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? 🙏

I waited months to get mine! Solar so need for the export.

I am a geek and have tracked what the meter says against the imported figures on my solar system. I can report that they are identical so no concerns about accuracy.

@ThirdStorm if you got a smart meter you could analyse your usage on a daily basis is your octopus app. You'll find it fascinating!

Conveniently missing this paragraph:

*If you need to replace your old-style meter because it’s unsafe, you might not be able to refuse a smart meter. This is because not many old-style meters are made now - your supplier might not have any in stock.

THIS! No WAY will I be having smart meters. The energy suppliers can shove them where the sun don't shine. Sooooooo many reasons to not have them, including the ability to have my power switched off remotely. How worrying that SO many people have been brainwashed by this bullshit that everyone should have them because they're 'better' than the old meters. Hint: they're really not!

Anyway it's sort of an irrelevant argument as everyone will end up with smart meters, just like we've all ended up with mobile phones and flat screen TVs. It's the inevitable march of technology and you either embrace it (and those of us who are early adopters have been able to save a lot of money thanks to time of use tariffs) or you get dragged along licking and screaming with it.

Traditional meters are deprecated technology.

*kicking! And maybe licking too

There will ALWAYS be a credit meter or prepayment meter of some kind in stock .. If they say there isn't, they are LYING to force you to have a smart meter.

If my supplier claims they 'only have smart meters' I will switch suppliers, because I will know that is utter bollocks.

Calm down dear, it's just inevitable.

To those who say you won't ever have one, it really it won't be your choice. In the next decade, you'll likely all have them or else you'll be living off grid. So unless you're all ancient, you'll likely spend a significant part of your life with a smart meter or live in the dark.

I know you are not talking to me but for anyone else that is interested. A credit meter is just a meter I dont know why this poster thinks they are different.

Prepaynent meters are just a different type of meter but they are still smart. So no these won't be an option as there will not be any type of meter that isn't smart.

You will however be able to have the smart meter in 'dumb mode' where it just acts as a normal meter. This is necessary because some homes literally cannot support the smart functionality due to connection issues etc.

👏 Weird isn't it how terribly annoyed some people get when other people say they don't want them/will never have them. Like it's a personal slur on them. I think they're just miffed because they've been conned into having them and they regret it. 😆

LMFAO! 😂

Same. Ive refused one..many times. Told them to stop bothering me. It is not mandatory no matter how much they push it on you. I worked at CAB and the amount of service users that came in with issues with smart meters was too large too ignore.

Oh yes they can. It happened to us . There was a mix up when we switched suppliers and power was cut off without warning . We contacted the emergency number who confirmed it wasn’t a power cut, contacted the supplier who confirmed it was them .

Oh well, if Nigel Farage says not to get one.... 😂 😂 😂

It's true, I've been conned into saving £1000 and I was too ashamed to admit it.

I don't really care if people have smart meters as if more people have them then the demand pricing might go up and that would increase my bills, and I'm happy paying half of what people with traditional meters pay anyway so it's probably better for me that people remain ignorant about them from a selfish perspective.

But I don't like all the bogus information that people repeat from Nigel Farage videos or weird Facebook rabbit holes, it's just incorrect 🤷‍♀️ and pointless really as it's inevitable, they don't manufacture traditional meters as a matter of course now so eventually when current traditional meters reach end of life, they are legally obligated to replace them and it will be with smart meters. Suppliers don't have to offer traditional meters and they will almost certainly entirely stop fitting any within five years or so.

There is an option , when /if mandatory that when you have one that it won't be 'smart' but rather that function can be removed. Dumb meter. You have to request that..unless where you live has bad wifi...like my home, countryside and smart meters not advisable nor of any use. I wouldn't choose to have 1 anyway.

I certainly don’t use loyalty cards.
Don’t have a smart meter either.

Decommissioning means it doesn't send reads but I believe it doesn't entirely lose its smart functionality as it needs to send some info about battery levels etc. If it's just the read-sending you're worried about then it's a good solution, but if it's the whole package then decommissioning may not be a perfect solution.

Must admit I'm laughing at the posts what are saying tough shit, you'll be getting one anyway. It'll be forced on you....

Oh well then just illustrate our point beautifully.

Nothing pushed so aggressively is for our benefit.

I agree to that 100%

Same here. When it's windy electricity is often very cheap (under 5p) or even negative. It's very expensive at peak times but we work round that. I have solar and batteries as well.

I don't really have strong feelings either way on whether they should be 'forced' or not tbh. I think it's fair enough people can say no to them, which they can when their meter is in date, and that's how it should be. But I don't think you'll put the genie back in the box when it comes to the technology, same with everything else in the world. Technology doesn't go backwards in that respect, and now smart meters exist, they won't ever not exist and traditional meters are considered outdated technology that no one wants to make. Same as no one goes back to analogue phones, CRT TVs, etc.

So while it's true we will all have them at some point, I think it's fair enough for people who don't want them right now to be allowed to say so. But the issue with the end of life meters is that they won't manufacture old technology to replace them and that won't change, so there's little point in declaring you won't ever have one because that's not going to be possible, whether that's a good thing or not.