What are the downsides to Smart Meters?

Primrose · 23 April 2017 at 12:30PM

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Your experiences please! Is there a catch to having one installed?

British Gas have offered us this facility. I see that some utility suppliers don't offer them yet so if we want to move to another supplier when our current tariff runs out, we would not be able to make use of it.

We opted not to have a water meter installed because although it might have saved us money, I'm a keen gardener and in dry spells a water meter could have ended up being more expensive. Are there any similar downsides to gas/electricity smart meters?

Are we likely to have to pay extra for using one at some point?

We try to be economical with power. Not sure what the benefits of a smart meter might be apart from not having to submit regular meter readings. Thanks for your insights.

27cool · 23 April 2017 at 1:13PM

What you have said is true. I got a BG smart meter and afterwards changed to Coopenergy. They cannot access my meter, so I have to read the meters myself. This is a bit of a drag and my wife certainly could not do it if I were not around.
I never did use the smart meter, but having it meant that I could see all my usage (both gas & electric) on line.

System · 23 April 2017 at 1:15PM

I think eventually the tech will be standardised so easy to switch providers etc but I'm not convinced they are that useful yet - i cant see that they will charge more for using one, but it's more likely that it'll be redundant if you switch to certain providers

Jonesya · 23 April 2017 at 1:28PM

In principle they are very good - automatic remote reading to give accurate bills, the in-home displays make it easy to monitor your energy usage - I can see my electricity and gas usage on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis, great for keeping an eye on your usage. In principle, it should allow switching to go more smoothly as final reads can be done quickly and accurately.

In practice, the programme was badly managed (think dogs breakfast!) and so the metering roll-out started before the infrastructure was in-place and the standards were finished. This meant that the meters weren't compatible across suppliers, so benefits of switching and automated reading stopped if you switched supplier. Plus, the early meters don't meet the latest standards so may need replacing again.

Unless you really want a SMART meter, I'd wait a year or two until the common infrastructure is in place and bedded in and you're guaranteed to get a SMETS-2 meter which should continue to work as a smart meter if you switch supplier in the future.

Primrose · 23 April 2017 at 1:30PM

Thanks for your insights. This is rather as we thought and as we tend to check for cheaper options whenever a current tariff comes to an end, it seems it might be of limited use.
Knowing how much it costs to run a washing machine is of limited use if clothes & bed linen have to be washed anyway. All you can do is use your utilities as economically as possible and it seems that having a smart meter makes no difference in that respect.

I was wondering whether longer term all smart meters would be compatible anyway, or whether the technology would be slightly different with each utility provider, so that there wouldn't necessarily be an automatic transition of smart meter if you changed providers.

Browntoa · 23 April 2017 at 1:34PM

Huge failure by OFGEN , should have been a standard box that is just updated with new software when you switch suppliers

esuhl · 23 April 2017 at 1:52PM

The biggest downsides I can see are that:

1) you can be disconnected remotely by the energy provider
2) hackers can corrupt your bill and/or disconnect you
3) everyone's energy prices go up to pay for the smart meters

usefulmale · 23 April 2017 at 2:33PM

esuhl wrote: »

The biggest downsides I can see are that:

1) you can be disconnected remotely by the energy provider
2) hackers can corrupt your bill and/or disconnect you
3) everyone's energy prices go up to pay for the smart meters

Added to that, variable rate pricing (pay more at peak useage times).

moneyistooshorttomention · 23 April 2017 at 2:44PM

1. Lack of privacy - someone somewhere in the country could check a little computer screen to tell how much power your house was consuming at any given time (ie if you looked as if you were in or no).

2. The technology is on early days and there have been instances of it being faulty and saying the consumer is using a lot more fuel than they have actually used.

3. Another step in the process of changing to a different energy supplier.

End thought is I'm not having one personally if I can help it.

Le_Kirk · 23 April 2017 at 3:32PM

Our energy supplier round here (there are several of using the same one) tried to fit one to my neighbour's supply; after leaving him all day in the middle of winter with no power or heating (he's on all electric) they had to disconnect it and replace the old equipment. He was paid £45 for the inconvenience.

The supplier made two appontments with me to fit to my supply. Failed to attend both occasions - I received 2 x £45 payments. They asked me to rebook, I said NO. When they can be fitted and work FIRST time AND they are switchable between different suppliers then I might reconsider. However, as they use the mobile phone signal to deliver information to the consumer and send readings to the supplier and the phone signal round here is poor, I think it will be a long time before all my conditions are satisfied.

To those who say that I would be able to see how much electricity and gas I am using I say, when it is dark I switch the lights on and when it is light I switch them off again. If I want to cook I turn the cooker on. If it is cold the heating is switched on and controlled by time switches and thermostats.

Jackmydad · 23 April 2017 at 4:06PM

As far as I can see they are not for the consumer's benefit.
As far as being able to monitor usage goes. As Primrose implies above, you only use what you have to.
Reports of incorrect bills as well I believe.

What are the downsides to Smart Meters?

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