Should I get a smart meter?

[Guineveretoo]

I have been thinking of getting a smart meter for my gas and electricity because it is such a pain (literally, in my case) reading the meter and I understood that smart meters automatically tell the company how much you have used.

But a chap came to read my meters yesterday and, without prompting from me, said I should not get one. He said that you can't transfer to another company if you have got one, he said that they often break, he said that I would still need to read the meters, and he said that they would be in exactly the same place as they are now.

I have only been holding off booking the installation of one because of covid, since I am vulnerable, but I think I am now ready. Today, I got an email reminder that I can get a smart meter fitted for free.

But I am confused now.

Should I get one?

Do any of you guys already have one?

 

[Espresso]

I've got one and it isn't in the same place as the gas and electric meters. The gas meter is outside and the electric meter is in a cupboard under the stairs, while the smart meter is on a side table in the front room that also has the phone and the internet router on it. I have had for about eighteen months and I've never had to read the meters.

No idea about how often they break or what effect it has on being able to change suppliers, so I can't say anything about that.

 

[gentlegreen]

I won't be getting one - I'll leave it to whoever lives here after me.
There's no benefit to you - and cheap LED lightbulbs may end up costing you more to run ...
Bulb are starting to annoy me with emails about them - time for a filter methinks ...

 

[Looby]

Ours is just a box that npower sent us to plug in so no installation needed.
We also don’t have to read our meters now which is a bonus.
We’re about to switch supplier so I don’t know what happens there, maybe the new supplier gives you a new smart device and we return the old one? I really don’t think that’s a barrier to switching, I thought it would make it much easier.

 

[two sheds]

No use me getting a smart meter because there's no mobile coverage in the valley. I've heard stories about it being difficult to transfer supplier. That's true of the first-generation meters (SMETS 1) but second generation (SMETS 2) apparently don't have that problem. I think some suppliers are still installing first generation meters though.

I find the ads somewhat annoying with the little kiddies pleading with us to save the planet by installing the things. Suppliers mainly (as I understand it) want them so that they don't need to employ meter readers any more. Mind you readings are pretty well all estimated now anyway.

They supposedly help balance out electricity usage because you can see the meter reading and so switch off stuff at expensive times. Not sure that's too useful because withouth them you can just not switch stuff on at expensive times. In future suppliers will want to switch your equipment off remotely again to balance out electricity usage. Not sure I'd want them to do that either though.

Would be interested to hear of any actual environmental benefits.

 

[platinumsage]

TBF a meter reader is bound to tell you not to get a meter which sends its readings directly to the supplier without the need for a meter reader to come and visit you.

 

[two sheds]

And the energy supplier is bound to tell you there are environmental benefits so they can get rid of meter readers.

 

[moochedit]

I think the thing about changing suppliers was with the first generation smart meters as the various companies systems were not compatible. You could still change supplier but the meter would stop being a smart meter (unless new supplier replaced it with their own smart meter). I belive newer smart meters are now standardised so can move suppliers.

I have had smart meters for both gas and electric with SSE about 5 years now with no issues (although i suspect my meters are first gen but i haven't changed suppliers).

I don't really care who knows how much elec/gas etc that i use each hour so never worried about the "big brother" stuff.

 

[two sheds]

I don't really care who knows how much elec/gas etc that i use each hour so never worried about the "big brother" stuff.

No, but there were concerns that they're not totally secure so that burglars could find out if nobody was at home. Not sure how valid they were though.

 

[Epona]

No use me getting a smart meter because there's no mobile coverage in the valley. I've heard stories about it being difficult to transfer supplier. That's true of the first-generation meters (SMETS 1) but second generation (SMETS 2) apparently don't have that problem. I think some suppliers are still installing first generation meters though.

I find the ads somewhat annoying with the little kiddies pleading with us to save the planet by installing the things. Suppliers mainly (as I understand it) want them so that they don't need to employ meter readers any more. Mind you readings are pretty well all estimated now anyway.

They supposedly help balance out electricity usage because you can see the meter reading and so switch off stuff at expensive times. Not sure that's too useful because withouth them you can just not switch stuff on at expensive times. In future suppliers will want to switch your equipment off remotely again to balance out electricity usage. Not sure I'd want them to do that either though.

Would be interested to hear of any actual environmental benefits.

Re the bolded and enlarged bit - what???? That has to not be serious, surely? Anyone turns anything of mine off remotely I'm going to go postal.

I do have quite high leccy usage but that is because my computer is running most of the time, but I am actually using it. (Barely use any gas mind you).

 

[platinumsage]

If turning everyone’s freezer off for five minutes occasionally means we don’t need to build an extra power station to cover those peaks surely that’s a good thing?

 

[Epona]

If turning everyone’s freezer off for five minutes occasionally means we don’t need to build an extra power station to cover those peaks surely that’s a good thing?

The energy company is welcome to put solar panels on our block, we have a large area of flat roof and I can't imagine the council would object.

 

[platinumsage]

The energy company is welcome to put solar panels on our block, we have a large area of flat roof and I can't imagine the council would object.

