Smart Meters.

anotherbaldrick

Official MoneySavingExpert Note November 2017:

We now have a dedicated Smart Meters guide that may be of use.

Back to anotherbaldrick's original post...

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The latest Government initiative to save us lots of money on our energy bills is to force the providers to fit SMART METERS .This will obviously cost and we can guess where the energy companies will recover their costs from.
Now, we do not burn energy unnecessarily, we turn off lights in unoccupied rooms and do not heat them, we do the washing machine at 30C we dry washing without using a dryer, we have low energy lighting, we run the cental heating at 18C only in the evenings and boost the lounge temperature with a wood stove .
Can someone please tell me how my having a SMART METER fitted is going to save me anything ?

Swipe

Smart meters will help those that are too lazy to submit regular meter readings. I suppose there's always the other argument that if you can monitor your consumption in real time you are more aware of what you are using and be more likely to curb your usage. Smart meters are of no benefit to me and I'm not happy that my bills will rise as an indirect result of them being rolled out.

chanz4

They will also flag those that like to steal

dilbertuk

I've had an Eon Smart Meter since September - and a meter reader called yesterday. I thought that the mobile connectivity of these boxes was so that readings could be dispensed with? The chap who did the reading just said he was doing what he was told - and it took him ages too! Seems a bit pointless.

2010

The scheme to install new energy meters in every home in the UK should be halted because of spiralling costs, a consumer campaign group has warned.

Which? said the government, rather than energy companies, should install the "smart meters" to keep costs down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16565100


We`re being ripped off again.

Colin_London

dilbertuk wrote: »

I've had an Eon Smart Meter since September - and a meter reader called yesterday. I thought that the mobile connectivity of these boxes was so that readings could be dispensed with? The chap who did the reading just said he was doing what he was told - and it took him ages too! Seems a bit pointless.

Yes but the main reason they want to send someone around still is not to take readings at all, but rather to check that you haven't meddled with the installation to circumvent the meter and get free electricity.

I agree that the meters are being sold as a way of avoiding having to arrange access for readings, but maybe the suppliers need to start being a bit more honest about the other reasons they send people around......

dilbertuk

Colin_London wrote: »

Yes but the main reason they want to send someone around still is not to take readings at all, but rather to check that you haven't meddled with the installation to circumvent the meter and get free electricity.

If you'd seen the size of my bills, you'd know that wasn't their concern!

The odd thing was that he was here about 20 minutes. Pushing buttons, entering stuff into a device that looked like a mobile phone, pushing more buttons. It was far quicker when all they had was a torch and a notepad.

chanz4

high consumption means nothing with theft, people still take from prior to the meter direct from the cutout.

dilbertuk

dilbertuk wrote: »

I've had an Eon Smart Meter since September - and a meter reader called yesterday. I thought that the mobile connectivity of these boxes was so that readings could be dispensed with? The chap who did the reading just said he was doing what he was told - and it took him ages too! Seems a bit pointless.

I've just received an email from them to say my bill is ready - and they haven't used the meter reading at all for the gas element.

What is odd though is that the gas meter reading ties in exactly with their electric 'read by us' figure and the gas 'estimate' has been calculated simply to make the bill balance exactly with the monthly payments. Something has gone a bit wrong here! Seems they're not that 'smart' after all!

anotherbaldrick

dilbertuk wrote: »

I've just received an email from them to say my bill is ready - and they haven't used the meter reading at all for the gas element.

What is odd though is that the gas meter reading ties in exactly with their electric 'read by us' figure and the gas 'estimate' has been calculated simply to make the bill balance exactly with the monthly payments. Something has gone a bit wrong here! Seems they're not that 'smart' after all!

Change the reading on the gas bill to what it does say on the meter and send the correction back to them

Haarlem

The main driver is to enable the Suppliers to bill custmers on a time of day tariff.

Wait until your bill has somethng like six different rates recording how many units you used at that particular time of day. the cost of using electricity between 9.00am to 4.00pm will be way above what you pay at the moment.

The Government see this as a way to make you reduce comsumption, and the suppliers to recover the actual cost they pay in a particular half hour.

Remote reading is only a minor reason for installing Smart Meters.