Home charge points (purchase/problems/questions) (See mod note post#1)

it really is a crap process and should not be taking 8 weeks or longer to process, especially when done online. Typical bureaucracy of dealing with the government.

What a rip off. Another example of installers absolutely creaming it unless the install is difficult or quite complicated. Better way would be for the grant to be paid direct to installer for a "standard install" (cable run up to 10M). Customer supplies charge point and pays extra €10 for every meter of cable over 10M. Any additional work to be charged extra (priority switch, earth rod, ancillary works etc if needed). A straight forward install should not see the leccy walk away with the best part of 1k in his back pocket for a couple of hours work.

The “connected” version is retailing €750 so that’s the comparison. Whether that’s worth it or not is another thing entirely.

The difference between the €479 and €750 versions is mainly app support and the ability to get firmware updates. If you don’t care about apps etc then defo not worth it, but ymmv.

Changing the meter won't affect/change the rest of your installation. They wont be touching that fuse. You cant ask them to simply upgrade it either, that has to be done in conjunction with your electrician who would upgrade the wiring in your house first and then they'd upgrade the fuse... nothing to do with the smart meter install though.

Do note, you should take a look at the smart tariffs before you allow the smart meter in. They are really bad value, particularly if you plan to get an EV which will be charging at night.

If you don't have an electric shower, solar, or heat pump, then you should have no issue with a charge point. If you have an electric shower, you can have a priority switch fitted to give priority to the shower (the charger will stop when shower is running). This is for dumb chargers.

Having a load balancing CP installed will cover you for a smart charger. Hypervolt, Wallbox, Zappi etc will all do what you need.

Thanks a mil. We only have an electric shower and that is used far less often than the cylinder fed pump shower.

Also received mine yesterday (well, overnight Friday), and I returned my paperwork (not via online process, application predated that) around the end of July with a deadline of August 24th for that, which puts it between 6 and 8 weeks for me. As others have said, there seem to be payment cycles/batches and depending on how your submission aligns to that the time taken can vary quite a bit, as evidenced here.

It'll most likley be ESBN sub-contractors who'll install the smart meter (KN-Circet in my area), they are contracted to do only that and will be highly unlikely to touch anything else without prior approval.

You can 100% refuse or defer a smart meter installation, all you have to do is contact ESBN with your MPRN and tell them.

Only a REC that knows what your current installation is and knows what charger you want or can recommend the correct charger, can answer your question for certain on what, if anything needs to be upgraded. As well as possibly needing that fuse upgraded to 100A, other things like meter tails, consumer unit and earthing might need upgrades.

Received over the weekend, just in time for holidays :)

How have you confirmed there is still power to the unit?

This was going to be my first suggestion, but I'm wondering how they have confirmed the unit has power. Could be a loose connection in the same circuit as the tethered plug.

I suggest killing power to the unit and checking all connections are secure and tight. It is not uncommon for the connections to come loose over time. The main connections to check are the incoming from the CU and the outgoing (where the type 2 plug connects to the unit). I don't know the inner workings of the VW EVSE, but it may well be that the LEDs won't work unless all those connections are tight.

I know from experience that connections can come loose on these, especially if not properly torqued in the first place.