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? 🙏

Yep
Me too.
Love it.
Didn't want to initially.
I still take readings and it's spot on.

On demand pricing, as we shift to greater use of renewables, that's the way energy pricing is going to go to harness natural weather conditions and encourage people to use more energy when the wind blows and less energy when we have to fire up the coal plants or import energy from other countries. I think that's really the future of energy for the foreseeable. If we want to transition away from 'dirty' energy then our usage habits need to change to be more adaptable and flexible, really. And that's why smart meters are inevitable as there's no other way to manage it.

Yes exactly this. Nobody but nobody gets it.

Theyre not paying to put an expensive meter in your house because it suits you, it’s because it suits them.

Wverything else is a short term manipulation to get you to switch.

Its fine. Track your usage for two whole years (you should have this data on your bills if you give accurate readings).

Have a smart meter.

You can still read it and cross check it.

So it's a training device?

It’s a control and extraction device.

Like pp's I can really reccomend the octopus agile tariff, its great if you have someone working from home and can save a ton.

If you do most your cooking etc during peak times its going to be less of a benefit but why not look into the available tariffs with and without?

In terns of the operation of the meters someone has explained this is often because people get landed with a massive final bill when the meter is changed due to not having provided readings.

As for getting cut off maliciously, I'm in the industry and can say I'm a lot more concerned with infrastructure overloading and capacity to meet demand than someone shutting off my power even though my bills are paid up. Being able to collect half hourly data from domestic meters is a big help in managing this.

I've got one for electric, they could t for the gas one , I was hesitant but actually I like having it.

I can monitor usage, it has been interesting to see what's expensive to use and what's not and I generally feel more in control with having one.

Not really training as such but a device to encourage flexibility on short notice to maximise weather conditions. Those conditions are variable day to day and season to season.

If you can say to people, hey it's a windy day in the north of Scotland today so we have excess energy from renewables we can't store (because battery storage is an issue that they are being very slow to solve, partly because no one wants the storage sites built near them and partly because the previous government have done badly implementing infrastructure), so between 10am and 4pm your energy is free or 1/3rd of the price or whatever then people will adjust their usage to make the most of it. Instead of charging their car or doing their washing at 7pm, when demand is at its peak and we often have to fire up coal plants or buy in energy from France etc, they might adjust to do it earlier in the day and use the excess energy and reduce demand at peak times. But the only way to monitor and bill for that is a smart meter.

That's been happening on a smallish scale with Octopus Agile for a couple of years and the results have been pretty good. Allowing consumers to adapt usage to solve problems around excess energy and conversely lack of energy has meant that prices can be lower for many and that the reliance on dirty energy is reduced.

Last week, they paid me to use energy three days in a row as it was so windy they can't store the energy and need it to be used or they have to pay to get rid of it, or pay to switch turbines off etc.

Of course the reverse is also true on Agile wherein peak time rates tend to be a lot higher to dissuade usage, which could be an issue for those who have no choice but to use energy then.

Yes, it wasn't long ago there were preparations publicised for a strategy for rolling blackouts should they be needed during the winter. We've seen how vulnerable we still are to world events when it comes to our gas supply and the effect on wholesale pricing and high demand, and demand flexibility is a way to mitigate that.

No way I'm having one.

I find the paranoia over smart meters hilarious. I know someone who because she refuses to get one and still has an old fashioned key top up is constantly running to the shop to put electric on and it running out at odd times. My bills have always been cheaper and just hassle free, no issues whatsoever and I've never lost supply. In various properties.

I'm assuming you don't have a smart phone then? Because that can track you both inside and outside your home?

Wait and see what happens.

You know it's not actually that much harder to switch off your supply if you are on an old style meter. Takes a day or two to arrange to send someone out but really no big deal.

Had one for years to get a great deal on nighttime usage tariff. Off peak tariffs are cheaper for a reason much in the same way too good to go bags and yellow stickers are but it’s difficult to match demand at certain times of the year due to lack of investment and forethought for energy security in the UK.

As shown last year with the potential for rolling blackouts, changing our behaviour slightly can have a significant impact on grid demand (and it actually had little to no impact on my life) so rolling power cuts were not required. Some folk just don’t like being told what to do and when to do it so it depends on which side of the fence you sit. I’m firmly on the smart meter (and the significantly lower cost to me) side. Any issues I have had with missing smart readings have been sorted with an email.

Those rolling blackouts by the way would affect a whole area - the mysterious ‘they’ are pratting about turning off number 16 with the smart meter.

I don't want one, and will resist until I have to have one, but I’m wondering how much ‘choice’ you have in where it’s positioned? I don’t want to have to have a lump of plastic where a work man decides it’s going.

They go where your current meter is and are the same size and looks very similar to what you already have.

I've resisted for years but finally had to as my old meter was out of calibration. Did my research and found out I had to change it at some point so took the plunge. A nice young man fitted the new meter in the same location as the old one two werks ago. I declined both the internal display and his energy saving advice on the basis that I'm old enough to have worked out that turning things off saves energy!

Can you explain why a power supplier might cut you off remotely?

If you're in debt and not engaging they'll switch a smart meter to prepay and yes, they can do that remotely. However if you have a 'dumb' meter they'll still put you on prepay but get a warrant and break in to do it.

I did some energy advice training a few years ago and we were told the number of people having their supply terminated for non payment is tiny. The big and hidden problem is people who are 'self disconnecting' because they can't afford to keep their meter in credit.

Mine is outside behind a plastic door. I thought smart meters were a small lump of plastic with a screen on the front, that generally sat on a table in your hall.

Thats the consumer unit which displays your usage etc. Its very small and you can refuse it or more sensibly if you dont want to use it just put it in a draw and ignore its existence, at least then you have it if you change your mind.

Smart meters just look like standard meters with an extra box attached to send readings. They go wherever your current meters are.

The little display unit is an optional customer device and doesn't have to be used at all.

News media uses pics of the display units to illustrate smart meters as they look 'smart' and actual smart meters just look like, well, meters.

This is a smart meter. Quite a few people don't even realise they have one as the in-house display units often go missing between house moves when people bin them or take them with them to a new house even though they're paired to a specific meter.

Laws or no laws, that's exactly what they have been doing.

Often based on fantasy bills.

You would surely leave your front door wide open all night because 'trespassing is illegal' and so there is nothing to worry about?