Posted 12 May 2022
EON pushing me to install smart meter after takeover of my collapsed supplier.
Any benefits? or pitfalls?
My simple old world logic says if you use less, you pay less.
How would it help me lower my bills?
Or is it just big brother creeping into last vesitges of freedom and monitoring my moves/ via usage patterns. They will know when I am away on holidays (lack of usage data.)
Anyone managed to avoid such pushy utilities ? Or unavoidable, eventually.
My simple old world logic says if you use less, you pay less.
How would it help me lower my bills?
Or is it just big brother creeping into last vesitges of freedom and monitoring my moves/ via usage patterns. They will know when I am away on holidays (lack of usage data.)
Anyone managed to avoid such pushy utilities ? Or unavoidable, eventually.
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61 Comments
sorted byScaremongering? What people believe?
You mean like believing the Governments own technical specifications for Smart Meters? Most notably section 4.5.3.10 for Gas Meters which states:
"4.5.3.10 Disable Supply
A Command to establish a Locked state whereby the Supply is Disabled and can only be Armed in response to a Command to Arm the Supply (as described in4.5.3.7).In executing the Command GSME shall be capable of setting the Supply State(4.6.5.18) to Disabled."
And Section 5.6.3.11 for Electric. which states:
"5.6.3.11 Disable Supply
A Command to establish a Locked state whereby the Supply is Disabled and can only be Enabled or Armed in response to a Command to Arm the Supply (as described in 5.6.3.7) or Enable the Supply (as described in 5.6.3.12)In executing the Command ESME shall be capable of setting the Supply State(5.7.5.32) to Disabled."
Or believing the various energy companies' Terms and Conditions, where you will find something that reads a lot like the following, from SSE's Terms and Conditions which state:
"23.3.5. If we need to make changes to your supply of Energy we may do this using your Smart Meter without having to visit your Property. This may include repairing or updating the Smart Meter, changing your Smart Meter from a credit meter to a Pay As You Go meter or disconnecting your supply (all in accordance with the terms of this Contract)"
Or are they scaremongering too?
When enough homes have them they will use surge pricing, so electric used between certain times will cost more.. that will be when you need it the most..
How can they reduce my bills is the big question that no one asks. And privacy/monitoring issues .
Their marketing bumff is all airy fairy.
Energy providers were forced to provide software updates to make their smets1 meter readings available to all providers and that's slowly happening for the ones that haven't been replaced, although as 3g is being pulled by most mobile companies by the end of this year and 2g is expected to start being phased out in 2025, they could go dumb again, unless they use another method to communicate.
We are all paying for the scheme whether we have a smart meter or not, they are funded by raising everybody's energy prices. thisismoney.co.uk/mon…tml
This brings potential grand total of £75 to 80 per year - or £750 to £800 over the course of a decade. This is far more than the potential savings customers are estimated to make from the devices. (edited)
A smart wifi plug with power monitoring (which can be had from about £10) would be better for that as you could monitor an individual appliance like a fridge for about a week to get a much more accurate idea of its average power consumption with normal use.
And with hardwired devices like a central heating pump, you can check the motor wattage on the label and estimate how many hours it is on per day so that you can work out how long a modern efficient one will take to pay for itself. (edited)
Having smart meters wouldn't reduce my energy usage at-all, so I ignore requests to fit one. I think it only makes sense to fit a smart meter when the old meter actually needs replacing/recalibrating, otherwise it is a huge waste of money that's putting up everybody's bills.
What's more they've wasted a fortune on misleading adverts promoting them, then on installing first gen meters that are tied to the original energy company and dumb when you switch, then replacing them with smets2 meters, which they've now got to replace, or upgrade for the 2g and 3g switch off. (edited)
With a smart meter, their ambition can be realised.
As EV adoption gains momentum, they don't want to be in a position where everybody comes back from work and plugs in their EV for charging for the night, straining the network (today's equivalent of everybody turning on the kettle during the first break of Coronation Street or the TV premiere of a big film or a big sports event)!
They are dressing it up as giving YOU, the consumer, the power to be aware of how much energy you are using to curb your usage or minimise wastage, but that it is pure corporate Bee-Esse salad. They don't want you to minimise your usage. They want to be able to avoid infrastructure upgrades if they can get away with it.
They are floating the idea out to people, them taking power from your connected EV during peak hours when they need extra capacity, in exchange for a monthly credit (if you contribute for at least a number of consecutive days) and a promise to have your car back to ready charged state for the start of your day. Octopus Energy have all sorts of pre-prepared answers about the reduction of battery lifespan if raised as a consumer concern.
Smart meters ends their cashflow issue waiting for the customer to submit readings potentially owing THEM money which gets paid for in installments during the less demanding summer months. Haven't paid? Can be remotely deactivated via a smart-meter.
It's a rigged game, IMHO.
Install a wind turbine or two near the House of Commons and that's the nation's energy requirements taken care of with the amount of hot air and guffaws coming out of Westminster. (edited)
I dont have ELectric car and not many people do as yet.
SO it proves there is already peak pricing practices going on and it will get worse. Surge pricing and all that jazz.
I submit my readings monthly and I like it that way because then I can keep an eye on it and know when something seems off ( i have actually clawed back money because I submitted readings manually , something I probably would’ve missed if I had a smart meter )
Very well said.
ALl these utility companies sound very patronising and make it sound as if THEY are doing you a favour out of the goodness of their heart.
The opposite is true and they are always on the lookout for ways to squeeze every extra penny they can pinch from the consumers.
If they really wanted to help us consumers, why not just reduce the prices for one and all ?
Oh wait.........No one has mentioned the word, GREED.
you dont have to accept a smart meter BUT don't be surprised if you cannot access cheaper tarrifs - unlikely at the moment as many of us are on capped rates.
