Smart meters

[ioioitsoff]

I posted this in property but got no replies, sorry it's dull.

Wibu to get a smart meter? What are the pros and cons and will they need to come in my house to do it? The meters are outside.

It's only a matter of time (once the government have collected their massive fines from the suppliers who have failed to fit their quota) before the government make it compulsory to have a smart meter and it will be all that is available to be fitted once your meter needs changing due to age/fault.

the reason for smart meters is demand management. 70 million people in a country with infrastructure for 55 million means that sooner or later we are going to get power cuts.

Wrong approach - insulating every home would be cheaper as would building a couple of low carbon nuclear power stations, but the anti-science brigade won't be doing with that.

once the meters are all in place and the system works (both quite a long way off) it will be possible to adjust pricing on demand. If, of course, there is sufficient mobile coverage as the never-leave-London planners don't realise this isn't country wide.

it is for consumer benefit in that we won't pay higher taxes and won't accept reality, so if we are to have power in the future it has to be rationed by price. Anyone who isn't really really thick can realise that the adverts are lying when they say 'a smart meter saves energy'. I wonder why the ASA aren't involved?

meantime hold off until your energy fix comes to an end (if you are on a variable tariff then slap yourself for being thick and sort it). You can pay less if you agree to a smart meter but only once. All the big six now only offer tariffs conditional on smart meter installation.

Scottish power make no mention of it being compulsory when I switched tariff yesterday, I thought they would.

I mainly wondered about it because of meter readings, I refuse to let the chap read the meter when he comes because the readings never get back to Scottish Power, I can't remember the last time it was read (though that suits me as I won't change supplier)

If you need a machine to tell you lights cost money or the tumble drier costs money then you really shouldn’t be living alone! It’s obvious that leaving things that use electricity running will cost you money 🤦🏻‍♀️

Scottish Power bugged me for absolutely ages about getting a smart meter. I don't want one, nor do I need one.

It will make no difference to me, I know that using my oven or boiling water in a kettle costs money, I'm not going to stop eating cooked food or stop drinking hot coffee.

I know that heating my house costs a lot of money. I'm a very cold person and need my home to be warm. Even so I sit here wearing three jumpers with my heating turned and I'm still not over warm.

Smart meter or no smart meter I'm not going to change anything.

I don't need a smart meter to tell me I spend a lot on gas and electricity, I just need to look at my bills.

I agree with pp, the fact that Scottish Power were so keen for me to have one made me think it highly likely they were more likely to benefit from that than I am.

I send a reading every month via the app then they tell me whether I’m in credit (always areas we use less than the DD payment). It takes seconds and I have just changed with no smart meter.

@pigsDOfly get a heated sofa throw.. I’m always cold but one of these on the sofa keeps me really toasty.

I have had one for a couple of years. I like the fact I no long need to supply readings as both meters are in the annex and a pain to get to.
My energy use is quite high as well (I budget £10 a day in winter) so I like to keep an eye if I am exceeding that so I know I have to budget more for the end of the quarter.

They're quite good. They send your meter readings automatically to the energy company. No more annoying man from Serco rootling in the meter box every six months. Also quite useful to be able to have real time info about consumption and costs in your online bill.

They are not magic. Nor are they particularly sinister. They do not cut your bills. They just eliminate the need to read the meter.

The suppliers have government-imposed targets to fit them, so they are bullying us into getting them. I've just had a letter informing me they're coming to fit one next month. Oh no they're not.

You don't have to have one and there's no benefit to them for the consumer, unless, like a PP, they make you think more about reducing the amount of power you use.

I am not being bullied into having one.

Likethebattle Just googled them. I never knew such wondrous things existed. I do have a blanket type throw but this just looks brilliant.

Dunhelm have them! I shall be off tomorrow in search of one.

Thank you.

the compulsory smart meter is probably in the small print of your tariff. Check - if it is and you refuse installation, they'll put you on the super-expensive variable tariff.

if not - result!

The email I had yesterday just said to call them to opt out if I didn't want one. I'll wait and see.

Moved into a house with a smart meter. We changed provider so now it's a dumb meter.

They are a waste of space

"If you need a machine to tell you lights cost money or the tumble drier costs money then you really shouldn’t be living alone!".

