First Utility/Siemens Smart Meter. How does it work?

The_Muddster

I signed up with first utility in January this year with a fixed tariff until December 2015, I have just received an email saying your monthly premiums are going up twenty pounds a month, and now I get a letter to say that we are fitting you a smart meter free of charge on your standard tariff to save money. Like hell you are First utility can do one I am not interested in even more cons - Be aware, if I am not in a fixed tariff then I will be leaving sooner rather than later.

Cardew

The_Muddster wrote: »

I signed up with first utility in January this year with a fixed tariff until December 2015, I have just received an email saying your monthly premiums are going up twenty pounds a month, and now I get a letter to say that we are fitting you a smart meter free of charge on your standard tariff to save money. Like hell you are First utility can do one I am not interested in even more cons - Be aware, if I am not in a fixed tariff then I will be leaving sooner rather than later.

Welcome to the forum.

Are you aware that a 'fixed tariff' means the kWh and daily standing charges are fixed, however if you use more gas/electricity, you pay more. Many people seem to think that 'fixed tariff' is like the old 'Staywarm' tariff where your DD was fixed for a year regardless of consumption.

Whilst not in any way trying to defend First Utility, almost certainly the reason your DD is being increased by £20 a month is that your consumption is higher than originally 'estimated'.

I use the term 'estimated' because it is very common amongst all utility companies to 'entice' you to join by setting the DD artificially low, and increase it a few months later.

applepad

My email says they want to increase my bill by £41 a month! Or a lump sum of over £400!!

I have not had a bill for over 6 months! When I last made a complaint they told me I was incredit, FU are not my fav company but they still come out as the cheapest, I too am on a fixed tariff.

How can I have my meter checked? We had a hot tub up til last Aug but got rid of it cause the bills got so high, in its place we have a conservatory with electric heaters but I have been very careful with them, we were also given a tumble dryer, can't see how these two can have used as much as the hot tub which was on 24/7. Heaters are now off and so is tumble dryer.

I have contacted FU and told them not to increase me DD, I have a named contact since the complaint.

If they were not the cheapest I would be off

matelodave

Have you not not considered reading your own meter and doing the sums to see what you use and what you should pay. It's not higher maths but it would help you understand your consumption and if your payments were coving it and it's a bit late to do anything about it when a ginormous bill comes in.
If you don't measure it yourself then you can't possibly know whether you are using more or less than last year

applepad

If you don't measure it yourself then you can't possibly know whether you are using more or less than last year[/QUOTE]

My account on the website shows a graph which shows my usage has increased.

I will get my hubbie to read the meter for me, I am disabled and can not get to it myself.

FU have got back to me and confirmed that they will not be increasing my DD, so at least that's something! Although the chap did say, contact me if u receive another email regarding a DD increase! So not much confidence in that then!

Cardew

applepad wrote: »

If you don't measure it yourself then you can't possibly know whether you are using more or less than last year

My account on the website shows a graph which shows my usage has increased.

I will get my hubbie to read the meter for me, I am disabled and can not get to it myself.

FU have got back to me and confirmed that they will not be increasing my DD, so at least that's something! Although the chap did say, contact me if u receive another email regarding a DD increase! So not much confidence in that then![/

QUOTE]


The bills and the re-calculation of DD payments are produced by a computer and 'untouched by human hand' unless there is a query and there is manual intervention.


You really need to read your meter and work out your consumption in kWh for the last 12 months. From that, using FU's present charges you can work out a fairly accurate estimate of the forthcoming year's cost.


To that cost you add any debit balance you might have accrued(the £400) and divide by 12.


Cancelling the DD increase is just putting off the inevitable day of reckoning! as you are not paying sufficient and your debit balance will build up.

RockNRoll3103

I received a letter from Siemens a few days ago informing me that they want to fit a smart meter. I've also had two calls a day from their automated system. So I've just called them to say thanks but no thanks until the roll out starts officially next year. The customer services operative talked over me constantly and told me that they would be serving me with a warrant to fit one, wished me a nice day and put the phone down.

Anyone any thoughts on the legality of this?

matelodave

There's no legal requirement to have a smart meter yet but what do your T&C's say. Your supplier is obliged to provide you with a meter and AFAIK it's up to them to install what they require to do the job.
If they decide to change your meter then I'm not sure you can do much about it except change suppliers.

C_Mababejive

I believe that though its possible to have remote reading on the current drop of smart meters, not all have it implemented and the only common factor in this first wave is that they all must have an in house display .

Candy53

Would they check an area's signal strength before deciding whether to fit one?

We live in a village, where our signal is slow, and intermittant. Some days are worse than others. The small masts around here regularly go down. I'm just wondering how that would affect transferring usage data, when we are forced to have one fitted.