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A smart meter (an intelligentes Messsystem, or iMSys) is the precondition for almost every product you can offer beyond a flat-rate tariff. Getting one is the bottleneck: the grundzuständige Messstellenbetreiber (gMSB) is obliged to roll out to the §29 MsbG mandatory cohort first; for everyone else, going through a wettbewerblicher Messstellenbetreiber (wMSB) is the only path with a predictable timeline. Through Nomos’s wMSB partnerships, your customers (mandatory cohort or not) reach an installed iMSys at a target lead time of around eight weeks.

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What a smart meter unlocks

  • Dynamic pricing. The customer pays the actual hourly wholesale price they consumed at, not a smoothed annual average.
  • §14a EnWG savings. Heat pumps and wallboxes can claim Module 1, 2, or 3. The VNB only meters and dims a controllable load if there’s an iMSys behind it.
  • HEMS and EV-charger optimisation. Live 15-minute consumption data instead of monthly estimates.
  • Hands-off readings. The meter reports automatically; your ops team stops chasing customers for annual self-readings.

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How to order

1

Enable the smart-meter product on your plan

Ask Nomos support to enable a smart-meter product on the plan you’ll be selling.
2

Order at checkout, or after the subscription exists

During checkout, include { type: "smart-meter" } in the product_orders array on Create a subscription. For an existing subscription, call Create a smart meter order with the subscription ID in the body.
3

Track status

Poll List smart meter orders or Retrieve a smart meter order until the order reaches activated. Daily polling is plenty; meter orders move on the timescale of weeks.
A heat-pump customer typically wants both: a smart meter to enable dynamic billing, and §14a Module 1 for the reduced grid fee. You can include both entries in a single product_orders array. See §14a grid fee reductions.
Customers can also place the order from the hosted customer portal, and your team can place one from the dashboard. Both call the same endpoint under the hood.

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Status lifecycle

The happy path is created → placed → check_submitted → check_reviewed → scheduled → installed → activated. Once the order reaches activated, dynamic prices are real and you can start showing them to the customer.
  • created: Order accepted; metering details are being collected before the order goes to the wMSB.
  • placed: Order is with the wMSB partner.
  • check_submitted: The smart meter check for the location has been submitted.
  • check_reviewed: The wMSB has reviewed the check and confirmed they will install.
  • scheduled: An installation appointment is set; appointment_at carries the date.
  • installed: The meter is in place; installed_at carries the timestamp.
  • activated: The meter is live and reporting; dynamic pricing and automatic readings are now possible.
  • cancelled: Terminal. cancelled_reason tells you whether a smart meter was already present (pre_existing) or the order was cancelled on request (customer_request).
A temporarily blocked order keeps reporting the milestone it is parked on; blocked_at and blocked_reason explain why it is not progressing.

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FAQ

Around eight weeks end to end through a Nomos wMSB partner, though it depends on the customer’s region, meter access, and the wMSB’s local capacity.
Not directly. A subscription can have at most one meter order ever; once cancelled, a second POST /meter-orders returns 409 CONFLICT. Email support@nomos.energy to retry.
See Smart Meter Order webhooks for the full set of events emitted as an order moves through its lifecycle. Daily polling on the list endpoint remains fine as a fallback; meter orders move on the timescale of weeks.
No new installation is needed. The order reports cancelled with cancelled_reason set to pre_existing, and moves to activated once the existing meter is registered to the new contract.