MSE News: British Gas to trial 'free electricity on Saturdays' scheme

GMbabies

lstar337 wrote: »

They could just sit outside and wait for you to leave, to know you are not in.

No hacking required.

None of that old-style. It's hi-tech now.
Why sit outside of one house while burglars can be at home to monitor 10 of 1000s of houses in one city?

datlex

I think it is an interesting idea free energy on a Saturday. I already do most of my washing at the weekend. However, since I have solar panels I'm not really sure how much energy I use on a Saturday that I actually pay for.

GMbabies

Do you think energy companies are so generous to give us free lunch?

You know what's gonna happen, they will entice you in with the Free Saturday energy to get you signed up with the deal with smart meters then the six months in, they will STING YOU with a higher price.

50Twuncle

lstar337 wrote: »

Where is your resevoir?

North Wales !!!

Herbalus

GMbabies wrote: »

Do you think energy companies are so generous to give us free lunch?

You know what's gonna happen, they will entice you in with the Free Saturday energy to get you signed up with the deal with smart meters then the six months in, they will STING YOU with a higher price.

I thought the idea was that by reducing the demand across weekdays, when businesses use a lot of energy, and spreading demand over the whole week more evenly, we can produce less energy and there will be less waste and lower (by which I mean a smaller increase!) prices. Call me optimistic, but the idea is sound.

Whether the capitalistic share-holders of BG demand this kick in the teeth later remains to be seen....

roxy28

Had a call from BG yesterday saying we have to have our meters swapped out for new smart meters, everyone will have to have smart meters within a few years i was told.
As i was unsure about this after it was explained, i asked for a letter to be sent with the details, he said a lot of people prefer to book an engineer appointment over the phone when we ring but will send a letter.
I am wary of any pitfalls with the new meters so i need to be informed, and also after searching it seems they are not compulsary as i was told.

Perelandra

roxy28 wrote: »

Had a call from BG yesterday saying we have to have our meters swapped out for new smart meters, everyone will have to have smart meters within a few years i was told.
As i was unsure about this after it was explained, i asked for a letter to be sent with the details, he said a lot of people prefer to book an engineer appointment over the phone when we ring but will send a letter.
I am wary of any pitfalls with the new meters so i need to be informed, and also after searching it seems they are not compulsary as i was told.

You are correct, it is not mandatory to have a smart meter, and so can refuse one. You shouldn't have been told you have to have one.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/smart-meters-how-they-work

At some point in the future, it's likely that no further dumb installations will be done- so at that point when your old meter needs replacing, it will need to be Smart. That's not true at the moment, though, so you can insist on a dumb.

(NB: I work for British Gas, but post in an unofficial capacity. Anything I post on this forum does not necessarily represent the views of my employer).