New smart meters, worth getting now?

[LadyDanburysHat]

I have fought getting a smart meter for a long time as we regularly change provider and they would have been a waste of time. Not to mention not having the signal in my home for it to send readings.

I have recently moved house and my new energy provider wants to fit a 2nd gen smart meter that will apparently work if you change suppliers. Any reason not to get one of these?

anoyone?

It depends on what you expect of a smart meter.

They don’t actually ‘save’ you any energy etc as the hype sometimes claims, but what they do is to present the information about what you are using.

You can conduct any energy savings with or without a smart meter - but with the start meter you can see how the ‘load’ changes

The incompatibility of older generation smart meters meant that on change of supplier you would need a new one that worked for your new supplier, if a new one now is suitable for your subsequent supplier then landfill is reduced

We have one (a second generation one) and I have always liked it. We have changed provider more than once since getting it and it still works.

We also have solar panels and it shows what is happening with those too.

Our smart meter hasn’t worked for 12 months and we are having massive difficulties getting it replaced. Our payments keep being increased based on estimates and it’s driving me mad.

Just got a second gen smart meter from Eon Next and I'm happy that it mean no more slogging outside in the rain to read the meter every month. I am now addicted to watching the reading go up and down as I turn things on and off, and it's certainly highlighting the appliances that use loads of electricity. I've started switching things off to try and get it as low as possible!

Thanks for the comments. It's helpful to make a decision. I don't expect wonders from it, but it would stop me needing to send monthly meter readings.