Smart Meter ?

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Dryce

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I've had a call from our energy supplier offering a smart meter for our electricity supply. (I say offering - they obviously want to put one in).

Part of me says I can't bothered.

Part of me says what can be the harm.

I would add that I have a remote power metering device already attached so I can see what our real time and historical consumption is. And that has been not very useful over the last few years other than to confirm that our new fridge freezer consumed less (before the bills told us the same thing) - and that our old Humax PVR consumes more than we would like.

So are these things worth the hassle? Any downsides?
 
Nobody knocking at the door halfway through mealtime asking to read your meters in between estimates
 
The only issue with ours is that the radio range is pretty limited. It can *just* get a signal in the kitchen, which is the only sensible place for it with a spare mains socket. Periodically it starts beeping away saying it has lost connection and has to be moved around a bit to re-connect.

Advantages ... well, no more meter readings. And it has made it obvious to our kids that having multiple showers per day or leaving lights/chargers/etc. on 24x7 actually costs real money.
 
I have decided not to respond to my suppliers latest smart meter offer.

Two reasons; my fixed price deal is with SSE and after last weeks reports of their smart meters giving crazy measurements e.g. £19k worth consumed, I thought waiting for improved models is appropriate.

The second is that physical meter readings are now annual, and our meter was read 10 days ago. I can live with taking a meter reading for submission online every 3 months or so.
 
my fixed price deal is with SSE and after last weeks reports of their smart meters giving crazy measurements e.g. £19k worth consumed, I thought waiting for improved models is appropriate.

We are with SSE and had the new meters fitted in July ... no issues so far.
 
MAY GO TO THE TECHNOLOGY INVOLVED.
Smart meters might diddle users ? TechEye

The old dumb meters were the classic electromechanical (rotating disk) type. the new meters are solid state devices .
Researchers blamed all the issues on the design of some smart meters, and, ironically, electrical devices with energy-saving features. The latter devices, researchers say, introduced a large amount of noise in electrical current waveforms, which disrupt the smart meter sensors tasked with recording power consumption…

So where a smart meter may work correctly in one home it may not in another???
 
big brother

plus some people have had to sort out problems with hugs bills.

I don't see the benefit to me at all from having one.
 
I am yet to be convinced that a smart meter is a smart choice. My energy supplier (EON) keeps bombarding me with the offer of one, to the point that they are all but inferring that it's compulsory, but I am holding off until the technology has proved reliable.
 
The old dumb meters were the classic electromechanical (rotating disk) type. the new meters are solid state devices .
Researchers blamed all the issues on the design of some smart meters, and, ironically, electrical devices with energy-saving features. The latter devices, researchers say, introduced a large amount of noise in electrical current waveforms, which disrupt the smart meter sensors tasked with recording power consumption…

So where a smart meter may work correctly in one home it may not in another???

This is a good point.

I think this is a concern in a more general sense in the question needs to be asked as to what is being measured - not just noise in the waveforms but the impact of power factor when new meters make potentially more sophisticated measurements compared with traditional electromechanical meters.
 
After getting one fitted i now know that the house idles at £0.01 p/h with everything switched off, apart from the fridge / modem / alarms etc.

I have a note on the chalkboard next to the back door that stated to all that are leaving.

"If you are last out and the display shows more than £0.01 then get back in and switch things OFF"

Thanks for your co-operation - the bill payer (Dad).


Kenny
 
I heard if you change suppliers then you have to change meters again, don't know if that' true
 
you would think in this day and age that a "smart meter" would be a universal device that any supplier could use. we had one from Eon then changed supplier and it stopped working. new supplier doesnt yet fit them and is unable to use the already installed one. not very smart then.
 
Just Google "Smart Meter Fiasco"

Unreliable, insecure and as noted don't work if suppliers are switched.

Not to mention that they are not free: cost gets rolled up into your bills.
 
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I heard if you change suppliers then you have to change meters again, don't know if that' true

That is true, i have smart meters fitted by EON but now i am with British Gas who tell me they cant use them and want to install their own.
 
I would do some research first, there are a couple of excellent documentaries on You Tube which are worth viewing. Don't believe the hype and keep an open mind. Personally I would not have one.
 
Had an eon one for a year or so, it's the latest model, I like it and can't help but check it often. I also can tell at a glance what's been left switched on. As I have a solar array my usage for much of the daytime is a nice fat zero.
 
in 1995 I flew to Malta - I was working for a company that submitted a bid for replacing all of the island's water meters with 'smart meters' that can be read remotely by radio (the Internet was still in its infancy). We didn't win the tender at the time... but it is interesting to see that some 22 years later the idea of having meters that do not require a dedicated mobile workforce of trained meter-readers has finally reached our shores.
 
I heard if you change suppliers then you have to change meters again, don't know if that' true

That is true, i have smart meters fitted by EON but now i am with British Gas who tell me they cant use them and want to install their own.

I was with British Gas and they fitted the smart meter about a year ago.
I'm now with Sainsbury's and the meter is still in use. The bills are a lot lower too.
 
I jumped onto this a couple of years ago thinking I could make some good cash as all installs were price work, I fitted single and 3 phase smart meters at industrial premises. My area was cut as more staff were taken on meaning less jobs so I went back to proper sparky work.

The work was a mixture of new installs, warranty for replacing faulty meters or where installers had set them up outside the premises using an inverter in their van so as soon as they were fitted with a gsm sim card in the property no signal meant no readings :doh: or I would go in with a warrant officer, change the meter, last chance to pay their bill or a call to the office would remotely cut them off whilst I sat outside in the car :cool:

My supplier keeps asking to fit one but I'm quite happy with my old whole current meter thank you very much. I use the suppliers app to update readings once a month so bills are never estimated and they send a meter reader round once a year to check I'm not fiddling the readings.
 

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