The majority of Smart Meters do not have a contactor for switching the E7 supply. Teleswitches are no longer in favour, as notice has been given by Arqiva that they no longer wish to provide the extra carrier signal from Droitwich and the two repeater sites. What you need is a contactor that is connectable to the “HAN” network of the smart meter. This can be configured to switch the E7 supply at the correct times. In time, I expect that new night storage heaters will come with a HAN interface built in. 


One of the great advantages of smart meters is that tariffs can be modified, and the meter swapped between credit and prepayment operation with an over-network instruction. The customer does not need a visit from the Meter Operator, and the Meter itself does not need changing. 


Regards,


Alan.

Hello Alan, where are HAN interface contactors obtained from. I do not know what they are. Who connects them in?


Z.

HAN (Home Area network) is the radio interface between the smart meter and that silly display thing that is supposed to tell you consumption and tariff info, but actually flashes "searching for network"  for a bit and gets put in a drawer after the novelty wears off.


The expectation is that other devices will eventually be made and sold that can join the same  (zigbee format) radio network that are a bit more useful and can be put beside a water heater or whatever to close some contacts to select a different thermostat or whatever when the tarrif is changed.


how  well this works once the spectrum gets a bit more congested is anyone's guess.


Smart meters have two radios inside

- one to talk to the suppliers 'wide area network' or WAN - this is either a mobile phone like interface or an 800MHz proprietry thing depending where in the UK you are based.

- and the second 'Home area network' that interfaces to the customer.

Mike