Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask why the hell energy companies keep desperately trying to push SMART METERS?

244 replies

Peekaboo3 · 02/03/2018 20:51

Just that.

Why?

Hell will freeze over before I have them.

My energy provider has sent me a letter saying ...

'We are now ready to install your smart meters. Just one phone call, and we will install the meters at your convenience yada yada.'

With the way they've worded it, it sounds almost like you have no choice.

We do have a choice of course. And my choice is no.

It is NOT compulsory. So they can piss off bugging me.

But WHY do they keep pushing these bloody things?

WHY?

OP posts:
YimminiYoudar · 02/03/2018 22:14

You do not need a smart meter to monitor your energy usage. I have a dumb meter and a device that clips on to my mains supply and connects to a display unit that tells me what I am using and beeps if the energy used goes up above a level you set (it was literally a life saver when it was beeping like mad and saying I was using the equivalent of 3 kettles boiling simultaneously, which was traced to an electrical fault that could have caused a fire).

The additional power of the smart meter is not for your benefit - it is to communicate that info to the power companies.

BMW6 · 02/03/2018 22:14

No-one has to come and read my meter, once a month I give the meter readings online and pay for the actual usage by DD the following month.
I also have a record of every monthly meter reading and the actual cost each month since we moved in 8 years ago, so I can directly compare our usage with previous months/years.

Smart meters can go to fuck as far as I am concerned.

MrsPear · 02/03/2018 22:15

Yep the utility companies keep trying to push new meters on us esp the water company. What they don’t seem to understand is that if I cannot agree as I’m a tenant not a home owner - it is clear in my contract that meters are the same as walls.

Jasmin82 · 02/03/2018 22:16

I'm not allowed one Sad Scottish Power say that the smart meters they have aren't smart enough to be compatible with multi-rate meters.
Not very smart, then, are they?

megletthesecond · 02/03/2018 22:18

You can see how much energy you use with an energy monitor. I borrowed one from the library once.

And in most houses it can't be that much hassle to take a meter reading every couple of months. I always send mine in.

I'm not planning on getting a smart meter.

bridgetreilly · 02/03/2018 22:19

Because it makes it more difficult for you to switch to another energy supplier. Simple.

LizzieSiddal · 02/03/2018 22:19

A couple of years ago I thought I’d get one and phoned my provider. The man actually suggested I didn’t get one as you then can’t always change provider. I’ll always be very greatful to him!

Also we are rural so the WiFi is sometimes, frankly rubbish, so it probable wouldn’t work anyway.

NotACleverName · 02/03/2018 22:26

I have heard that they can interfere with Wi-Fi

They can't. They don't use WiFi.

Some guy in Russia isn't going to hack you and steal your bank details.

You don't need to use the Smart Energy Monitor if you're that paranoid about seeing how much it costs to make a cup of tea.

They're no more dangerous than a mobile phone.

I do this shite for a living and some of the reasons I've heard for not wanting one are ridiculous.

coconuttella · 02/03/2018 22:41

No need to be rude coconutella she is 79 years old and entitled to her opinion. She has a limited budget and already spends s big proportion of it on energy costs. I’d rather she wasn’t put off keeping warm in winter

Sorry if I was rude...

Regarding my point, conversely if you don’t know how much your spending you may be concerned you might be spending too much and use less than you could afford and needlessly get cold.

AnnieAnoniMouse · 02/03/2018 23:04

PrimalLass. They took my old chunky monkey one away and put a nice, new, shiny small one on the wall.

The absolute fucking nightmare I had getting the gas meter changed over, I’m not planning on changing suppliers anytime soon. I’ve fixed at a reasonable rate and when that’s due for renewal I’ll have a look around, and if it’s cheaper elsewhere I’ll swap. If, on the off chance, that means it goes to a ‘dumb’ meter for a short while, the world won’t stop spinning.

NapQueen · 02/03/2018 23:11

Mine keep pushing me and texting me dates they are coming. But dh and I work mon-fri and sure as hell arent booking random days off for something we havent even asked for.

If they want us to have one they need to work around us.

ThisLittleKitty · 02/03/2018 23:16

I actually switched companies so I could get one as mine said they didn't do them. Purely so I could top up from my home rather than having to go to the shops. It's made life easier for me.

GrooovyLass · 02/03/2018 23:22

It's a government drive. The plan was for all households to have them by 2020 but that target ain't going to be met.