Wow. Thanks. I did actually know those things. We live in a large house and have dozens of electrical devices. Some new, some old. Some lights are still old incandescent ones, some LED. Sometimes the DCs will plug something in and forget to turn it off. Sometimes somebody will leave the light or the heater on in the attic all day or night. We're all busy.

Before the smart meter I knew all this stuff was using electricity, and if I had had the time I could have matched it up with the meter spinning round in the cupboard. But no, I sent my readings in once a month and promised myself that someday I'd sort everything out.

Now I have the meter, it sits there telling me how much is in use. If I'm using 1.5KW mid-morning then I'll go round until I find the rogue thing thats been left switched on. Would I have checked against the meter in the cupboard before taking hourly readings? Of course not. And because my spend in £££ is in front of me I take much greater care with what I use. And it has really made a difference. Our bill has dropped by a huge amount.

Not all meters can be converted to smart meters - I only found out after spending the whole day waiting in for British Gas to come for one (and their insistence, not my request). The guy said that actually they end up costing you money and he won’t have one in his house. It’s only benefitting the companies, and their direct marketing is sneaky, makes it sound like you have to have one which I imagine could catch a lot of people out,

I like it, I check the display regularly as it lives on the microwave.

My place already had smart meters, the display gadget wouldn't connect so it got thrown in a drawer.

I have a a key / card pre pay meter for my elecy and gas so no issues with me having to take and send meter readings .
At the moment my elecy meter is been a bit of a dick and I have to put the key in severlay times before the credit will go on so I phoned my provider and said they need to come out and have a look at it which is when they started on about having to fit a smart meter , this guy just would not let it go we were on the phone for 18 minuets at least 80% of that time was him telling me I had to get a smart meter .

His reasons - My response
You can see how much electric your kettle uses - i have a stove top kettle ( gas cooker )

See how much your tumble drier uses - don't have one

See how much your electric blanket uses don't have one

See how much your vac uses - got a robot vac that trickle charges so very little

See how much your TV uses - don't have one

See how much your hair drier uses Ok got me there, I do have and use one about three times a week .

He gave up in the end !

@ioioitsoff

No. No. A thousand times no!

Why we are being virtually frogmarched and bullied into all having one just baffles me.

Hell will freeze over before I have one voluntarily. ONE, because I don't fucking WANT one. And two, because I don't like being told what's best for me. And three, I don't like being bullied.

I used to work for an energy company:
Here's my pros:
Shows real time usage/hopefully driving down unnecessary consumption
Not having to provide readings
Accurate bills
No catch up bills
The meters themselves send very frequent readings which can identify trends in consumption & help identify problems: Eg sudden increase in usage can be pin pointed to a day/week/month...

& cons:
Some meters are not supported by other suppliers if you want to change
If you are in a poor signal area it may not work correctly and agents will still need to read

DickKerrLadies

The fact that they seem so obsessed with me having a smart meter that they offer it me for free and keep making appointments for me that I haven't asked for makes me fairly confident that it's completely for their benefit, not mine.

This is the same reason I have refused as well. Why are they so adamant that it's best to have one? Plus the second generation meters have only been out since March so some of the problems people had with the first generation ones may have been fixed but I don't feel so confident that all the problems have been sorted and I don't want to have to faff around waiting for an hour on hold to talk to someone to sort them out.

I think they're ridiculous. Takes energy itself and a plug. Plus if you live in a bad signal area they can't install them anyway as it won't work. So that's me thankfully not having to get one installed.

@SurvivingCBeebies (at 00.07.)

Most people are capable of controlling their energy usage without a smart meter. Most people I know have been doing it for 40 or 50 years or more. And as for 'not having to provide meter readings' being a 'positive....' Taking, and submitting a meter reading takes less than 2 minutes. 2 or 3 times a year. Big deal!

In our home, we have recently had new windows and new doors and a new heating system (well, 4-5 years ago,) and our bills are lower than ever. £60 per month for gas and electric combined.

Most people don't need - or WANT - a stupid little box informing us how much electric we are using to boil the kettle, toast 2 pieces of bread, or microwave a cup of soup.

They are a pointless and ridiculous waste of time, and they do not benefit the consumer.

They are also useless if you change providers.

I predict they will be defunct, and all in landfill, by the end of the 2020's.