Smart meters installed today - surely this isn't right

[mizu]

I've only had it plugged in for a couple of hours and look at the gas usage!!!

The dial moves depending on what’s on in the house not because it’s 5p per hour. If you go round and turn all your appliances on it’ll go into the red zone when they switch off back to green
The 5p is just the cost for the day so far

Ah, OK - thanks - but it still seems weird to me that these things are sold on saving you a fortune; even if it was only a 10th of the way through the day, would there be anybody 'red-zone' panicking about potentially spending an average of £15 a month on electricity?! Or is the supposed cost saving the carrot to get one and then the nagging you to turn things off the eco-stick once you've got one?

It does seem overkill to me, if it's really all about saving you money and cutting down your electricity use, because most of your appliances will make virtually no difference or, if they do, you'll already have a good idea and have decided that you will go ahead and cook the family an evening meal as planned and not just leave the cooker forever unused.

Do many people really find that SMs help them to identify significant savings where they both had no idea that something like a cooker or heater was costing them dear AND also just had it on arbitrarily without actually needing it?

Surely this is a much more realistic, practical course of action to take if your energy bills are expected to rise sharply?

Do many people really find that SMs help them to identify significant savings where they both had no idea that something like a cooker or heater was costing them dear AND also just had it on arbitrarily without actually needing it

Probably aimed at the same people who seem to think that all those 'save the change' bank account functions magic up money out of thin air.

Surely if you didn't have an app rounding up and skimming off bits of money the same money would just sit in your main account instead?

I love the smart meter. It's a good reminder that a child has left a light on for example. Or to remind the family to take shorter showers. There is no down side to it.

Smart meters helped me reduce my energy usage.

I could see that the gas usage was horrific in certain days, which was when all 3 of use got baths, for example. So we had more showers than baths. You could see when loads of stuff was plugged in. It made me switch out my old electric oven. It was old and knackered and used a staggering amount.

When I moved in this house, I really needed to keep track of what I was spending as I was a single parent for the first time.

I admit, that now I have more spare money I don't keep and eye on it as much. But it did genuinely help me when I needed to keep an eye on every penny I was spending.

It charged from what your meter was reading at all the way to zero (your new meter start reading). Then when the system updates to say it was a new meter installation it’ll revert to what it’s meant to be and it’ll ignore from your last meter removal read to zero.

Not unusual.

Morning post - I think I'm going to have to call them

You might want to consider turning your thermostat down a tad.
If you lower it by 2 degrees, you'll most probably save a couple of thousand quid a day....

@BruceAndNosh

You might want to consider turning your thermostat down a tad. If you lower it by 2 degrees, you'll most probably save a couple of thousand quid a day....

Far too chilly for such a suggestion.

Just called them and a rather stern lady called Jean told me that of course this is not my actual meter reading and to just ignore it.

I asked her what the point of this was then and she said the meter readings on this thing have nothing to do with the meter readings they receive and it's just for our personal use to see how much we are using.

Turn it off and on again she said.

Is your heating responsible for this heatwave we’re having

I genuinely laughed out loud at this.

I cba to get a smart meter either. Mainly because my (rented) house has an appallingly small number of plug sockets and I don’t want to give one up for a smart meter that serves me no purpose, and also uses electricity itself to run.

We are ignoring all communication from our energy supplier to have a smart meter fitted. They are still putting things through our door about once a week. They are relentless.

knittingaddict I did this for so long and then succumbed. Now, not quite sure what the point was.

This made me smile - glad you've got it sorted though. Imagine if it billed you that much!

Do many people really find that SMs help them to identify significant savings where they both had no idea that something like a cooker or heater was costing them dear AND also just had it on arbitrarily without actually needing it?

That's what I've always wondered too! Surely most people know that taking 30 minutes in the shower uses a lot more energy (and water) than 10 minutes? Or that things like ovens, kettles, washing machines etc use more power than a CD player? Do people really need a gadget to tell them the blindingly obvious?

