How much can I practically/legally DIY, and other newb questions

[richbee]

We have E7 and a Smart meter, there is no separate circuit for E7 though, so if you want to make use of E7 you need things on a timer.

Just as a heads up, during our abortive attempt to get a smart meter, the meter fitter that tried several times to get the meter to work did mention that there were now smart meters that had the fifth wire for E7 and that had a manual reading capability for the two tariff periods. Checking the list of smart meters shows there are now quite a few fifth wire E7 ones available now.

The list is here (scroll down to SMETS2) and all the meters listed as "5 terminal" are Economy 7 capable, with a switched output to drive a E7 switched circuit contactor: https://www.smartme.co.uk/smets-2.html

Could be handy as a backstop, as maybe these E7 smart meters fall back to being standard E7 meters if they lose the signal?

That's very useful - I've been trying to find out if my Smart meter is SMETS2 - meter manufacturer won't talk to mere customers, and So Energy are useless!
It says that my meter IS SMETS2, so hopefully that means I can switch to an Octopus plan, with night-time low cost energy

[Thebeeman]

I swapped to Octopus a while ago and with a lot of pushing via email I managed to get a new smart meter to replace the EDF first gen one. Whilst the guys were fitting it they discussed whether I needed a contactor for my batteries on off peak so apparently the meter they were fitting could take a separate off peak circuit. With luck my E7 tariff kicks in tomorrow.
I chased via email, and copied Greg into them when I was getting nowhere, to have an audit trail for any required complaints later.

P.S. I would swap to Octopus now, all the flexible tariffs are capped now anyway, and then kick as a customer.

[richbee]

I swapped to Octopus a while ago and with a lot of pushing via email I managed to get a new smart meter to replace the EDF first gen one. Whilst the guys were fitting it they discussed whether I needed a contactor for my batteries on off peak so apparently the meter they were fitting could take a separate off peak circuit. With luck my E7 tariff kicks in tomorrow.
I chased via email, and copied Greg into them when I was getting nowhere, to have an audit trail for any required complaints later.

P.S. I would swap to Octopus now, all the flexible tariffs are capped now anyway, and then kick as a customer.

Not sure why you would need a separate off-peak connection for the batteries - if you have a timer setup on your inverter, you can specify when the batteries charge - or am I missing something?

[Stinsy]

I swapped to Octopus a while ago and with a lot of pushing via email I managed to get a new smart meter to replace the EDF first gen one. Whilst the guys were fitting it they discussed whether I needed a contactor for my batteries on off peak so apparently the meter they were fitting could take a separate off peak circuit. With luck my E7 tariff kicks in tomorrow.
I chased via email, and copied Greg into them when I was getting nowhere, to have an audit trail for any required complaints later.

P.S. I would swap to Octopus now, all the flexible tariffs are capped now anyway, and then kick as a customer.

Not sure why you would need a separate off-peak connection for the batteries - if you have a timer setup on your inverter, you can specify when the batteries charge - or am I missing something?

+1 for this!

If your house is wired up with a separate off-peak CU for your storage heaters then you need the off-peak output. You absolutely do no need an off-peak output to charge batteries.

[Thebeeman]

+1 for this!

If your house is wired up with a separate off-peak CU for your storage heaters then you need the off-peak output. You absolutely do no need an off-peak output to charge batteries.

Spot on. That's what they decided, I was just pointing out that the option was there on the meter.