Anyone asked for their smart meter to change to dumb mode

[MissCeltic]

I am with EON is it likely they will agree to it.

What's the reasoning for not wanting a smart meter? I dont think they like to as they have targets so I'd imagine it depends on the reasoning.

Why do you want to do that?

We have a smart meter that sends in the readings, but the screen that shows me daily use has been in the drawer since the day it arrived. I've never used it - it's optional if that's what you mean?

I have our meter set to only send readings once a month, rather than a million times a day. Means I can’t take part in peak-save offers but to us it doesn’t work out anyway so I’m not too fussed!

I guess I am just confused about all of this. I have a direct debit where I pay £142 a month and I never gave readings so it was just an estimate.

That means if my smart meter shows over £5 a day then my direct debit will be higher. Looks like it will be cheaper for me to get estimate bills.

But estimated bills are incorrect.
so - even if it’s cheaper - eventually you will need to pay what you have used.

Are you talking about your in home display?
At the end of the day you will pay for what you use so it makes no difference whether the meter is smart or dumb. Just because you pay a certain amount by direct debit doesnt mean that amount covers your usage

They won't let you change back to an old meter now they've installed the smart meter. Even if it breaks, they'll install like for like first. They'd only install a traditional one back in in exceptional circumstances eg no signal for smart meter or something, repeated errors and power cuts, emergency install. I worked for SSE when it was around.

Go on a price comparison site and see if there's a better tariff for you.

Your Direct Debit needs to cover what you are using. Your energy supplier aren’t going to allow you to underpay them. That’s not a justifiable reason to have your meter in dumb mode.

@MissCeltic the smart meter should be sending readings so your bill will be based on actual readings and wont be an estimate.
Whether the amount you pay covers your usage is another matter!

When I shop at Tesco, it might be cheaper for me if the checkout operator estimates the cost of what’s in my trolley. Does that sound fair?

If your direct debit is lower than your monthly usage according to your smart meter, then you are underpaying. Switching back to estimates would not be better- you might pay less for a while because you’re underpaying each month, but the underpayments will accumulate and your energy company will eventually require a meter reading. When that happens, you will need to pay the shortfall. That can end up being a substantial amount of money if you underpay for several months.

But, that means that when there is a reading done, you'll have a huge bill to pay.

@MissCeltic can you adjust your budget on your smart meter?? Also it should send meter readings so you get an accurate bill. Estimated ones are useless

All you’re doing is kicking the can down the road and getting further behind. If estimates are cheaper then they are wrong and you will get a catch-up bill when a proper read is submitted, either by you or third party meter reader and have to find potentially hundreds of pounds in one go. Estimates are only used pending a proper meter read, not as the sole method of billing.

You can't just keep estimating bills the company will want real readings whether from a smart meter or you reading the meters yourself eventually. Also a lot of dumb meters were losing compatibility with the timer signal so had to be replaced, there is no going back once the meters have been changed. The display you see is just that, so that you can see how much energy you are using and how much it costs. The meters themselves send the readings to the companies.

I'm surprised you didn't find you owed them money when they took the final readings from the old meters and corrected the estimated values, if you have been under paying for a while.

Of course it's also winter now and your DD may well be under in the winter and over in the summer but averages your usage over the year. You will be able to check on your bill whether you are in credit or debit, if you fall too far behind they will up your DD and if you get too far into credit you can ask them to reduce your DD.

If you're on a fixed DD then the Energy Company work out your monthly payments based on the amount of energy it thinks you will use over the next 12 months based on the amount you have used previously. Your readings will be higher now because it's winter and you have the heating on. It will balance out over 12 months. Making sure they have accurate readings at least monthly means you will get accurate bills and your DD will be set at the right amount.

When I was getting the estimate bills the guy from the company would come round and do a meter check but my DD amount never changed. Is that strange🙈

Do you understand how energy billing works?

I’d recommend you take some time to look at your bills and get to grips with how energy payments and billing work.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/understanding-energy-bills/

No it’s not strange

Just contact your energy supplier. Explain you have a smart meter and you don’t like it because you are being charged for your correct energy usage. Say you would like the meter replaced at their expense with one that doesn’t report your energy usage to them, because you want to pay only for low estimates that are less than you actually use.