Home charger joys ...err

[Huntsekker]

Well just taken delivery of mg5 and overall i must say even though i had no real preconceptions ,the car has car has performed flawlessly once i found out you cant open the charging port with the door open

Anyway to my thread,

i will be putting in a home charger at some point, even though i can fill up for free at work.

And what a minefield it can be just getting quotes can throw up surprising things
1. changing a prepayment meter to a credit meter is probably the most annoying thing they don't want you to do it( eon are seriously bad).just bought house off my ex landlord thats why i ahve a prepayment before you ask
2. no isolator switch, most are insistent one is fitted before any work is done again this is down to you energy supplier
3. space around the fuse box is a issue for equipment, i'm not even sure how much they need and it has to be hard for them to tell from a photo
4. fuse box some require metal boxes
5. earth wires well i have 2 that i can find one outside into the ground, one attached to the stopcock what they are connected to? nope not a clue i'm not a electrician you are(i didn't put the last bit on the reply to the question)
6. and just getting a reply the dealer arranged quote through rolec after the original forms and pictures hasn't replied.....octopus has replied but with a list of things to do before a qoute can be made see 4 of the five above.

 

[Prof1967]

Getting a quote can be difficult.

I knew there might be issues with an install as I had an old style fuse box and the house is probably due for a complete rewire in the near future.

A lot of the installers want you to pay up front and then send them images of your current fusebix, mains fuse and location where the unit is to ge fitted, with the promise of a refund if they can't go ahead.

Managed to find one that gave a reasonable quote for both the chage point and upgrade of the fuse box to modern consumer unit and five months in I'm really happy with the job they've done.

 

[Jto]

You may find this of help

 

[Jto]

If you have a per payment meter and just purchase the house you probably need to run for 6 month to see you are good at keeping it in credit. A family member had one for 20 years and I kept telling them to change over which they had done and they are with eon. No problem with change over.

 

[Alb]

I also had an old fashioned fusebox upgraded to an 18th Edition unit as part of my charge point installation (there's a separate thread on this).
I engaged a local installer because you can't do an accurate quote if you haven't visited the premises. You cannot get the full picture through a few photographs and answers to questions the householder may not have actually understood in the first place!

 

[Barney]

I know that my installation will be "non-standard" and have sent photos and details off to numerous suppliers/installers. None of them have required payment before quoting. So far two of them have come to do a survey, with a third one due next week. I shall very strongly favour them over the others.

 

[Lovemyev]

I engaged a local installer because you can't do an accurate quote if you haven't visited the premises.

I did the same thing.
I found a guy who has his own electrical installer business employing a few installers.
They cover both domestic and commercial work.
The owner who is a qualified electrician ( and a Tesla driver himself at the time ) came and did an appraisal of my property before commencing the work.
This prevents any headaches on the day they carry out in install.
No forms to fill in or pictures to take etc.
I ask about an upgrade to my CU and he said he could, but it was not necessary to just to have the wall box fitted.
They upgraded the meter tails and split the feeds using Henley blocks and then installed a small standalone CU alongside the meter board in our internal garage.
This separate dedicated feed then supply’s the wall box.
I am also running on a 60 Amp main cut out fuse.
After carrying out his appraisal of the property and our electrical requirements, he said the 60 Amp fuse was fit for purpose, as long as we did not increase our present demand to much.
He did need to upgrade the water and gas pipe bonding leads to satisfy the requirements of the grant.
This I had to pay him for this work, about £60 I think ?.
The car is charged overnight when the demand / load is extremely low.
The only people who should be upgrading this main fuse is your local DNO.
A 60 to 80 Amp upgrade is usually FOC.
If your installer requests a 100 Amp fuse, you MAY be asked to contribute to the cost.
Depends on your DNO really.
It is my understanding that when you upgrade to a 100 Amp fuse, the head unit will need replacing also, as a 100 Amp cartridge will not fit in the older type head units.
A 100 Amp double pole isolation switch is usually installed at the same time as conducting the fuse upgrade.
The DNO is likely to upgrade the size of your meter tails at the same time.
You will probably need one of the newer SMETS 2 smart meters installing by your energy provider.
Try and find a local electrical / EV installer who is prepared to do a quick 15 minute appraisal of you property, would be my advice.

 

[Guzzigeezer]

I've had my MG5 since April. I'm quite happy just using granny charger. The biggest problems I've had is with so called "smart meters" lol. Changed from OVO to EDF as OVO don't do EV tariff in Cumbria. EDF offered off peak and weekend low rates. Swapped supplier then they tell me meter not compatible. A vague promise of an update sometime in the future. It's disgraceful. I'm paying 15p KwH instead of 5p. All the suppliers are the same. The people responsible for the meters don't give a **** either

 

[Lovemyev]

I had my smart meter installed in 19 days from my application for a EV tariff with EDF.

 

[Guzzigeezer]

I had my smart meter installed in 19 days from my application for a EV tariff with EDF.

If you've already got one installed you can't get another. Mine is the early type that won't speak to the new national wireless grid. There's an ongoing national rollout to convert from the old mobile network to new national wireless grid.

 

[Guzzigeezer]

I had my smart meter installed in 19 days from my application for a EV tariff with EDF.

Well aren't we a smug little person.

