British Gas 'Smart Meters'

patman99

My parents have just had 2 smart meters fitted by BG, as these automatically report your usage back to BG, what happens if they decide to switch suppliers?

specialsparky

Hi, the main suppliers are all testing/trialling Smart Meters at the moment. If your parents decide to change suppliers one of 2 things will happen,the meter will either be exchanged by your new supplier (no charge) or the meter will be "dumbed down" which means its smart technology will be switched off and it will become a normal meter.
It is almost a certainty that a new supplier will not take on BG meter in a Smart format.
Hope this helps
Good luck

patman99

Thanks for your reply.

I know they have no intention of changing, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

As an aside, if the meters are so 'smart' then why don't they deduct the un-used currant being returned to the grid, from that coming-in?. That way you would pay only for what you use, not what comes-in. The Germans have had this system for a few years now.

BTW, I remember BG testing drive-by meter reading 10 years ago, nice to know that technology has moved-on. No more estimated bills.

Hopefully Atlantic will follow-suite.

Mankysteve

patman99 wrote: »

As an aside, if the meters are so 'smart' then why don't they deduct the un-used currant being returned to the grid, from that coming-in?. That way you would pay only for what you use, not what comes-in. The Germans have had this system for a few years now.

:rotfl:Current is measure in Amps and Potential difference is measured in Voltage. The current entering a system is always the same as the current that exists the system. It's electrical charge that is used up.

The meter works on the basic principle of the voltage drop across the houses appliances times by the current give the number of watts the house uses. P=IV but it does get a bit more complicated by alternating voltages you start to get square routes of 2 and stuff in there.

Really old electrical meter could be fooled by different types of loads ie conductive and inductive loads but these have mostly be phased out and meter no longer get upset by the different types. They only bill you for what you use. There no "unused current"