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Original poster

Your thoughts on smart meters - feel I'm being forced into having them.

136 replies

CrunchyCarrot · 07/04/2022 10:29

So last Sept we got switched to Octopus energy as our old supplier went bust. The previous supplier (Avro) tried to sell us the idea of smart meters but we refused - had heard about not being able to switch suppliers and were concerned about potential for hacking of the devices and some horror stories. So a few days ago I submitted a meter reading due to prices about to rise, and today I got an email saying we need our meters replacing, as 'they are approaching the end of their operational life' and 'Gas and electricity meters should be replaced periodically, generally every 15 - 20 years, to ensure absolute accuracy and safety.' That's the first I've heard of it!

After reading around on another forum I discoverd one's meter will show when it was last 'certified' (i.e. seems to mean was declared fit to give accurate readings). Ours don't have sticky labels, in fact they are so old they have attached paper tags - so I blew off the dust (!) and discovered the electric meter's was dated 1989! Couldn't read the gas one as the label was partly destroyed but the date began with 19--. So clearly these are pretty old. Yet no-one has mentioned having them 're-certified' or replaced till just after the price rise?

I visited Octopus's smart meter FAQ: 'Do you have to replace my meter?' 'Yes, we’re required to do so under governmental regulation. It is our duty to ensure customers have continuity of safe energy supply that is accurately recorded.'

Honestly I feel this is being pushed very hard at us. It's very hard to argue with 'we have to do so under govt regulation' and 'Just so you know, we can't replace your meters like for like as traditional meters are becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of.' However I fully intend to hold out for the time being. I expect to be forced into it eventually, however.

What have others done? Anyone else had this 'your meters aren't certified' email?

OP posts:

kufc · 07/04/2022 15:35

I can't understand the resistance

loopylindi · 07/04/2022 15:41

@Thursday37

Smart meters are absolutely saving us a fortune, we get a really good tariff with Octopus that we use to charge electric cars and home batteries overnight when the price drops to a set level. The charging dips on and off so we pay as little as possible. We are moving and new house doesn’t have one, we are going to be booking one in asap as soon as we exchange as we have no desire to go backwards. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be stuck in the past - I guess it’s the same people that will still want to buy diesel cars….luddites basically. Embrace the future!

Apart from the deal you've got from Octopus, how on earth is having a smart meter saving you so much money? Are you constantly monitoring it so you can see what energy is being used, when and by whom. Please explain. I'm a reasonably intelligent person but I am genuinely confused.

ClaudineClare · 07/04/2022 15:42

I had a letter like that years ago and ignored it, my electricity meter is from the 1980's too not sure about the gas one. Never heard anything more - I think it is a ruse to get you to agree to a smart meter.

If you haven't signed up to a deal that stipulates you have to have a smart meter (and if you have been moved because your supplier went bust, then you haven't), they can't force you to have one.

I don't want smart meters as my boiler is old and I have heard that sometimes older boilers go kaput after a smart meter is put in.

dementedpixie · 07/04/2022 15:43

They don't save money unless you change your habits and how you use your gas and electricity. They don't in themselves save you anything

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 07/04/2022 15:43

@pupcakes

I like mine. Don't have to send readings, really helps to show how much we're spending on certain things so with the price increases have been able to cut out some things etc.

I'm about to have one fitted. Our meters are in the garage and it's a right faff to get at them. The idea of no more meter readings really appeals!

ClaudineClare · 07/04/2022 15:44

Smart meters don't save you money! Yes, you may have in the past been able to get a more favourable tariff if you had one, but they don't reduce your energy use. Although they can make you more aware of what you are using.

deadlanguage · 07/04/2022 15:47

@loopylindi before the current crisis some energy providers had certain tariffs that were only available if you had a smart meter

I also don’t understand the objections to them. They mean you’ll never end up £££ in debt like unfortunately many MNers have, because you’re billed for what you used and you don’t even need to read the meter yourself.

Ifailed · 07/04/2022 15:50

David Cameron (the idiot who bought us the brexit vote) pushed for smart meters, and forced the consumer via the suppliers raising prices to pay for them.

ClaudineClare · 07/04/2022 15:51

I send in regular readings, so my bills are never estimated. Takes a couple of minutes once a month. I have a spreadsheet as well that calculates the cost of what I am using.

dementedpixie · 07/04/2022 15:54

I give monthly readings and know how much I'm using. I dont need a smart meter to do it for me. Although the smart meter they tried to install kept tripping my electrics so wasn't very smart at all! They had to put the old meter back in place.

Thursday37 · 07/04/2022 15:56

@loopylindi it’s the smart tech we have, so our car charger only draws power when the rate drops below a level we set it at. We don’t have to monitor it, we set the thresholds and it does it by itself. The cars will stop and start charging overnight as the rate changes (which could be every 30 mins although usually doesn’t change that often). The same is true of the batteries, they fill up with cheap rate power at a price we set which we then use to run appliances when the rate is high in the day. We don’t have to actually sit there doing anything.

We have a large 3 bed with 2 electric cars. No gas or oil, and we pay anything from £80-£150pcm to run the whole house and cars depending on how cold it is. We both WFH.

Caspianberg · 07/04/2022 16:00

Ours does save us money. Where we live, you get charges €80 twice a year for someone official to come and check the meter. Now we have a smart meter we don’t get these biannual costs.
Actually, they charge you even more if you happen to be out, as they auto bill you for coming out ( they just send a fixed date in January ie they will come April 2nd and October 10th between 8-6pm. No way of changing if your busy). So that’s €160 min a year saving.
We also got moved onto a cheaper kw tarrif for having one

Thursday37 · 07/04/2022 16:01

We are on an agile tariff which has plunge pricing so the price goes up and down all the time. We see what it is in an app. We also have an Ohme smart car charger. Both are reliant on a Smets2 meter though.