@mizu

knittingaddict I did this for so long and then succumbed. Now, not quite sure what the point was.

Likewise, still waiting for them (or anyone really) to tell me WHY I need a smart meter. I've looked into them and, no, nothing to see that I don't already know. From the ones I've seen, they're far too simplistic to give you any special information you can't easily find elsewhere.

I imagine most people with them will show a bit of interest for a few days and then rapidly forget about it.

I don’t see any need in having one for me personally.
I input my meter reading once a month so I know my bills are accurate. It takes me just a couple of minutes a month to do.

I terms of saving money,, I already know what will save money and what will cost money.

I don’t want one. A colleague had no power for two days due to a botched installation which was a pain as she had two babies and it was winter. It’s just me and my husband and we use what we need. I’m not going to sit in the dark not charging my phone or not wash my clothes because the magic box says no, we input a reading every month to an app and our bills are always actual bills rather than estimates. I also change supplier at least annually so they would be useless.

I've just had one put in, and I like it. ( I was changing from a key meter.) I had to reset the handset a couple of times but it's now working fine. I already knew that heat generating appliances use a lot of energy, so it's not telling me much I didn't know usage wise. But I'm quite addicted.

I have been refusing to have one ever since they came out, as there were huge teething problems, but they have got better over the years.

A friend has got one fairly recently. It seems to think their gas usage is zero. They have reported it, but the supplier doesn't seem all that bothered

@Finallybroody, they have rechargable batteries, so no need to dedicate a socket to them. Like charging a phone, though I keep mine plugged in atm.

We have resisted having one as we were led to believe it may prevent us from changing supplier in the future. Does anyone know if this is (still) true?

OP we had strange amounts showing on the display when our meter was first installed but it settled down after a couple of days.

Btw we had that in home display but it failed after a couple of months and the different model they replaced it with is a huge improvement.

Someone I know had one installed a couple of years ago. It coincided with her moving in the house and plugging in her Freezer. By morning she'd used about £2k of electric.

For reasons which baffle me to this day she then decided it was the freezer that was faulty and went out and bought a brand new one. Bit of a shock then when the readings just kept going up. Eventually she contacted the company who supplied the meter and had the brass neck to demand they pay for the new freezer she'd purchased in error.

They fixed the meter and she was given a gesture of goodwill that was substantially less than the new freezer 😂

We've never had one as the mobile data signal here is patchy at best so it wouldn't be especially 'smart'.

There is no down side to it.

Will you still be convinced of that once their 'main' purpose is enacted - to enable the power companies to micro-monitor your usage, nag warn you to change your energy use habits and, if they deem it necessary, cut or restrict power to your home/individual appliance?

I'm guessing that this is one of the ideals of smart/digital motorways before too long, once we all have to have electric (interconnected) cars: it won't just measure the general traffic flow and tell all of the drivers to drop to 50mph on the overhead gantry - why would it if it has the ability to ping a message direct to your car, give you a very short time to obey and then, if you don't, remotely activate your brakes for you (and/or generate an automated speeding fine)?

For all you know, they might also seek to monetise your usage data by selling your details to other companies - probably claim it's 'legitimate interest' and that, by getting a SM and using electricity in your home, you've already consented to them telling Currys that your washing machine's very poor efficiency suggests that it's an older model, so they can keep writing to/emailing/calling you telling you that it's your social duty to buy a new, much more efficient one to replace it.... and maybe even report you to an energy-saving equivalent of social services after a while if you have 'trouble' understanding and doing this.

Just called them and a rather stern lady called Jean told me that of course this is not my actual meter reading and to just ignore it.

That's just rubbish, though. If it gives you an absurd amount - thousands of pounds a day - it's obvious you need to avoid it, but what if it were on average out by, say, 5%, 10%, 20% (whether under or over)? How would you know? If you can't ALWAYS trust it, then you can't EVER trust it.

*'avoid' - should be 'ignore'