 

[Alb]

I wouldn't say smug, just passing on his experience?
My SMETS2 meter was fitted by Octopus in less time than that so I'm afraid I must be even more smug
Point is that a good supplier (Octopus in my case) can make these things happen quickly.
As a matter of interest, if you have a SMETS1 meter made by SECURE, they can talk to it.

 

[Guzzigeezer]

"A Guide to SMETS1 and SMETS 2 smart meters | OVO Energy" A Guide to SMETS1 and SMETS 2 smart meters | OVO Energy

 

[Rob Smart]

I've had my MG5 since April. I'm quite happy just using granny charger. The biggest problems I've had is with so called "smart meters" lol. Changed from OVO to EDF as OVO don't do EV tariff in Cumbria. EDF offered off peak and weekend low rates. Swapped supplier then they tell me meter not compatible. A vague promise of an update sometime in the future. It's disgraceful. I'm paying 15p KwH instead of 5p. All the suppliers are the same. The people responsible for the meters don't give a **** either

You may be tied in to EDF for a time on your contract with them, but have you tried getting a quote from Octopus Energy for the Octopus GO tariff? They have replaced my SMETS 1 meters with SMETS 2 meters, and all is working well. My meter changeover was slowed down by Covid for a long time, but they are up to speed now.

My rates with Octopus GO are 5p/kWh for 4 hours at night and 13.45p/kWh the rest of the time, so that may be cheaper for you overall, though the day time rate does vary for different parts of the country, so get a quote.

If you do decide to switch to Octopus energy you can get a £50 rebate if you use a referral link, which could offest any cancellation fee from EDF. Mine is "share.octopus.energy/blue-jade-835" but there are other members on this forum who also have referral links.

 

[Guzzigeezer]

You may be tied in to EDF for a time on your contract with them, but have you tried getting a quote from Octopus Energy for the Octopus GO tariff? They have replaced my SMETS 1 meters with SMETS 2 meters, and all is working well. My meter changeover was slowed down by Covid for a long time, but they are up to speed now.

My rates with Octopus GO are 5p/kWh for 4 hours at night and 13.45p/kWh the rest of the time, so that may be cheaper for you overall, though the day time rate does vary for different parts of the country, so get a quote.

If you do decide to switch to Octopus energy you can get a £50 rebate if you use a referral link, which could offest any cancellation fee from EDF. Mine is "share.octopus.energy/blue-jade-835" but there are other members on this forum who also have referral links.

I've complained to EDF about their lack of transparency about my meter and they are quite happy to let me go with no penalties. I've looked at Octopus and it's not suitable for me as I've no desire to install a smart charger to take advantage of their limited time cheap rates. EDF is all night and at weekends (once meter is working) so I can just plug in my granny charger and forget about it. I'll just have to put up with it until meter upgrade is completed. I live in West Cumbria though and we can't get digital radio or all the Freeview channels, so I'm not holding my breath. I was with OVO and they are only doing limited trials for EV tariffs and not in my area. EDF expressly told me my meter was suitable before I switched then said it wasn't. It now means my Smart meter can't even monitor my readings so I'm back to MK1 eyeball each month to update my gas and electric readings Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[FCat53]

If you have a per payment meter and just purchase the house you probably need to run for 6 month to see you are good at keeping it in credit. A family member had one for 20 years and I kept telling them to change over which they had done and they are with eon. No problem with change over.

Did you not read the OP post about it being a Landlord thing not a him thing?

 

[Spinynorman]

If you've already got one installed you can't get another. Mine is the early type that won't speak to the new national wireless grid. There's an ongoing national rollout to convert from the old mobile network to new national wireless grid.

I had my ‘early adopter‘ SMETS 1 meters both exchanged for the more secure SMETS 2 meters FOC by Octopus.
I was changing my tariff to an EV friendly one that required the new meters.

 

[Lovemyev]

Well aren't we a smug little person.

I am not SMUG or LITTLE - "Biker Boy".
Take out your frustration and temper on your energy provider, not me !.
I was just trying to offer you MY personal experience of OUR meter change.
Not that you are remotely interested in being offered some help of course, but just in case.
We had the "Old School" economy 7 meter and needed an upgrade to the SMES 2 meter be accepted onto their newly promoted "GO" EV tariff at the time.
There was an incentive to handle our meter change quickly maybe, or maybe I was lucky ?.
The time scales vary greatly and depend on a LOT of different factor I am afraid.
That maybe frustrating to you, but please keep your little green man of jealousy under control.
It is hardly my fault ! .
If your attitude to your energy provider, was the same hostile attitude you addressed me, I am hardly surprised to be honest.

 

[Lovemyev]

I wouldn't say smug, just passing on his experience?
My SMETS2 meter was fitted by Octopus in less time than that so I'm afraid I must be even more smug
Point is that a good supplier (Octopus in my case) can make these things happen quickly.
As a matter of interest, if you have a SMETS1 meter made by SECURE, they can talk to it.

Thanks for your support

 

[Jomarkh]

If you've already got one installed you can't get another. Mine is the early type that won't speak to the new national wireless grid. There's an ongoing national rollout to convert from the old mobile network to new national wireless grid.

I had my mum's meters changed while she was with Bulb and started the switch to Octopus at the same time. Both meters were fitted before the day of the switch.
Electric meter was fine but the gas meter would not send data correctly. Octopus said they would replace it again. So you can get it changed twice. For some reason less than a week later the meter started sending the data ?