DidymusAmbrosius · 07/04/2022 16:03

I hate ours - because the bloody thing hardly ever works.

They did the electric but failed to do the gas (because he couldn't undo the bolts on the existing metre and since then every provider I've had has refused to try again). The electric only sends a metre reading about once every six weeks, when the weather is absolutely perfect so that it can get a signal.

So I am left still having to do manual readings BUT unable to inut them into the app because "I have a smart metre which will do it for me"

Plus, any actual usage insight is only half complete because I am offered no gas insights at all (even with manual readings) and because the infrueqency of the electric readings it's all skewed.

I end up doing manual weekly readings and making my own spreadsheet to track usage.

It makes me so grumpy to think someone, somewhere probably claimed their 'installation fee' but left this mess behind.

TheSnowyOwl · 07/04/2022 16:08

Meters do need to be recalibrated every so often although older style meters are just disposed of in favour of smart meters now. They also don’t run out of numbers as they just start from 0 again.

You can ask for your smart meter to be installed in dumb mode which means it can’t be communicated with.

beautifullymad · 07/04/2022 16:11

@Danikm151

A smart meter means you will only pay for what you use. Updated readings are sent every half hour. You don’t have to have the consumer unit.

A smart meter automatically puts every household with solar panels at a big disadvantage.

My advice is to resist installation if you have solar panels.

Smart meterage tells the energy company how much solar power you generate and how much you export to the grid. You are then paid for this.

Currently they read the solar meter (amount generated) and you are paid. Whatever you use of this as it's being generated is free electricity.

You get paid for the total you generate, not the total you export.

This will change and I'm wondering if this is another reason for the electricity companies insisting on smart meters.

At the moment I can do two loads of washing, two loads of tumble drying, and a dishwasher. All back to back, all completely free on sunny days as well as getting paid for the solar I'm using!

MrsMoastyToasty · 07/04/2022 16:15

If traditional gas and electricity meters are anything like traditional water meters then the calibration of the meter is only guaranteed by the manufacturer for a given number of years and they only conform to a British Standard. Things like the dials can start to slip outwith the actual consumption.
We had our electricity meter replaced because we had an issue whereby our meter was imperial (previous owner had been in the house since 1960s) and we were being billed by the metric system. That was fun to sort out!

Original poster

CrunchyCarrot · 07/04/2022 16:16

I don't want smart meters as my boiler is old and I have heard that sometimes older boilers go kaput after a smart meter is put in.

I think old boilers just tend to go kaput regardless! It would just be an unfortunate coincidence if that happened, can't see how a smart meter wouild cause that.

That sounds really shit! I guess this is what's bugging me, why replace something that's working (although obviously we have to manually read the meter, but that's only monthly) and take a gamble instead? I'm just a Luddite, I guess!

OP posts:

TheSnowyOwl · 07/04/2022 16:27

I guess this is what's bugging me, why replace something that's working (although obviously we have to manually read the meter, but that's only monthly) and take a gamble instead? I'm just a Luddite, I guess!

Your meter might be working but it could be too fast and causing you higher bills. The meter is nearing the end of its working life and at a stage where it’s not expected to continue to record correctly so why wouldn’t you change it?

pumpkinpie01 · 07/04/2022 16:28

N power came out years ago to fit one , took one look at our extremely old electric meter and refused to touch it , said he 'had never seen anything like it and he wasn't messing with them electrics ' Scottish power have called me a couple of times to fit one but have no took me off the list it would be just our luck for it to create problems . I take a reading every week and work out my electric usage myself .

Hutchy16 · 07/04/2022 16:29

OP I think you dropped your tinfoil hat

Original poster

CrunchyCarrot · 07/04/2022 18:33

Except I don't think it is giving higher bills. Had an email a few hours ago saying we are £150 in credit (this was after giving our meter reading on 31st March) at the moment - so perhaps they think it's running a bit slow?

OP posts:

Patchbatch · 07/04/2022 18:37

If surge pricing is enacted using data from peoples smart meters everyone will be forced to have one. Our is fine, makes life easier and can track how much we are spending.

FuckYouDebbie · 07/04/2022 18:49

You don't have to get one if you don't want to. As a PP said their obligation to install a new meter is quite separate from the smart meter issue. Whether smart meters are great for people who say they are great is neither here nor there. If you don't want one you don't have to have one and can inform them of this and offer to liaise with them so they can install a new regular meter.

Incidentally I also got shunted to octopus when avro went bust and for all that their comms is chummily worded they are quite hard assed ime. Eg I missed out on the warm front discount because it took them six fucking months to put me on a tarriff and issue a bill. When I asked for the discount to be applied retrospectively they put fifty quid on my tab and sent me a link to an app that would in their words give them a clearer picture of my incomings and outgoings. When I looked into it it required me to link my actual bank account so they could monitor it. Fuck that and fuck them. Get them to give you a regular meter if they want you to have a new one.

TheSnowyOwl · 07/04/2022 18:50

@CrunchyCarrot

But surely you expect to spend half the year in credit on a DD plan? Too fast/too slow/just right, regardless it’s too old and needs to be replaced and it’s been perfectly standard to replace meters after a certain lifespan for many years.

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