I wouldn't be without a smart meter, but I have benefitted greatly as I got off my ass and did some real research until the Daily Fail readers you get so often berating them. Through Octopus on Agile I was able to have pricing every half hour that differed, so you could make use of very cheap electricity, not as good right now with prices being very unpredictable, you also would have times where you'd get paid to consume electricity, e.g. when it was very windy at night or on a Sunday etc. Currently I use Octopus Go and I pay only 5.5p per kWh from 20:30 until 01:30, both of these are impossible without a smart meter.
I also have a Solar PV array, and I get paid 7.5ppkWh exported although having a home battery I store a lot, but I do try and sell and re-import at night as I make 2ppkWh right now.
Your meter will eventually have to be replaced whether you agree or not as they can only stay in callibration for so long, and they will no longer recalibrate older meters, you'll just get a new smart one.
I personally wouldn’t have one in our house.
My mother in law, who is getting on a bit, does have a smart meter and experiences constant issues with it, so much so her supplier incorrectly reduced her direct debit to amount that realistically will not cover the cost of energy she is actually using. We have had no end of issues trying to help resolve this.
Maybe maybe not, too many theories that people believe not to have one. It's a smart meter that sends live data to the energy supplier, so accurate bills and no more estimated readings which means more money in your pocket not in the energy suppliers also you don't have to read the meter anymore I think people just don't like change and not everything new is bad
Scaremongering remote shut off isn't even a function in them, it's worrying what people believe (edited)
it's so much hassle to send a reading lol. i agree in general people don't like change but when it comes to tech i always keep up but not when i don't know whats going to happen. always jumping ahead can cost more sometimes. i'll wait and see..
The discounts will always go to the smart meters first, becasue they are the ones that can be specifically targetted when costs are low. You can already charge your car at night for 5p/kw if you have a smart meter, not with a dumb one. If you have a powerwall and solar you can sell your spare kw for the same price you buy in for, again only for smart meters. There was a tariff that even gave you negative costs sometimes if too much was in the grid! It's just economy 7 with more than 2 settings.
Smart meters help the energy grid manage load, which makes it more efficient. I suspect once everyone has been offered a meter and had the chance for installation the energy firms will start charging a fee for the extra grid management costs to those with dumb meters, in the same way many firms charge you more if you don't use a DD.
Never heard of someone been remotely been cut off only people scaremongering, so this will be interesting if anyone here has actually had it remotely cut off?
so worrying I think you have misread that as it is referring to PAYG ie top up meters with a card or key.
Which yes will have a remote disable and enable otherwise they would just keep supplying energy for free so yes needs to stop once the credit has been used up exactly like the old meters.
This doesn't apply for a normal smart meter which you pay the bill for
But believe what you wish your entitled too
However as they can't force you off the capped rate (as far as I know). Then they can't force you onto a smart meter until legislation allows them too.
We only really looked at it with the recent price rises, turns out they'd not been reporting for quite a while (long story on another thread).
Oh yeah, and melted raises a good point. Our meters are tied to British Gas so they'd stop working anyway!
I book it for the longest date in the future and waited until the day before, then called and said I had an emergency dentist appointment.
Went online a month later and rebooked for 9 weeks later.
Then had Covid ( or man flu ).
They gave up in the end.
Don't do it
I don’t need 1 either, parents have 1 they don’t look at anymore, just curious at first!
Waste of everyone’s money, use common sense.
I’ve got the smets1 (was in the house on British Gas when wet moved in) changed supplier to eon. They said they can’t read the meters as they’re not compatible but amazingly they read the meters a month ago accurately. I don’t mind the smart meters as long as I don’t have to pay for them
Whilst this is true if they simply want to replace your meter, should your meter come to the end of its life/certification, they can insist you have a smart meter installed, because they are unable to get legacy meters to replace your existing meter.
However, in this instance you can ask for the smart meter to be installed in 'dumb mode'. (This is what I did with Octopus last November)
The arguments about it raising the cost of your bills as you are paying for the device itself are over-exaggerated, especially when you consider you have been paying for a man to check your meter readings a few times a year, not to mention that you are letting a stranger into your house (if your meter is located inside).
Also yes, this is a stepping stone to future peak pricing. But don't you find it weird that for most tariffs, we pay a fixed fee for gas/elec? That doesn't represent the wholesale market at all where prices fluctuate widely throughout the day. Peak pricing will also help even out your usage to reduce strain and increase predictability on the grid. It would just be a more granular form of the current day/night tariffs.
I'm short, just get the smart meter installed. Yes there is a small percentage of people who it hasn't worked out for, but that was prevalent in the early rollout, these days most of those issues have been resolved
Whilst I agree in principle to this, unfortunately this kind of pricing structure will disproportionately effect the elderly, sick, disabled and poor, who do not necessarily have the luxury (or ability) to hold off their energy usage until these cheaper times of the day. In theory, a more efficient system should push the cost of energy down for everyone, so perhaps my fears will be unfounded, but when was the last time you experienced any utility company actually putting prices down when more efficient practices were put in place, despite promises?
On top of this, as someone who's access to electricity is fairly vital, the fact that every smart meter has the ability to remotely cut off the power to my house scares me greatly. Not so much the electricity companies themselves shutting them off, but third party actors. There is no network on earth that is 100% secure, and it has already been demonstrated in America that smart meters can be hacked and remotely shut off. Had the energy companies not insisted that this feature be included in the meters (kind of odd they would do this, given they state they would never use this feature, and by doing so they increased the cost of every meter ), I would be much more in favour of them.
You may "think" that, but if you had actually bothered to follow the links, you would know that wasn't the case.
But I am guessing you knew that already, so I shall bid you a good day.