Advantages of having a smart meter for electricity?

[Sandrine1982]

I have always been refusing to have a smart meter installed as I don't really see any advantages over the analog meter that we currently have. I don't really mind giving a meter reading every month and it gives me a sense of control over my spending.

Can people tell me what the advantages are of a smart meter? I keep getting emails from our supplier - they are very keen to have one installed !!

The only advantage I can see - but not sure if a smart meter allows this - is to be able to switch to a dual tarriff to benefit from cheaper electricty at night. Do smart meters always give this possibility?

If you want to get paid for solar generation it seems that a smart meter is required.

It would appear that British Gas are currently running ads saying that for a few hours on a Sunday their customers can benefit from half price electricity. I would assume you would need a smart meter for that.

We are on Octopus and we get periods of free electricity that we can only use as we have a smart meter - we had 11am-2pm on Friday and Saturday for instance, it is 2 or 3 hour blocks and we are only told when it will be the day before (because it is only when there is surplus on the grid) but it all comes in handy.

Pros

Less work
Can take part in energy saving sessions and earn money off by using less electricity during certain times (Octopus did a bunch last year, some with 48 hours notice, others with 2)
With an in home display unit I can instantly see the £ difference between the cost of a 30 degree wash, 60 etc, using the smallest ring on the cooker vs the largest - so I have far more control over what I spend

Cons

I sometimes find it depressing to come down in the morning and find the balance is already £1.30 for the day before we have done anything (just electricity)

How does giving a monthly meter reading give you a sense of control on your spending? You can still take a meter reading with a smart meter, you just don't have to report the reading because that's done automatically. Re duel tariff - not all suppliers offer fuel tariff & unless you have an all electric house it really won't be worth paying the much increased day unit price in order to get the night (or low rate) price for 7 hours overnight or 10 hours split across the day & night.

If you like having a sense of control over your spending then a smart meter is perfect - you can see what you are spending right now. You can see your spending in real time - and adjust it if you realise you can save by switching things off as you see the result instantly.
Much more control than just reading it once a month.

Plus you can get a range of other tariffs - even more elaborate than dual period with cheaper hours at various times of day. Octopus have various permutations of tariffs including discounts in some areas when the wind is blowing hard. You can also participate voluntarily in schemes over winter to reduce your demand in certain hours and get paid for not consuming British Gas are doing cheap weekend power etc.

It would be useful to know exactly how much a certain item is costing.

But I don't have one. The thought of watching the cost add up as my teenager has his desktop and 2 monitors whirring away for 12 hours whilst gaming is what puts me off. Surely there's something to be said for being blissfully ignorant, even if it's only for a while?!

Something pushed so aggressively, imo is not for our benefit.

@Paddleboarder you don't have to have the IHD (the screen that shows you the cost) plugged in if you don't want to see it! The smart meter doesn't need that in order to work - it sends the information to your energy company separately. The little screen is an optional extra.

Equipment like this doesn't really cost a lot to run, to be fair to your kid. My other half has what I assumed would be really energy sucking kit, and it does not.

It's things that heat things up that cost the most: ovens, kettles, hobs, tumble dryers, electric showers, plug in radiators, hairdryers, and so forth.

We get half price electricity on Sundays between 11 and 4. That alone makes it worth having, particularly if you time lots of cooking washing etc to go on during that time (and we also charge up our battery)

In fact apart from the conspiracy theory stuff I’m not sure what a negative would be

I don't really see any advantages over the analog meter that we currently have..... it gives me a sense of control over my spending.

Surely having a little device in the corner of the room which shows the difference of having the heating on for a couple of hours, and not having it on, would be more illuminating?

I'n much more frugal this way; in the summer we were only using around £3 of energy a day, but putting the heating on for an hour or two easily tips it over £5. I'm much less inclined to put it on and more inclined to find a fleecey jacket instead.

We held off getting one until we had solar panels installed and we were advised to have one. I find it quite useful as when you are using a high wattage piece of equipment the red light comes on. It encourages/reminds me to only put the amount of water I need in the kettle to boil or not to get distracted playing on my phone when I'm in the middle of ironing! I can see on a daily basis how much electricity I'm using on the app on my phone too.
So far I haven't found any negatives.

Agreed. I have always resisted smart meters - I can't see the point. If I want to use less fuel, I'll just turn stuff off.

I have solar panels and don't have a smart meter. I definitely get paid.

A friend had a smart meter that went haywire and failed to register any electricity usage for her property, she ended up with a £3000 plus bill before it was sorted out.

I'm not really seeing any advantages to having one.

If you are on an old FIT for your solar, then this is fine.

If you are only getting Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) then you would earn more money if you had a smart meter as you can go sell on export tariffs that pay a higher rate.

Open to error possibly

100% This.

The monitor that you have in your house with a smart meter, especially if you are on a budget, is useful. But if it breaks after 12 months the supplier won’t replace it and you can’t buy a new one.

Even more valuable, if you have basic spreadsheet skills, is the ability to download all your usage data, in 30 minute segments, and be able to run analyses on it.

This can indicate spikes where energy usage is increasing unexpectedly and help you to address them. A couple of examples included an old Panasonic PVR that was using an unusually high amount of energy, and son's bass amp!

Still a good few tin hat wearers around, I see.

I have six hours power a day at 16p/Kwh as opposed to standard rate of 28p. I run my washing machine, dishwasher etc in those hours and heat up the water cylinder then so all my main usage is done at cheap rate. I also charge laptop and other things then.

Bill for a 2 bed entirely electric house for the October just ended is 38 quid and it is a consistent 21c all day.

I'd say that was quite a benefit for having a smart meter!

@CrochetedOwl if you are with Octopus and your screen stops working, you can get them to send you a home mini which is a small pink square that you plug in and then it sends usage live to your phone app so replaces the screen.

@MojoMoon but I don’t want an app ~my phone is crap and will probably combust if I try to download anything else~ plus I liked the monitor on my counter so the whole family could see our usage. It was a good visual tool for us all.

Are you sure Octopus aren’t just out of stock and not telling you? When I asked for one, they said ‘we don’t have any, and when we do, we have so many people on the waiting list that we can’t even add you to it.’ Then one just arrived in the post two months later.

They are pushed hard because they don't need to send someone out to take a meter reading or rely on you remembering to submit a meter reading.

Smart Meters generally also encourage households to use less fuel. I really like being able to see my usage in real time. I have realised that some appliances I used to worry about using are actually only costing pennies to run. I can see how much cheaper it is to use the air fryer than the oven. I have noticed appliances accidentally left running in the children's bedrooms because I've spotted the usage increasing on the meter.