The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

redofromstart wrote: »

Our gas and electric meters are separate - they had to fit smart things in both areas, but we have one plug in thingy that shows the spends. What I didn't realise was that the automatic transmission might not work if we move supplier, and the whole point was that I hate having people in the house.

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Oh, that's interesting redo - we'd most likely have to have 2 smart meters then. See, I'd prefer to have someone take a look at our set up, and show me the size of the meter and where it would need to be located etc. But 2 meters is a definite faff. And no, I'd not heard about the transmission issue either - that's just totally not on, if we're encouraged to switch regularly, you don't need the meters changing/resetting each time - well, not in location, anyway, if they can reset remotely well then, that's slightly different.

Greying X

Unfortunately there was no industry standard for the first generation of smart meters, but for anyone who doesn't like them this has an advantage as you can turn them back into a dumb meter by switching supplier.

If you want to keep a smart meter then you need to wait for the next generation (SMETS2) which will be suitable for all suppliers. Some of the current ones may be upgradable.

At the moment all they can do is show you what you are using and send meter readings back to your supplier. In the future they hope to be able to provide variable pricing at different times of day as hey do for business so you (or your smary appliances) can decide when to use energy based on cost.

Remember, it is a criminal offence (not to mention dangerous) to interfere with your electricity or gas meter. They belong to the energy companies, not you (actually to the network company not the supplier despite the suppliers rolling them out, which is why you don't get a new one with every switch). Clip on monitors are fine to change, but these are just displays, not the meters themselves.

Just keep saying no until you decide you want to change. I don't get asked as I'm electricity only and no one seems to care.

As for car seats, you can't sell them on but there is a lot of swapping and handing on between people that know each other. I had several until the kids were big enough to stop growing out of them. They weren't used that much, so as long as I trusted who they came from I was happy to pay £10/£20 for a second had one to a friend.