Smart Meters

awesome2_2

Hi

I keep getting contacted by British Gas to have the above installed does anyone have them and are they worth getting installed
Thanks
:beer:

Andy_WSM

awesome2 wrote: »

Hi

I keep getting contacted by British Gas to have the above installed does anyone have them and are they worth getting installed
Thanks
:beer:

IMO, if you have an energy monitor of your own you wouldn't really benefit from one of these. At the moment you can give on-line readings monthly if you want accurate bills, so what's to gain?

At the moment if you have one fitted by, say British Gas, when you move to a new supplier it causes confusion as their systems are not compatible with each others smart meters.

Until the industry gets it's act together and comes up with a standard that is interchangeable between all suppliers I will be steering well clear.

SailorSam

There are a couple of people on here who i think work for utility companies and fit them, they may be best to answer if they come on later. I thought they sounded like a good idea 'cos i'm out a lot but i've read a lot on the Internet that people have had trouble with them giving wrong readings.

Joyful

I work for British Gas and had them fitted approx 18 months ago. The biggest benefit for me has been monitoring my gas usage daily. Before with an energy monitor I could only see my electric. I also trialled them going from credit to prepayment and back to credit again so I am all for them.

Currently if you change supplier you will loose the smart function and may have to get a new meter installed.

libra10

We had a Smart meter installed by Eon last year, and are quite satisfied with it.

New meters for both gas and electric were fitted at the same time. We no longer need to give online readings, it's all done automatically. The cost for both gas and electric are displayed if you run through the options, though don't know how accurate they are.

If an appliance is switched on, a red light appears on the Smart meter, which can be useful

I keep a weekly spreadsheet for gas used each week, and used to go outside to check the meters.

No longer need to do this, as meter readings are shown on the Smart meter display. Very pleased our Smart meter was fitted, very useful.

[Deleted User]

I ve got the electric smart meter as supplied by BGas, the monitor is in a different league from the pathetic energy monitors you can buy for a few quid. It displays price (in hard cash ) per hour and kwh per hour , yesterdays cash ammount used, monthy total , your price per kwh tariff at that moment, so you know when the two tier tariffs are in operation and other stuff. I would advise you to ask BG for them to be installed. would be a money saving persons ideal meter. I see a lot of them around now as they are in BGs third year, many take absolutely no notice of them at all and never even plug the monitor in

spiro

The rules on these are in the process of changing as they will now be clearly identified in the flow of data between suppliers so they can start to interoperate. Given we will all get them eventually for might as get it now because your old meter is probably due to be changed anyway.

Wywth

Joyful wrote: »

I...Currently if you change supplier you will loose the smart function and may have to get a new meter installed.

Interesting.

Are you saying that there is no universal agreement over the technicalities of smart meters yet, and so each supplier are developing their own?

If the other supplier is not yet in a position to support smart metering, I thought all smart meters could act as non-smart ones where they could be manually read?


Edit: Just seen thios post by the Scottish Power rep, David
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=59767037&postcount=5

It appears there is no universally agreed standard at present for smart meters, with each supplier developing their own solutions.
I wonder if there is any point rushing in now for a smart meter particularly if you don't plan to use it as a smart meter, as I suspect when a standard is drawn up, all the then non-compliant smart meters will have to be replaced again.

davehsug

For once, it's not the energy supplier's fault. The government keep changing their mind about the spec for smart meters, that's why the delay.

LIMore

This thing will monitor your usage i.e. your habits, times you come home and such every half hour and relay it to the 'mothership' daily.

Is it just me, but this info could be exploited for all sorts of unintended/undeclared purposes, not to mention if it falls in the wrong hands. How safe is my private data stored. What guarantees do I have it won't be sold forward to various other establishments and I end up being targeted for products or services or banded by some machiavelic algorithm...

It's like inviting the 'eye in the sky' in your own home, I think.

Wywth

LIMore wrote: »

This thing will monitor your usage i.e. your habits, times you come home and such every half hour and relay it to the 'mothership' daily.

Is it just me, but this info could be exploited for all sorts of unintended/undeclared purposes, not to mention if it falls in the wrong hands. How safe is my private data stored. What guarantees do I have it won't be sold forward to various other establishments and I end up being targeted for products or services or banded by some machiavelic algorithm...

It's like inviting the 'eye in the sky' in your own home, I think.

Just you.

My energy supplier knows how much energy I use and when anyway due to regular meter redaings I provide online to ensure accurate billing