I switched to Octopus and requested a smart meter just prior to having a solar PV with battery system installed back in November last year (2023). "No appointments available in your area", so I sign on to their notification waiting list.
Harvesting photons through December and January with a bit of battery top-up from the grid and submitting monthly meter readings to Octopus went well.
Then the sun starts to shine in February and I see that my old traditional meter is spinning backwards as I'm exporting quite a bit to the grid. As the time approaches to submit the March meter reading I contact Octopus - cos I'm a good boy and don't want them to start kicking up a stink when I submit a meter reading that is less than the previous reading. "Don't bother submitting a reading, we'll estimate" was the gist of the reply.
Eventually get a date for smart meter installation - I'm up North and I already know I don't need a cellular/mobile signal (only poor Vodafone in the village) since the north and Scotland is covered by dedicated radio system. I'm therefore more than a little puzzled when the installer says he can't commission the meter since he can't get an O2 signal. He suggests I contact Octopus (he was SMS Ltd) and request a SKU2 comms hub and T2 aerial be approved for installation.
The comms hub that was installed is a "Standard 420" model, which is correct of the northern Arqiva LRR (Long range Radio) network. And I'm no where near Fylingdales or any other place that needs the "special 450" model. Why the fork was he trying to commission a LRR comms hub with a cellular signal and then tell me to request a SKU2 comms hub (cellular) which is only approved for installation in the Telefonica/O2 central and southern regions?
Discussions with Octopus ensue and they confirm that I should be on the Arqiva LRR and the Arqiva/Telefonica boundary is well over 100 miles south of where I am. The "desk top" check Octopus did on my location prior to approving the smart meter installation showed I should be covered by the Arqiva LRR (99.55% of premises in the region are claimed to be covered).
Now requested a return visit since I do not trust the original installer really knew what he was doing. If it turns out I really am in a blackspot (one of the 0.45%) and my smart meter remains dumb I won't be able to get a tariff such as Flux
Arqiva play their card very close to their chest and it seems impossible to find out were their transmitter/recievers are. Having spent hours trawling the interweb, I have found a number of reports of not being able to get an Arqiva LRR signal and EV owners being particularly pissed off at not being able to get super cheap tariffs.
Some EV forums (and ham radio ones) detail a conectivity solution rigging an external dipole aerial (covering 400MHz to 450MHz), running coax down to the meter cupboard and molishing another folded dipole out of copper wire or thin tube that can be hung near or taped to the comms hub. All sounds a bit iffy and where would I point the external aerial - Winter Hill (70km line of sight distant)?
Anyone out there in the Northern and Scottish regions had problems resolved with Arqiva LRR comms?
The only up-side is that the "final" meter reading from my old meter, as recorded by the installer, appears to have been accepted and my March bill issued (less than £5
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