under your belt.
I just watched a UK Youtuber who couldnt charge his new Megane Etech overnight on off-peak. He was using his Zappy charger and it seems the Megane is not yet compatible with the Zappy wall charger.
There are a lot of other complaints on their forum and it is indeed a problem with Renault. They need to do an update on the Megane to fix it. Apparently it can’t be done over T’Internet, but has to go into the dealers?
Anyway, he also had Ohmie as he called it – a basic outlet for outside events, and this did indeed work very well charging the Megane overnight on Off-peak.
Anyway = onwards and upwards, glad all is OK..
Congrats!
Yes, dealing with electricity suppliers is a faff, they are not really geared up for anything other than faults on the line. Especially DNO’s – although some are better than others.
Its a shame really as it tarnishes the EV experience, even though it’s not the cars fault. Thankfully its a done that, no need to sort it again thing.
The problem is that you suffer from dealing with 3-4 different firms all telling you different things & you don’t know who to believe. But as said, all finally sorted.
As for smart meters, most low rate EV tariffs need a SMETS2 meter – the SMETS1 (first gen meters) are not capable of supplying the readings they need. Octopus will change your meter for you for free, from SMETS1 to SMETS2, others should be the same.
And you don’t need a smart meter to have an EV, I didn’t get mine fitted till a year after I had the car and charger, as I wanted to move onto an EV tariff and realised I’d need one. Fitted in minutes by SSEN after one phone call and a wait of about 2 weeks. Thankfully SMETS2, as all new meters should be.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
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.
Octopus upgrades, as Abercol mentioned, a SMETS1 meter to a SMETS2 meter for free (or upgrades the existing one if capable). We had it done too.
There’s no way around that if you want to take advantage of, for example, their Octopus Intelligent tariff. Which, for others that are interested, works well. We were a bit sceptical over letting Octopus decide “when to charge” our car, but it works a treat, and we get quite a bit of “free” (well, discounted) electricity over the daytime too.
So far, the car has always been charged by the point in time that we set in the app (the way it works that through the octopus app, you tell them the desired SoC, and what time you want that SoC – and they sort out a “charging plan”, charging the car on and off whenever it’s cheapest for them. You have an off-peak time (7.5p) from 11:30 to 5:30 – we had a few situations now where they charged the car outside that window, which sets your entire account back to “off-peak” while the car is charging. So every week we have a few hours of off-peak prices in daytime. We set 100% SoC at 8am in the morning, plug the car in whenever over the course of the day, and it charges as required to get to 100% at 8am.)
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.Had the same problem with fuse board. Scottish power are responsible for supply in Scotland. New meter heads fitted and 80amp main fuse replaced in 6 weeks after ohme visit. Most older properties have a lower amp fuse fitted which caused my ohme charger to keep tripping. Now upgrade done no problems.
You say that about smart meters but in order to access novel tariffs or tariffs aimed at getting cheap electricity for your EV will need a smart meter.
We’ve had one about 4 years now and haven’t had a moment’s problem despite living rural coastal. We are on Octopus Agile now the price per kWh changes every 30 mins so if you can load shift and avoid heavy use between 4 and 7pm you’re laughing. Weekend just gone price on Sunday was between 5 and 1p per kWh due to low demand. We are saving on average 45% over Octopus Go (4 hours off peak electricity for charging overnight) there are also the odd times the price goes negative so you’re being paid to use power.
Not knocking you staying on your current meter if that suits you go for it however certain tariffs are only young to be available on smart meters long term.
My EV charger install took 7 months with numerous calls to EV charger co, DNO and electric supplier was a total nightmare but really worth it
Time for new car next year really want to stay electric if possible
Food for thought
And will be taking a closer look,thanks for the detail most helpfulMy mileage is only 6500 a year so not to many hrs of charge
I see at the moment the Octopus Intelligent tariff. rate for my area is as follows
Unit rate (23:30 – 00:00):
7.50p/ kWh
Unit rate (05:30 – 23:30) :41.11p/ kWh
Standing Charge: 47.95p/ dayWill look again on 1/07/2023
Update getting there
stage 2/3 now completed DNO Scottish and southern fuse upgraded
DNO Fuse upgrade took less than 15 mins to install as they were able in myvparticular case able to hook over a fuse adaptor which by all accounts speeds their job up
Very quick job ( sat outside at 7.30am waiting to gat in made them wait till 8am as wasnt pre warned of this )
All in all v quick and now ready for final stage 3/3
Easee home charger install date
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