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!!!

Well, it is cooler today so thank you for turning off the heat OP

@mizu

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

It takes a while to settle in but ours kept showing us ridiculous usage. We put it back in its box after a couple of days. The man who fitted it kindly left us the box as he said we might need it!

@Kazzyhoward I think most people only have a vague idea of what each of their appliances use and wouldn’t be able to tell you off the top of their head how much it costs to watch tv for an hour, run the tumble dryer etc. So I think it does give you a better idea of cost.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles no, that isn’t the case any more, it was only the case with the first models. Now you can switch freely

As well as allowing people to make rational, informed decisions, I can well imagine SMs causing vulnerable people a shed-load of anxiety and making them panic unnecessarily.

Like when you shine a strong torch or projector light and see all of the dust particles in the air - it can really irrationally worry you, when that's just how it is all the time, and it's simply not a problem.

I got one of those cheap plug in electricity usage meters a few years ago, and it's very informative - but you have to remember that their 'smartness' only goes so far. Yes, if you continue to use this kettle 24/7, it will cost you £1,200 a month to run it - but you don't, you use it for two minutes a few times a day.

It's the equivalent of these joyless articles they wheel out every single December warning you of the huge average calorie consumption on Christmas Day and comparing it with how many calories you should consume each day - as if one or two days of giving it laldy are more important to focus on than the other 360+ normal days.

@pattypan
Thank you. I may not throw the next begging letter away!

I think most people only have a vague idea of what each of their appliances use and wouldn’t be able to tell you off the top of their head how much it costs to watch tv for an hour, run the tumble dryer etc. So I think it does give you a better idea of cost.

All you need is to look at the silver label on the appliance and find out your tariff per KW/h, which you presumably need to enter into the gadget anyway.

Instead of replacing two functional meters in every single home (ironically, extremely eco-unfriendly), all they need is one website, heavily publicised, telling all visitors what the average figures are - maybe with a link for you to look up your exact model if you wish.

Even that's more complex than it needs to be - as long as people can be educated to understand that any appliance with a heating element and/or big moving parts will use a lot of energy whereas something like a radio or a phone charger will use next to nothing. I seriously doubt anybody will decide to only use their phone every other day and leave it with a dead battery in the drawer for half the week, to save themselves a penny or so a week.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles Definitely can switch providers with one, we’ve done that this year.

We used to have an electricity usage monitor when we first moved into this house and before smart meters were a thing. That’s how we found out that the spotlights in the study cost a fortune to run, I spent years morphed into my dad shouting about Blackpool illuminations and being made of money every time I switched them off.
We’ve since replaced all the bulbs with LED’s so the cost is minimal but the kids still use their torch on their phones to look for something in there than put the big light on.

Probably the best BEFORE and AFTER advertising photos the smart meter company could ever use!

(and no I don't have one)

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

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?

You could always change supplier but the first generation ones went 'dumb' when you did, as happened to ours. The second generation ones are not supposed to.