To think lots of people are dumb over smart meters

[InkedGreen]

Fab little devices, we have ours on the kitchen table and is a great reminder to use less or to turn off stuff when we're not in the room. Showers make it go crazy and we've really cut down the shower lengths if not washing our hair

Also so they can charge YOU more for YOUR peak usage.

I don't actually have a problem with that. I love the system they have in France, where you have the green light on when demand is low and your leccy is cheaper then. I'd never run the dishwasher or washing machine at any other time if we had that system.

I am moving out in 6 months so can’t be bothered to take a day off work to give access to have one installed... how dumb am I?

i looked into it for our house.

non-metered makes usage assumptions based on the size of our house, rather than the number of people in it/actual usage.

having a smart meter would have cost us more, so there's no way we'll get one until we have to.

Only reason we are getting one - comes next week - is so I can have the electric car tariff. Otherwise I wouldn't but it's a requirement of the tariff apparently.

I don't need a machine to tell me what uses electricity. I don't think it will the way we use electricity either. Dh may be banned from going near it as he's the only one who is likely to get obsessed with the thing.

I work in the energy supply industry and I do not have one and never will.

Your electricity supply can be remotely switched off (accidentally or not).

I honestly don't care how much money things costs to run. It would make no difference to my usage so why on earth would I want one installed?

You really need a device to remember to switch off things you don't use and cut down? wow.

I don't have a smart meter, nor do I want one.
I pay my bills on direct debit.
If I want a light on, I will put one on.
If I want a long shower, I will have one.
If I want to use my tumble dryer, I will do.
I'm not interested in saving money by turning this and that off.
I change supplier's regularly, I usually start checking out the competitors in April and go with the one who supplies the best deal.
I don't have Alexa or Echo or Dots or whatever it is either, nor do I want it.

OP surely it's dumb not to know a 10 min shower costs more than a 5min shower?

Dh was told it is great at saving money and he signed up to it as he wanted to surprise/ take initiative showing me yes he can be frugal and save money. I was only told about as the man finished installing it (as I just returned home). If I knew about it I would have vetoed it. Such an invasion of privacy. Anyway, that hand held thing is hidden away somewhere as I refuse to use the electricity it needs to tell me I'm using electricity to and to switch stuff off. I already know to turn things off when I'm not using it. We do now pay less but that is because the tariff dh got was really competitive. I'm silently unhappy with the invasion of privacy, now thiefs can better estimate when someone is home or not by hacking into smart meters and analysing trends. We are safe, as we don't really have much worth stealing but people with highly valued items at home should be worried.

It's an interesting thought not washing or limiting showers for OP to keep their smart meter happy.

@InkedGreen

Not coming back to the thread then eh?

Shocker!

Mind you, I would expect nothing less from someone who thinks Nicola Sturgeon should rule the UK LOL!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3677723-To-wish-Nicola-sturgeon-could-take-over-the-UK

Indeed, there are quite a few odd threads from this poster. I would take what they say with a pinch of salt.

I'm so dumb that I think the OP is for real.

My smart meter caused a gas leak.

Bet you feel a bit of a prat now OP

SSE kept phoning me (on my mobile) trying to get me to change to a smart meter.

I told them there is no mobile signal up the hall next to the front door where the meter cupboard is and that as a smart meter needs a mobile signal there would be no point getting one installed.

With an air of triumph, she proclaims "aaahhh but I'm talking to you over your mobile now and you can hear me fine so you must be making it up to get out of having one".

To which I reply, " that's because I am sitting in the living room on the property's outer corner and not in the concrete built spider housing electric cupboard which sits behind massive steel and concrete signal blocking girders in the centre of a block of flats".

Funnily enough, I don't tend to spend my days up the dark end of the hallway squatting in the dark electric cupboard like some sort of rectangular small green light loving goblin when there is a nice comfy sofa in my light and airy living room so I don't know why she thought I was in there or anywhere near it.

I'm the dumb one though and a fucking liar apparently.

Ex-energy worker, waves to the others no way am I having one. They are there to facilitate half-hourly billing (tariff bands) and remote disconnection. I don't have enough faith in my supplier's billing system to run a direct debit for a bill that's not fully checkable to the meter readings (not that this is an option at the moment).
If I switched to a smart meter I would currently have to switch to a single rate tariff, which for me would be more expensive.

We have one. I hate the smug little fucker.

We hid it away in a kitchen cupboard because DH was obsessing over it and I could not live with him policing me over my shower use.

My DH also always fills the kettle most of the way up for one cup of coffee. He's an arse

My Mum installed a phone lock. She hadn't banked on me being a bit off the rails though because they were easily worked around. There was a method to dial the number by pressing the buttons on top (I can't think of the word, where the handset goes in the cradle) the corresponding number of times of the digit you wanted with 10 for zero. Sort of morse code fashion.
In the end my Mum took the phone to work with her😂

@AdobeWanKenobi
I used to do exactly the same. Press the little black buttons rapidly to the number.
Thank god phone bills weren't itemised back then. 😂

I think you'll find the ones who refused to have them will be proven to be the intelligent ones. 💁

There's definitely a correlation between people being aware / in the know / having experience of the (shitty, not fit for purpose) smart meter technology and refusal to get one.... I.e. smarter people are saying no way.

If the op is a social media manager fishing for insight or to raise awareness, fuck you. This thread has confirmed that I'm right to insist my energy supplier needs to go and harass some other schmuck that'll agree to one being installed without understanding what they're signing up to!

My dad was an early adopter and was obsessed with his. Many memories of him hovering outside while i straightened my hair, peering in to see what i was doing that was costing an extra 2p.

Made me smile OP so thanks for the memory!

My elderly dad has been harassed no end about getting one by EON (they also fucked up his bills horrendously but that's another story) and I have had to keep refusing / avoiding on his behalf as it would make him very anxious and probably turn off everything in the house and sit in the dark. They kept sending appointments through - can't actually force you to keep them though. If this was started / is being read by anyone from E ON, fuck you for being a shitty evil company I will never use again.