When is a smart meter not a smart meter??

Apparently when there’s a solar panel about! 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/09/households-solar-panels-risk-overcharged-smart-meters/amp/

more mess because of bad design then. whole thing should be abandoned, but then there are probably contracts with suppliers that would still have to be paid millions

It's not clear to me (from the Telegraph article), what's going wrong.  

My solar panels are connected through a dedicated meter, which is my property. I read this meter for the feed in tarrif company, which is different to my energy supplier, and the payout I get is based solely on that reading. Upload is assumed to be 50% of what I generate.

My conventional supply meter records incoming supply only. It does not measure my upload, simply flashing what appears to be RE, which I guess indicates "REVERSED" when I'm feeding the grid.

So, how can a different (SMART) meter cause an increase in supply bills due to the solar system?  Is it reading current flow in either direction as being consumption?

I have no intention of taking one at the moment BTW.

Interesting statement from that article

But under Ofgem licencing rules energy firms must pay homes the exact amount of energy they export if they have a smart meter.

Click to expand...

Regardless of any metering errors, or bugs, that is a good reason for anyone with solar PV to refuse one.

Also "I have solar PV" is another good excuse if anyone tries to force me into having a smart meter.

Good post Sharpie  ,  I just changed suppliers and they came straight in with a request to fit Smart arses  ...I just binned it. 

Geoff1946 said:

My conventional supply meter records incoming supply only. It does not measure my upload, simply flashing what appears to be RE, which I guess indicates "REVERSED" when I'm feeding the grid.

Click to expand...

"RE" is short for "RED" which is "reverse energy detection" It was a crappy idea they came up with to try to detect if you had the meter the wrong way round to try to make it go backwards. The local meter reader here told me they were lettuced and they had terrible problems with them. I had a row with SWALEC over one of the poxy things myself..

john..

Some meters latch the RE detected light, so when people fitted solar PV and started exporting some power, it looked like they had been on the fiddle.  I believe a lot had to have their meters changed.

I didn't know that the RE function was an anti-fraud measure. Fortunately mine seems quite happy to switch on and off whenever.

The legal clause about paying exactly for upload is interesting and I think problematic.

IF I were to fit a  smart meter it would  be organised and linked to my energy supplier which is EDF. 

My generation meter reading still goes to British Gas, my previous supplier, who pay my FIT . To monitor my upload though they too would need access to my smart meter. Can that happen? Or would I be expected to change FIT contracts in line with supplier contracts?

Incidentally I have doubts that the 50% assumption is generous. What about all those summer days while my system generated about 2.5kW, hours on end whilst little in the house was being used?

I have no intention of accepting a smart meter at present, but I suspect that in due course there will be financial penalties for refusing.