Smart meters - good or bad?

[Allthenameshavegone1972]

What are your opinions on Smart Meters? I read of so many disadvantages that I really don't trust them. I read my meter myself & submit the readings monthly, in time for the bill to be generated.
I've been contacted today by Octopus Energy to change my meter as the RTS is being phased out. If I don't then my supply will be affected. This makes me so effing angry. We're being blackmailed into having a smart meter when we don't want one. 😡

....er....you seem very sure. Why will it happen?

No, but if is reading zero ypu know that’s wrong. Raise it immediately

You know they can do that anyway, right? Surely?

They're great just for information that you (the consumer) can get from them.

I get much cheaper energy because I can access cheaper tariffs. They're great.

@PointsSouth it's not the spying & all those conspiracy theories that I don't trust. I don't trust that they work properly, they never come out to fix them. They if you want to change suppliers it's a complete pita

Did you actually read my post!

We are also with Octopus and they keep emailing to say our meter is at the end of it's life (20 years) and we need to have it changed to a smart meter. After reading all the stories from people who've had them go wrong and send out ridiculously high bills, I am ignoring for as long as I can. I don't know whether all suppliers are trying to force the issus like Octopus is, but I would switch if it meant I didn't have to change over to a smart meter.

Yes. And if they told them it was reading zero and they could therefore see it was wrong they would have done something. Or your parents could have ‘overpaid’ to the tune of what they knew it was likely to be based on previous usage

No, I didn't think you were worried about conspiracy theories. I was addressing a couple of other posters.

To your worries - ours work fine, and we can change supplier in about twenty-five seconds on line, not that we're likely to, as the meters give us access to really good tariffs. Well, relatively good. Obviously all the tariffs are bloody terrifying these days.

I have a smart meter, have had one probably for the last 5 years maybe. What I noticed prior to getting one and it was the sole reason I got one is that I was having people come to the door on a near monthly basis to read the metre. Ir was so frequent it was intrusive and there was no underlying reason for it. I basically got one to stop that which it did.

I'm not against it in principle however my meter is in a dead spot they assure me "that's fine" I'm not reassured by this as all I've read seems to say that isn't fine anyway they keep ringing me to chase a meter change I keep telling them they need my landlords permission as it's classed as a material change to the property they then call me back same question same answer three times in one day was the record

@pencilcaseandcabbage apparently meters that use radio teleswitch technology will not work from the end of June 2025. This is because it's long wave radio & will be obsolete. Not having it replaced could affect hot water & heating supply, apparently. My mum is with Octopus too, on a normal gas & electric meter. Her electric meter is just a single meter though, whereas ours has day & night time reads. She's had no emails/phone calls to say she needs to change

We have solar panels and they still can’t guarantee there won’t be problems.

we won’t get a smart meter till this issue is resolved

still getting harassed regularly by Scottish Power though.

All the people who say they've had problems with their meters not working or sending wrong readings etc. As someone who used to temp at an energy company many (many) years ago as a student, I can assure you that those things happened an awful lot with the old dumb meters too. There was an entire team of us employed to try and figure out why people were being charged 10 times their usual amount, or not being charged at all...

Electricity companies can also cut off your electricity supply without your permission - and always have been able to - it's what they do if you don't pay your bill!

Changing suppliers is ok now as they shouldn't fit first generation ones.

What you need to do is ask your neighbours around you if they have one, does it work properly and whether the meters they have are similar to yours.

What on earth makes you think they didn't? They are elderly, not stupid.

Octopus were told multiple times that the meter was dead. The engineer that came out the first time said it was dead and would need to be replaced. It took months of chasing and the complaints process to get a new one fitted. Then more complaints over the outrageous bill.

Do you work for Octopus 😂

The trouble @Allthenameshavegone1972 is your RTS. Nothing to do with the energy companies, it's ofgem turning it off.
Yes, that means you need a new meter, so the decision has pretty much been removed from you. You need a new meter, so you will need to move to a smart meter.

Don’t be silly. Did they pay what they thought they might owe?

Interesting thread as I had yet another email from Octopus yesterday.

We have an Economy 7 tariff due to part of our property being heated by electric storage heaters. There is no mains gas in this hamlet.

I emailed a load of questions to Octopus so, should they bother to respond, I will post their replies.

In short, the mobile phone signal here is crap. There is some signal at the front of our house, but the meter is >10m away at the back, and the walls in between are stone. There is no signal near them. The wifi router signal does not reach it either. How does the "smart" meter send its signal if there is no mobile signal or wifi?

DH lectures in Electronics at Russell Group unis. He understands the systems. In short, the radio signal that switches the tariff is having to be stopped because nobody makes the switching gear any more. They are down to the last key components, hence the haste to get us all to switch. In principle, I don't really care, but until Octopus etc. answer my questions fully, they can do one.

The original smart meters had issues but they are now on 3rd generation ones with far less issues.
I have found we save money since having one (about £50 a month) as we changed habits but also can opt in to savings sessions with octopus etc.

I have a smart meter that sends the reading automatically to my supplier, which is great...but, it came with a smart reader that you could plug in to monitor usage in your home. It was handy at first, and interesting to see how much it cost to boil the kettle etc, but I became a bit obsessed with it and would check it every time i used something, so I unplugged it and it now sits in a drawer,

Dont have any problems with the readings getting to the supplier though

Electricity companies can also cut off your electricity supply without your permission - and always have been able to - it's what they do if you don't pay your bill! The difference is you know aboutand have the chance to dig out your recrds and demonstrate you’re not in arrears

Mine is great 👍

I absolutely refuse to have one. Am happy submitting my readings myself through the meter, and on the app.