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Smart meters for energy

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planetgeli

There's no future in England's dreaming
Can my energy company force me to have a smart meter installed? A quick google doesn't seem to throw up a definitive answer beyond 'all households are going to get one by 2019'.

I'm not sure I want my energy company knowing every cup of tea I drink. Any answers?
 
We had a our meter moved 2 months ago and were told it would be swapped for a smart one, but come the big day they put the old one back up in the new position.


btw, arranging to move a leccy meter, fucking ball-ache extrodinaire that is.
 
I got a couple of letters from my electricity supplier, which ended with them giving me an unsolicited appointment for when they'd put the smart meter in. I could have cancelled, but didn't.

When the guy arrived, he confirmed it was voluntary and he'd push off if I didn't want to swap.

It's a bit of fun to see how much it's costing you when you put the kettle on, or use the iron. Making us save money? It's probably having the opposite effect. We clock the cost per hour rate and think: Is that all?

I can imagine, though, folks on a limited income in the middle of winter. Some people will see the cost of heating and turn it down or off when they really ought to keep warm. Law of unintended consequences, etc.
 
Doesn't this mean that you no longer need to read your own meter and they don't send round meter readers? If so its just a means of getting rid of more jobs and f-all benefit to us. I'm no genius or anything but I'm fairly aware when I am using energy.
 
I had one installed. No skin off my nose. Then changed energy company a few months later and the new energy company has no access to it. What's the fucking point of that then? Seeing as it's practically fucking compulsory to change energy company every five minutes to avoid the cheeky cunts jacking the price up what's the point of new meters that only work for the company that install them?
 
Yeah same here. I get two emails a week from Scotish power. If it carries on I'll have to stop turning the meter round and connecting the hoover to it :mad:
 
planetgeli said:
Can my energy company force me to have a smart meter installed?
Click to expand...

No. Well, not yet anyway.

planetgeli said:
'all households are going to get one by 2019'.
Click to expand...

No, they aren't.

If anyone has any other questions specific to Smart metering then ask. I *might* be able to get answers from my moles in the industry. However, seeing as the whole programme's been a balls-up from the start, experience tells me they don't know the answers themselves yet.
 
Not having one, unless they become a requirement. And they should be interchangeable, which they are not, so even bigger reason to refuse, over and above "privacy" - and I'm well able to work out what I'm using ... and how to economise.

Our gas is tanked LPG, and that is tied to one supplier. I would prefer to be able to shop around, but can't !

They and the electric company seem totally unable to get the level of regular monthly payments correct. We have spent more time in credit, than not, over the years. Apart from one (very cold) winter when the wholesale cost of the LPG was rapidly increasing and we had just started a fixed fee/term agreement. That resulted in buying a new, more efficient LPG combi boiler (which took some finding !) when the supplier went to recover the effective underpayments.
 
StoneRoad said:
Our gas is tanked LPG, and that is tied to one supplier. I would prefer to be able to shop around, but can't !
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Why is it tied? I grow-up with tanked oil for heating, my cottage in Somerset was on solid fuel for heating & bottled gas for cooking, none of these were 'tied'.

I know F-all about tanked LPG, but this link suggests it's easy to change supplier - UKLPG : Clean, Efficient Energy from the UK Liquid Petroleum Gas Association

Since 13th April 2009 all bulk domestic LPG customers whose gas is supplied via a bulk tank are able to switch their LPG supplier along with the ownership of their tank once they are no longer bound by any exclusivity period in a supply contract, which can last no longer than two years. Your existing LPG supplier will advise you one month before you become eligible to switch. Details of this date are also to be found in your supply contract.
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Or, are you still within a 2-year contract?
 
planetgeli said:
Can my energy company force me to have a smart meter installed? A quick google doesn't seem to throw up a definitive answer beyond 'all households are going to get one by 2019'.

I'm not sure I want my energy company knowing every cup of tea I drink. Any answers?
Click to expand...

Voluntary, currently.

My neighbour is totally fucked off with his, because it keeps throwing a wobbly.
 
We're being presured to have one - they are supposed to fit it soon. What are the problem with them? should we refuse?
Will this mean we can't change supplier?

Last time we had a new meter we got sent approx £122,000 bill, 'your dd will change to £22000 per month' nearly had a heart attack. Took weeks to sort out - so we cahnged supplier - which also took ages to sort out. Easy to switch? my arse.
 
Here's the problem with changing suppliers...

These devices are supposed to help households save hundreds on their bills by helping them cut consumption. But anyone having one installed now may not realise that the gadgets will be useless if they want to switch to another energy firm.
Click to expand...

But customers frequently do not realise that these devices must be switched off if they want to move to another supplier. This is because each energy company has smart meters that use different software to process data about how much energy is being used.

As a result, energy companies cannot read the information sent by smart meters that have been fitted by other firms.
Click to expand...

Do smart meters stop you switching energy companies? | This is Money

You can still change supplier, but it makes it even harder, because the meters will need changing. :facepalm:

Fucking nuts, JUST SAY NO!
 
I got a smart meter under OVO, then changed to GB Energy, who couldn’t read it remotely . My new supplier, another new entrant with a too-good-to-be-true offer can’t read them either . I think my tea consumption data is safe. And I still have to dig out te torch every months for DIY meter reading. At least it’s slightly easier with the digital readout
 
as others have said I know when I'm using leccy, we use the amount we need. That's not going to change in the near future so you can shove your smart meter. Our leccy is less than £500 a yr anyway(we have an open fire for heating & water)
 
On a side note, 6 months after moving in here, I noticed my electricity metre hadn't moved, so I reported it to my supplier, who took 4 months to replace it & estimated use during that period, which I negotiated down by about 25%, on the basis they couldn't prove otherwise. :)

Funny thing is, it was coming into winter, and despite them also being my gas supplier, they didn't spot the massive drop in gas use, as I switched from using the gas boiler to using electric fires & the immersion heater for free hot water, saved something around £150-£200 in total. :thumbs:
 
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