As pp have said, you can't have a smart multi-rate electricity meter atm so that's an awful lot of people who can't have them yet.

They are absolutely no barrier to changing supplier, they will just be dumb if you do.

I'll confess to working for one of the "big six" energy suppliers. If you're with us and have smart meters I can see in seconds what your current readings are along with either daily, weekly or monthly reads for the last four months depending on your settings. We prefer it if it's daily.

What we can't do, and I'm quite high up the food chain, is cut you off or suddenly turn your meter to prepayment. Even if that technology was there it wouldn't be legal or ethical to do that for now reason - we currently have to follow a set procedure and get a court warrant to fit a prepayment meter against your wishes and it's not going to suddenly change so we can do it on a whim. You've got to owe serious money before that's an option.

Funnily enough we don't actually want to piss our customers off because, y'know, you kind of pay our wages! Plus I pay for energy too so I do know what it's like to be a consumer too...

Fluffyears · 02/03/2018 23:25

I don’t see the benrgitnkyselgz. I’ll not going to change and sit with my lights off because my meter tells me I’m using power. We just got a rebate of £700 and we provide readings every quarter. We don’t have s miiion gadgets do our usafebis allow as it can be, lights, oven, washing...I don’t have a tumblr drier.

GinnyLovesGin · 02/03/2018 23:28

I don’t like my smart meter. Judgy wee fucker, standing there on the worktop, scolding me for having a shower with the light last on.

I shut him in a cupboard.

GinnyLovesGin · 02/03/2018 23:28

*lights on

LightastheBreeze · 03/03/2018 05:53

I'm guessing if you change supplier each year and people are urged to to do this, you could have a new smart meter each year if you wanted one, what a waste of money.

aquashiv · 03/03/2018 07:11

We had s SM thhrough BG changed supplier to Scottish Power. SP arranged to install theirs. I took day off work etc got here and said csnt install as we already had one😤.

aquashiv · 03/03/2018 07:13

It no longer works though as it's a BG..Definitely wait until they are universal as PP said.

OhWotIsItThisTime · 03/03/2018 07:16

The EU set a target for smart meters. The UK decided to up this, and commit to offering lecky and gas meters to all homes by 2020. So don’t blame the EU.

The meters they’re installing now can stop being smart if you switch. The next generation ones won’t. But - the ones they’re installing now should be remotely upgradable. Should...

Which? Has been doing stuff on it. www.which.co.uk/reviews/smart-meters/article/guides I don’t know how to make that clickable.

CigarsofthePharoahs · 03/03/2018 07:31

My dad thinks they're the spawn of Satan. Won't have one in the house. They're hackable, according to him, I think he thinks that means someone can hack in and steal his electric.
I haven't told him we're getting one fitted soon. Both our gas and electric meters are in really awkward places to read and I keep missing the meter reading person.

DoveBlue · 03/03/2018 07:38

NotAClevetName
We had them then got them removed because they interferred with the wi-fi signal it would drop to nothing at that side of the house which is where my husbands office is. It was terrible.
Guys who came to remove them said they had lots of complaints from customers about wi-fi. We will not be having them again.
As soon as removed wi-fi back to the speeds we pay for and wouldn't just disappear every evening at the same time. (Probably the time the smart meter did its sync)

Doodlekitty · 03/03/2018 07:43

@groovylass I wonder if we work for the same big 6 provider, as I came on to say pretty much the same thing.
My company are living in fear of the potential fines, which is why we are 'encouraging' customers. But even with that engineers are so limited, it's a struggle.

I have chosen not to get one yet, as I'm waiting for the next gen, which should make it easier to move supplier and keep functionality. But once they are rolled out I will totally get one.

The disconnecting and switching to prepayment is not a motivation for us. It WAS until it became apparent that we still would not be allowed to do it due to the regulator. Now, in terms of debt collection strategies they are probably more of a hindrance than a help.

SquigglePigs · 03/03/2018 07:44

This one isn't actually the energy companies - the Government has told the companies that they have to take 'all reasonable steps' (without defining what that means) to install smart meters for all their customers or they will be heavily fined. On the upside it does give us customers more information on usage and more control of it.

CuppaSarah · 03/03/2018 07:45

I used to install them, after all the trouble they caused I wouldn't bother with them yet. The utter faff it causes with swapping suppliers, issues with the connection, faults etc I won't be getting one for a few years yet. When they work they're pretty good and they do work fine most of the time. But when the jobs go wrong, they go so wrong and it can take forever to sort out.