Solar power won’t help at 6pm in December, that’s kinda the point - with the increased use of wind and solar we need to cater for times when consumption is high and it’s also calm and dark. The current method is mainly gas turbines and farms of diesel generators combined with asking large factories to go offline. If we are phasing out fossil fuels, reducing domestic demand is a useful extra tool.

 

[l'Otters]

My brother got a smart meter and has had no end of grief with it. Totally fucked up. He had no power for several days in the winter when it was first installed because when he added credit it was going into someone else’s account.

 

[two sheds]

Re the bolded and enlarged bit - what???? That has to not be serious, surely? Anyone turns anything of mine off remotely I'm going to go postal.

I do have quite high leccy usage but that is because my computer is running most of the time, but I am actually using it. (Barely use any gas mind you).

I'm presuming if it's ever done then they'd agree it with you first, but if you don't then your energy costs will go through the roof (again this is a possibility for the future) for reasons platinumsage outlined.

 

[Elpenor]

The only conceivable benefit to me would be stopping the constant emails telling me to get one fitted

 

[Epona]

I'm presuming if it's ever done then they'd agree it with you first, but if you don't then your energy costs will go through the roof (again this is a possibility for the future) for reasons platinumsage outlined.

I don't mind if they want to flick the freezer off every so often to save power (as long as I can be assured that it isn't going to go wrong and defrost all my food then refreeze it and give me food poisoning, which I don't actually trust it not to do if that were to be happening right now), I more have it in my head that I'd be half way through a group dungeon on vet hard mode and the energy company decides that as it's 2am it would be a good time to turn my router and PC off. In which case you would probably be able to hear me screaming and breaking shit.

 

[gentlegreen]

Ours is just a box that npower sent us to plug in so no installation needed.
We also don’t have to read our meters now which is a bonus.
We’re about to switch supplier so I don’t know what happens there, maybe the new supplier gives you a new smart device and we return the old one? I really don’t think that’s a barrier to switching, I thought it would make it much easier.

That's not a Smart meter - just a remote energy monitor - Smart meters happen to also provide that facility.

 

[moonsi til]

I have inherited meters with my new house that the vendors said were smart meters & there is a sticker saying smart meter installation date however they are just normal pre-payment meters costing me more. I have decided to go with smart meters & have first being fitted on Friday & the other no date yet. Once this is sorted I will be sacking off SSE who have delivered the most appalling & hard to navigate customer service. As far as I know the switch will be easy. Having a smart meter will also give me access to better rates than the pre-payment meters.

I got a brick wall when I explored not being on a meter & I’m not up to the fight.

 

[skyscraper101]

I had one installed in my old place (Bulb) and I was all for it as I like to see how much energy I’m using every day in real time (displayed in ££).

However the bloke only fitted one for the electric and when he saw where the gas meter was and decided it would be a ballache to replace, made some excuse about needing more tools, and ‘Bulb would be in touch’ to arrange finishing off the job (they didn’t).

So I had half a smart meter which gave me daily electrical usage display but I still had to do the gas myself.

In principle though I’m all for them. And whatever you were told about them being incompatible with the next provider isn’t correct (at least nowadays).

 

[TopCat]

Not good for weed growers.

 

[gentlegreen]

My habits are so fixed, there are no surprises on my electricity bill ... out of interest, over the past year or two after switching suppliers, I quite often read the meter and enter it in a spreadsheet - partly because at the moment my heating is electric and was interested to know how much energy it takes to heat my well-insulated room...

 

[Looby]

That's not a Smart meter - just a remote energy monitor - Smart meters happen to also provide that facility.

Ah, ignore me then.

 

[two sheds]

My habits are so fixed, there are no surprises on my electricity bill ... out of interest, over the past year or two after switching suppliers, I quite often read the meter and enter it in a spreadsheet - partly because at the moment my heating is electric and was interested to know how much energy it takes to heat my well-insulated room...

Yep I take a meter reading every 1st of the month and put it in a spreadsheet - good to check that something's not permanently switched on. Water reading too.

 

[Chilli.s]

scab meter putting meter readers out of work

 

[gentlegreen]

Embarrassingly, even though I have my spreadsheet, I hadn't noticed that Bulb were paying no attention to my actual readings that I regularly reported and I'd built up £500 in credit - perhaps it's a way to make me want a SM ?
Anyway I found it was up to me to set the monthly payment to the minimum.

 

[WouldBe]

I'm presuming if it's ever done then they'd agree it with you first, but if you don't then your energy costs will go through the roof (again this is a possibility for the future) for reasons platinumsage outlined.

Epona you would also need to have a smart freezer for this to work as a smart meter wouldn't be able to turn off individual appliances.

 

[tim]

And the energy supplier is bound to tell you there are environmental benefits so they can get rid of meter readers.

Scab meter-readers

 

[Epona]

Epona you would also need to have a smart freezer for this to work as a smart meter wouldn't be able to turn off individual appliances.

The chance of that any time soon is zero

 

[two sheds]

Epona you would also need to have a smart freezer for this to work as a smart meter wouldn't be able to turn off individual appliances.

Yes, I presume this would link up with Internet of Things? There's no chance of me getting any equipment with that, either. I'm not keen on having a bunch of electrical appliances each more intelligent than I am conversing with each other around the house.