Smart meters - should I get one?

[dickdarstardlymuttley]

I'm inundated by messages from my utility company telling me to get a smart meter. I have heard bad things. What's your view please? 🙏

We've had one for a year or more and it's fine. No need to read the meter and report the figures every month and it also does the intermediate reads when the tariff cap has moved up or down.

The in house display is useful as a reminder of what appliances use and has incentivised us to be much more careful to use only minimum water in the kettle and around using the hot tap in the kitchen.

What have you heard that's bad?

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I heard talk that the meters could be inaccurate and that was a concern.

I am on octopus agile - a smart meter tarrif

Octopus are paying me to use electric for 13 hours today. This is not an everyday occurrence but due to the storms over the last week as there has been an excess of energy in the grid. Agile works best when it is windy so autumn is usually fantastic on this tarrif

There are some dynamic price tarrifs (tracker and agile) which offer substantial discounts on energy if you can be agile in your usage and avoid or limit the use of peak rate electric (4pm to 7pm)

I work from home so I can take advantage.

My smart meter has literally saved me thousands since I had it installed in 2021 by opening up the world of smart tarrifs and dynamic pricing

If you have a smart meter and are interested in agile or tracker and not with octopus. Below link will net you £50 for joining as a new customer (I also get £50). Agile and tracker are not for everyone and only work if you can be dynamic with your usage.

Use this link to sign up to Octopus - share.octopus.energy/grape-rain-175

Thank you @forgotmyusername1 that's really helpful 🙏

Smart Meters are as accurate as normal meters. The main issue with them initially was once they were put in by one supplier if you moved supplier you lost the smart functionality but the new generation of smart meters being installed now don't have that problem.

We have one and its fine, saves sending readings each month. We dont bother with the inhouse display unit anymore. Ours was constantly only showing one fuel (although the readings were going over to Octopus OK). So didn't see the point and it didn't change the way we used appliances anyway, so its now packed away

Joining thread as I have same dilemma. Octopus keep asking me if I want a smart meter. But I don’t, I love my monthly meter readings - it forces me to look at my usage and compare year or year which I think helps me to be vigilant on usage. However one day I think I’d like an electric car so I know I will need a smart meter plus I know I’m missing out on better tariffs… although feeling smug as I’m on a fix with octopus which is on the current cap so I won’t pay more come october! Like you I’ve heard about them not working so you have to do meter readings anyway - my sisters smart meter has never worked and BG don’t want to know.

I’m on Octopus I have a smart meter I like it

I have brought my bills down by over £70 a month using a smart meter. I became aware of what was costing a lot and adjusted the behaviour.

The older ones definitely had issues but the new ones are much more reliable.
I still also submit monthly readings even though I don't have to (it takes it directly from the reader). I do this to force a bill so I can keep an eye on it rather then be hit with a big quarterly one and risk the direct debit shooting through the roof

Hell will freeze over before I get one. They can switch off your power remotely and there is nothing you can do about it. Also, they have form for constantly giving incorrect readings. Pushing people into debt. Don't be bullied by your energy provider. Tell them you don't want one, and to STOP bothering you about it!

This attitude confuses me. Energy supplier cannot just cut you off remotely with no warning and no reason. There a re laws and regulations that prevent this behaviour.

No they cant.

I have an Octopus one and it reads electricity but not gas (meters are at the front end back of the house) so I still have to submit gas readings.

What exactly do you mean by form for giving incorrect readings? I don't have one and would be interested in the research on that, like the OP my provider keeps asking me to change and so far it's inertia that's stopping me but I wasn't aware of widespread errors

Same here. We had a new bathroom recently and I asked the electrician if he would have one. The answer was definitely not for the reasons above.

Why would you accept your energy usage being monitored at half-hour rates by your energy supplier? Why would you sign up to have your home, your presence in your home and your activities in your home being constantly monitored and registered, and potentially accessed by hackers and criminals?

Had one for years and it is great

Early ones needed to be replaced if you switched supplier and also had to be replaced as they became obsolete but other than that, has been perfectly reliable.
The in house display is handy to see what you are currently consuming.

For some reason I still check the actual meter readings monthly by reading the meter rather than the in house display. Don't know why I do and it has never been wrong but some old habits are hard to break.😆

I assume you dont use any loyalty cards either then?

Hard no. Don’t do it OP.

The pushy “sell” tells you all you need to know. It’s not to benefit you, that’s for sure.

Eventually the choice will be out of your hands anyway. The meters do not belong to you they belong to the energy company and need changing every so many years for safety. When your meters time is up the energy company will replace them with whatever meter they want.

I don't want one. It's not rocket science to know which appliances use more energy. I find it bizarre that people save money if they have one. Did you have all your lights on 24/7 before you got one? I also don't want another chunk of plastic in my house. Let's save the planet... by mass-producing chunks of plastic for people to have in their homes!

I'm perfectly capable of reading my own metres and keeping on top of my energy bills. Every time they ring and ask if I want one, I say no. There's always a stunned silence.

My meters have years of life left in them. Why would I have them removed, replaced and scrapped/shipped to India for recycling? "to help the environment "...

smart meters are so that energy suppliers can introduce surge pricing (presenting it as reductions for off peak usage)

Meters being replaced after their "life" has run out is not a new thing to get smart meters into the home (although now that is what they will replace it with) it has being going on long before that. And as the meter is not your property if you refuse access the energy company can apply for a warrant to force entry to change it.

Unless everytime you're ring its by someone on their very first call of their first day on the job of course there's not a stunned silence, don't make stuff up, they speak to customers day in day out don't want smart meters, no one in a smart meter call centre is even the tiniest bit surprised when a customer says no.

Mine has saved me hundreds, possibly closing in on a thousand pounds now, due to smart tariffs but I'm happy for those who don't understand them to remain ignorant so I can continue to get cheap energy