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?

Smart meters are needed for any time of use tarriffs like agile or tracker. Some serious money to be saved

Most of the cheaper tariffs require them and you don’t need to send manual readings. I used to be resistant but gave up so we now have one but I don’t plug in the unit my end (long story but it doesn’t show proper readings for me but the electric company get the correct readings)

I'm on octopus and I don't get this. How??

It's only certain parts of the country at the moment https://octopus.energy/power-ups/ but they are trying to expand it.

they’re really helpful for the country in terms of strain on the grid. As well as the British Gas half price energy on Sundays between 11am and 4pm (to encourage you to divert your use to when the pressure on the grid is low), they also do periods in the winter when strain is high when you get paid to turn off. In some of the sessions last year we made about £7 because they then double the saving. It was also quite nice switching everything off and just sitting by the fire playing cards by candlelight.

I agree. Eon have not left me alone for years over this, even though ive told them 10+ i do not want one. Its aggressive. They even sent me 2 emails, 1 text within a week telling me theyre helping people , Knocking money off bills etc one of conditions is having smart meter (small print at end) .angered me...must think im daft. Proper cloak and dagger stuff. Again...i said NO its financial blackmail for people on low income those emails and text..im not down with it. Take my name from your smart meter list!!!....again

Ah, thankyou @OddBoots - I will keep an eye out.

I have an electric smart meter, advantages are that you can sometimes get cheaper electricity at certain times, be aware though that if the in home display breaks after a year you will not be supplied with a new one, you will have to source your own at your own cost, probably from eBay or somewhere like that.

I still have my old gas dumb meter as I can't see any advantage to getting a smart gas meter, they rely on the electric meter to work properly, ours is a few metres away from the electric so could be more problematic, can run out of battery so need an engineer for that and as far as I know there are no cheap gas periods for having one. I just supply my gas reading every month or two.

If you want to check how much electricity an item consumes, but don't have a smart meter, a smart plug such as Eve will tell you this (plus the cumulative cost) via a smartphone app.

Smart meters are being pushed mainly because energy providers are required to by the government (who in turned were required to by an EU directive).

However it is a good thing for both individual consumers and for the country.

I love my smart meter. I can see exactly what I am using and spending in real time. I don't need to bother taking and sending in meter readings. I can access online stats so I can see peaks in usage and spending by tne day. I can take part in the peak demand tariffs getting rewarded for reducing use at peak times.

More widely they do save money over all - more accurate billing, no need for in person readings. The bigger prize is it allows better demand management on the grid - energy companies can see in real time where usage peaks and troughs are and respond accordinging. They are essential to the transition to more renewable energy and more decentralised and responsive energy system.

TL:DR they are not a conspiracy but a way to make our energy system more efficient and reaponsive to demand.

There are some old meters which rely on a radio signal which is being switched off in March. If you have an RTS meter (it is estimated 800,000 are still in use) it needs replacing

@User18598390 my gas meter is outside the back of my flat on my balcony and my electricty meter is on the other side of the flat in a purpose built meter cupboard by the front door (neither of them are actually inside my flat at all!). I have no issues with either of them working or communicating with the display.

That's good to know as I may have to have one sometime as mine is old it's around 1980 Parkinson Cowen meter so may be deemed obsolete at some time and our electric is probably about 6 metres away. Gas is under the stairs and electric at front of house in cupboard by porch. I have nothing against a gas meter but couldn't see much advantage of it.

Mine isnt. Ive done my research

They keep kicking the can down the road with the RTS signal going off, it's been happening for a few years now and hasn't

Some people like the extra info on what they are using, others find it too much. Like i don’t need to know how much my washing machine is costing me because I still need to do the washing.

The main advantage may be energy companies who offer a tariff to get lower price electricity during certain days/hours.

I personally don’t have smart metere as I used to work for an energy company and all I saw was complaints about how they had stopped working/weren’t taking readings. Like you, i’m happy to take my own readings. The companies are trying to force it as they have targets.

Eventually it will. They are currently saying march 2024.

Eon are badgering me about the "signal going off" and needing to replace my meter with a smart meter. I've been ignoring them as I can't be arsed with the faff. Plus I don't actually want a smart meter - presumably I don't have to have the monitor part that tells me how much I'm using? I don't want to know - I use what electricity I need to use (yes, I'm lucky that I don't need to worry). I'm the sort of person who would obsess with it if I could see what I was using.

The IHD (the display that shows how much you are using/spending) is completely separate from the meter. If you don't want to see what you are using/spending then you can switch it off. It won't make any difference to how your meter works.

Stick the ihd (the bit which tells you what you are currently using) in a drawer

Carry on as before

That's what I assumed was the case but wasn't sure

If you have an rts meter get it booked in now

If the signal does go off there will be around 800,000 people clamoring for smart meters when their meters stop working and not enough engineers to fit them

You want to be ahead of that curve

We don't have one, I can read a meter and do a bit of maths to work out what we are using and what it costs, and I don't mind sending meter readings every month, my supplier doesn't offer lower rates at certain times anyway, so I can't see any advantage to our household. Doesn't a smart meter give the power company more control? As in they can remotely switch your meter to pay as you go if they choose? Does any power company still employ people to go around reading meters?

Have a search for the thread where people compare their savings on the random times where they get half price energy. It's literally pennies. 😂

I got £7 from the 1 hour energy turn down a few weeks back

I am on agile and my average electric unit rate last month was 6.49p