Should I get a smart meter?

[t0bytoo]

I agreed to getting a smart metre when I changed providers. Then had about fifteen inane calls and texts about the appointment.
Finally the installer showed up, took one look at the electric metre (it's inside a metal box in the wall outside my flat) and said 'no - can't put one there'.

It was a waste of time.

 

[pogofish]

In my experience, which I realise may not be typical, once you've had an account for a while the estimates are based on your previous consumption, so hopefully your friend isn't typical, not that that's any consolation to her.

I've been contacted recently about having a smart meter, and I don't have any objection in principle (unless the stuff about them being able to interfere with the supply remotely is true), but I can also see that some people might have good reasons (or even not particularly good reasons) for not getting one, and I don't think it's right that they should be obliged to have one installed if they don't want it.

Yes, once I started submitting readings monthly for her - the day before her billing day, the amounts claimed by her credit plan every month did reduce but they still ran far too high and utterly wiped-out any benefit from the "discount" she got by signing-up to such a plan. The 3-4 months a year they brought her bill down to a pittance only served to keep her "balance" around the £1k-mark.

Nobody is obliged to get a smart meter - Its just that the government's high targets for installations and pressure on the companies to comply means that they have been more than a little neglectful in telling their customers that they are just getting the hard-sell.

 

[20Bees]

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 ...

I emailed Bulb back to say there were no circumstances in which I would ever agree to a smart meter and would they stop suggesting one. They responded within 24 hours agreeing to mark my account accordingly and I haven’t had any more pressure. I like their app and find it very easy to enter my own meter reading on the last day of each month and track it on my own spreadsheet.

 

[20Bees]

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.

After my youngest moved out and my power consumption went down Bulb did suggest I had enough credit built up to reduce my monthly payments. I prefer to keep it in credit for the inevitable spikes in electricity use when the oil boiler fails and I have to use the immersion heater. Again, an email was enough to agree to keep my payments at £5 more than they suggest for the time being, and I will review and consider reducing in 6 months.

 

[two sheds]

The meter had to move literally one foot. They wanted £400. I didn't bother.

Feng Shui's stupidly fucking expensive

 

[pogofish]

The adverts feed you crap about 'controlling usage' 'saving you money' etc.

This is also a salient point - The companies also don't tell you that the current default reading rates for these meters are mostly if not entirely too low for them to meaningful in energy saving - the energy monitor often attached to them just might be though.

You need to be able to set them to read far more frequently, either by yourself or when the installer fits it, or have the company increase them remotely once installed. Otherwise they are of no greater benefit than submitting a reading once or twice a month yourself.

 

[WouldBe]

Feng Shui's stupidly fucking expensive

I wanted it moving outside to stop the meter readers having to come in and having to get the dogs out if the house and move the TV to get to the meter. Thank fcuk for smart meters.

 

[two sheds]

I got a power meter off ebay that you plug into a socket and plug equipment into that. I used to find the power taken by all the equipment I use, which reminds me I ought to check a couple of new appliances.

 

[WouldBe]

This is also a salient point - The companies also don't tell you that the current default reading rates for these meters are mostly if not entirely too low for them to meaningful in energy saving.

You need to be able to set them to read far more frequently, either by yourself or when the installer fits it, or have the company increase them remotely once installed. Otherwise they are of no greater benefit than submitting a reading once or twice a month yourself.

My smart meter monitor gives instantaneous readings of power consumption and graphs it in 30 min intervals.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Feng Shui's stupidly fucking expensive

Genuine LOL!

 

[pogofish]

My smart meter monitor gives instantaneous readings of power consumption and graphs it in 30 min intervals.

That's the monitor - It is quite likely that the meter itself only uploads once or twice a month (unless the connection fails and it tries and tries repeatedly!) and the companies won't be increasing this as a default until all the network issues are properly ironed-out.

 

[WouldBe]

That's the monitor - It is quite likely that the meter itself only uploads once or twice a month (unless the connection fails and it tries and tries repeatedly!) and the companies won't be increasing this as a default until all the network issues are properly ironed-out.

Yes but you can monitor and control what you use by looking at the monitor not the meter.

 

[Guineveretoo]

A Latin phrase has been my guide for a lot of years, if you cannot understand why something is, then apply 'cui bono' who benefits.

The adverts feed you crap about 'controlling usage' 'saving you money' etc.

Well, for most of us heat and light have been a major part of our household expenditure for ever, and we are careful not to waste energy.

So how does a smart meter benefit you? The simple answer is that it doesn't. Incidentally, whether you have one or not, you are paying for it in the form of a tariff on your bill.

Smart meters benefit only the power companies. It does this in two ways, firstly, they don't need to employ so many meter readers, secondly, and this is the real bonus to the power companies, it enables variable pricing. When demand is high, they raise the price you are paying, thereby maximising their profit.

It benefits me because I am disabled and unable to read my meters. If I go back to working in an office, I won't be here when the meter reader turns up, so it will permanently be estimated. That was a real hassle for me, not least because the energy company were agitating about it, until I started working from home.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I realise it's never as simple as this, but if the meter is somewhere inaccessible for the customer, surely the company should be moving it to somewhere more accessible?

Apparently not.

 

[Guineveretoo]

worth buying a cheap phone that takes films? Then as I say he only has to lift the phone on a pole and pause it in front of the meter to show the reading, doesn't need to go near the ladder.

This is a man who phones me up every single month, because he can't work out how to upload the meter readings to the computer, despite me emailing him the same instructions every single month. He phoned me up today because he couldn't work out how to go to a website to make a hospital appointment. Couldn't remember what a browser was and got very cross when I asked him to open one.

