red numbers are not moving on power meter, will the meter be accurate?

rogerblack

happenstance wrote: »

I don't think 60 a year is fair as the meter reading charges are currently built into the pricing structure. If it was fair they would give everyone on "smart" meters a 60 discount as their actions are saving money on a team of meter readers.

£60 a year is complete !!!!!!!!.
Assuming a guy+car costing £20/hour, and taking 10 minutes per appointment, that's more like £3 per visit.
Even assuming 2/3 of visits fail, that's still £9 per visit.

happenstance

rogerblack wrote: »

£60 a year is complete !!!!!!!!.
Assuming a guy+car costing £20/hour, and taking 10 minutes per appointment, that's more like £3 per visit.
Even assuming 2/3 of visits fail, that's still £9 per visit.

The 60 wasn't my figure, but from the other person that sounds more in the know.

I can believe it though, they have to pay for the car for the meter reader, insurance, holiday, training, sick, NI, HR and all that sh..stuff.

rogerblack

happenstance wrote: »

The 60 wasn't my figure, but from the other person that sounds more in the know.

I can believe it though, they have to pay for the car for the meter reader, insurance, holiday, training, sick, NI, HR and all that sh..stuff.

In principle - the problem is that those numbers don't really add up to close to £60.

Looking on the jobcentre website, I see £8/hour, and 25p/mile - requiring own car with own insurance common.

Assuming 6 visits per hour, with 5 miles between, that's £15/hour or so.
If the back office and NI and ... double that - that comes to £30/hour total.

6 visits per hour - £5 per visit - 2/3 missed visits - £15/visit.

This would seem to be an extremely high figure.
It's perhaps appropriate for rural areas - but if you're going round on foot, and trying to read the meter every 3rd house in a road - it's _enormously_ pessimistic.

happenstance

rogerblack wrote: »

In principle - the problem is that those numbers don't really add up to close to £60.

Looking on the jobcentre website, I see £8/hour, and 25p/mile - requiring own car with own insurance common.

Assuming 6 visits per hour, with 5 miles between, that's £15/hour or so.
If the back office and NI and ... double that - that comes to £30/hour total.

6 visits per hour - £5 per visit - 2/3 missed visits - £15/visit.

This would seem to be an extremely high figure.
It's perhaps appropriate for rural areas - but if you're going round on foot, and trying to read the meter every 3rd house in a road - it's _enormously_ pessimistic.

I know the actual cost of the reader per vist is small, its the cost of insurance, HR, NI, pension, recruiting costs, the management etc.

Did you read that story about a lollypop lady costing over 55'000 a year?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223964/How-help-cross-road-Council-tells-concerned-parents-pay-50-000-lollipop-lady-outside-primary-school.html

rogerblack

happenstance wrote: »

I know the actual cost of the reader per vist is small, its the cost of insurance, HR, NI, pension, recruiting costs, the management etc.

Did you read that story about a lollypop lady costing over 55'000 a year?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223964/How-help-cross-road-Council-tells-concerned-parents-pay-50-000-lollipop-lady-outside-primary-school.html

It's the daily mail.
I would trust them approximately as much as I could throw their headquarters.

Having said that, though the headline is perhaps misleading, the story does not seem insane.
If you actually read the cost breakdown - most of that is not related to the employment, it is one-off setup costs for doing something.

The 'infrastructure' costs dominate - it's 'only 8342' a year.

The costs seem also to be _dramatically_ higher than in the private sector, specifically redundancy.

It would be interesting to submit a freedom of information request about the general expenses of the department involved.

NI, pensions are costs, yes. They however do not make up more than a doubling in wage. Insurance is under £100/year/employee.

Managment and backend services are a cost, yes, but again, not a huge one.

If your costs to manage a single employee - when you have hundreds of meter readers - are close to the public sector example - you have utterly failed.

happenstance

I know its the daily fail, but that article can probably articulate better than me the non core fees even.

Of course the costs are way higher in the public sector, they get eye watering redundancy pay outs paid by the mugs.

The meter readers costs are probably mostly, middle management and top management.

[Deleted User]

with meter reading its the number of visits and how hard they are to access which determines the price. I personally have done certain reads where I am paid £20 to access a meter. When smarts are all mostly in , we will be left with a very low dispersed population of oddballs and refuseniks and the plain awkward types. They will be more likely making it difficult to access their meters so the price per read will be quite high. The £60 a year sort of price will be determined by the fact that the people who wont allow a smart are keeping the suppliers employing a workforce which should nt really be needed. Personally I think the same Parliament which came to the daft decision to allow people their eccentricitys will be reviewing the decision and revoking it, if only in the name of global warming

espresso

sacsquacco wrote: »

with meter reading its the number of visits and how hard they are to access which determines the price. I personally have done certain reads where I am paid £20 to access a meter. When smarts are all mostly in , we will be left with a very low dispersed population of oddballs and refuseniks and the plain awkward types. They will be more likely making it difficult to access their meters so the price per read will be quite high. The £60 a year sort of price will be determined by the fact that the people who wont allow a smart are keeping the suppliers employing a workforce which should nt really be needed. Personally I think the same Parliament which came to the daft decision to allow people their eccentricitys will be reviewing the decision and revoking it, if only in the name of global warming

Great description of the arrogant, paranoid OP!

happenstance

sacsquacco wrote: »

with meter reading its the number of visits and how hard they are to access which determines the price. I personally have done certain reads where I am paid £20 to access a meter. When smarts are all mostly in , we will be left with a very low dispersed population of oddballs and refuseniks and the plain awkward types. They will be more likely making it difficult to access their meters so the price per read will be quite high. The £60 a year sort of price will be determined by the fact that the people who wont allow a smart are keeping the suppliers employing a workforce which should nt really be needed. Personally I think the same Parliament which came to the daft decision to allow people their eccentricitys will be reviewing the decision and revoking it, if only in the name of global warming

The "target" is 80% so that leaves 20 without.

chanz4

happenstance wrote: »

Thanks much appreciated, I'm with ecotricity but I doubt that makes much difference.

I assume as I have got a meter that is at least 20+ years old, they would not even try to see if it is accurate first and fix it but would just want to replace it?

As my meter is faulty with some static faction numbers, is it possible they would demand I got a new meter installed or cut me off?

If your meter is faulty, they can make you have it changed. 7/11 electricity act will be used as entry. Your meter must be functional