There is no way he can work a mobile phone camera even if it was in his hand, never mind one on a fucking pole.

 

[pogofish]

Yes but you can monitor and control what you use by looking at the monitor not the meter.

IIRC monitor output is for consumer interest only and absolutely not considered reliable by the companies - They only look at the uploaded data, which at least until the network is fully sorted, is far more basic.

There should be something in your small print that confirms this.

 

[Sasaferrato]

It benefits me because I am disabled and unable to read my meters. If I go back to working in an office, I won't be here when the meter reader turns up, so it will permanently be estimated. That was a real hassle for me, not least because the energy company were agitating about it, until I started working from home.

Yes, in your situation, I can see the necessity.

 

[Sasaferrato]

After my youngest moved out and my power consumption went down Bulb did suggest I had enough credit built up to reduce my monthly payments. I prefer to keep it in credit for the inevitable spikes in electricity use when the oil boiler fails and I have to use the immersion heater. Again, an email was enough to agree to keep my payments at £5 more than they suggest for the time being, and I will review and consider reducing in 6 months.

I pay £200 a month into the gas and electricity account (that was the mortgage amount until it was paid off), the bill comes in, it gets paid. Buying a new boiler was also not a trauma, as the money came from that account.

We have always been careful with energy use.

 

[mwgdrwg]

I switched electricity supplier recently, and the amount of spam and phonecalls to "arrange to install your new smart meter" really put me off. Told them not to bother, I don't want one.

I've read that the savings are only pennies...which is not worth inviting stranger into my house to install the thing.

 

[WouldBe]

IIRC monitor output is for consumer interest only and absolutely not considered reliable by the companies - They only look at the uploaded data, which at least until the network is fully sorted, is far more basic.

There should be something in your small print that confirms this.

I thought that was what we were talking about. The data should be reliable as it comes from the smart meter. (If the sun goes behind a cloud the output from my solar panels change straight away on the monitor).

The monitor is there to save you money. If it looks like the readings are too high then you can switch things off to reduce the cost (if you can be bothered). I check my monitor each night before I go to bed. The other night when I checked it said I was using gas even though the gas fire was off. On checking the fire is not switched it off only to the pilot light setting so was using gas I didn't need to.

 

[platinumsage]

Does anyone know if a smart meter would allow you to switch between Economy 7 and a standard tariff without having to get a new meter installed. I've tried googling with no success.

 

[WouldBe]

Does anyone know if a smart meter would allow you to switch between Economy 7 and a standard tariff without having to get a new meter installed. I've tried googling with no success.

You need to change the meter, smart is not a bolt on device for existing meters.

 

[platinumsage]

You need to change the meter, smart is not a bolt on device for existing meters.

I mean once you have a smart meter, can you then change to or from Economy 7 without having to get another new smart meter.

 

[WouldBe]

I mean once you have a smart meter, can you then change to or from Economy 7 without having to get another new smart meter.

Had a quick look and it appears to depend on who your local supplier is.

 

[Chilli.s]

Had a quick look and it appears to depend on who your local supplier is.

Not so smart after all eh. Should be called scab meters anyway, putting skilled meter readers out of work ruining their chosen career

 

[cybershot]

I mean once you have a smart meter, can you then change to or from Economy 7 without having to get another new smart meter.

This is something i need to look into, but not at the moment as it's causing me enough grief as it is. Moved into this house in Dec, Economy 7 smart meter. Honestly find it a bit pointless and can't see how it's saving me money even having the dish washer and washing machines, and actively trying to charge things over night.

Anyway, when I switched supplier from Ovo to E.on, they have applied the night tariff to what was the day reading, and the day tariff to what was the night reading previously. So now all my meter readings don't make sense (as if I've used more electricity at night) and as such all my bills are wrong. Trying to tell 1st line support staff this over the phone was a nightmare, so I gave up and went to email hoping someone could grasp what I was saying. Someone eventually understood and said they would sort it out and re-bill. This was 3 weeks ago, so I think I'm going to have to chase them up again tomorrow. They keep trying to change my DD to a ridiculous low amount, which of course they will no doubt suddenly realise once I leave that I'd been underpaying, so I'd rather they just sort it out now. Although they don''t let me increase the DD by more than £20 to what they adjusted too, so it's still to low.

If they ever manage to sort it out I might ask them if they can get rid of the E7 tariffs and do single tariff, but at the current rate, I may wait until I end up switching supplier again.

 

[two sheds]

Yes I hadn't realized that 'Economy 7' actually has a higher day rate so it often doesn't work out cheaper.

 

[WouldBe]

Yes I hadn't realized that 'Economy 7' actually has a higher day rate so it often doesn't work out cheaper.

You can set things up on timers to take advantage of the economy 7 rate.

 

[two sheds]

Yes indeed. Some stuff you can't do on timers though.

 

[cybershot]

You can set things up on timers to take advantage of the economy 7 rate.

I do, such as charging things. But other than that and the washing machine and dish washer what else will I possibly use while I am asleep between 12-7 (or 1-8 in BST which is a bit more flexible as I’m an early riser but I don’t feel it’s fair for my neighbours thst I should be getting the vacuum out at 7am or the lawn mower)

If I had an electric car it ‘might’ be worth it but I still even doubt that.

I honestly think it’s pointless and as pointed out the day rate is more expensive than a standard 24hr tariff so there’s really little point to it and it’s probably actually more expensive.

If e.on ever sort the shit out after applying the wrong tariffs to the opening reads of day/night I might ask if they can get shot but as they fucked this up I will probably wait until I switch again.