British Gas Smart Meter

C_Mababejive

Andy_WSM wrote: »

The best the crooks can do right now is put prices up right before the Winter. I can well imagine the temperatures plumett across the UK and electricity & gas prices double overnight. People on low incomes freeze and the Government look on while rubbing their hands together at the increased tax revenue from the higher prices.

That is exactly the name of the game. The catch phrase for it is smarter grids. At the moment National Grid pre orders gas and electric on a future forecasting model. The hope is that the demand will roughly equal the predications. If demand is higher, the extra energy has to be bought in via energy trading (a bit like the stock market) and is often at a premium. Equally excesses are traded out for income.

Imagine a situation in which those peaks and troughs are smoothed out by smart metering.

You have your forecast,you buy in a little less than you need safe in the knowledge that many will not be able to afford to pay higher rates for peak demand energy ..or...the forecasted requirement is exceeded by demand. The shortfall is bought in at a premium and that on cost is passed on to customers by bumping up their peak tarriff cost.

It isnt all bad though. Imagine throughout the night when less gas and electric is used.

You simply do your washing/drying/cooking (if poss) through the night on timers.

You put your hot water on to warm during the night.

Those with combis are stuffed as they cant heat and store.

Bottom line,,,,something has to be done to manage energy demands in this country and this is as good a plan as any. A huge swathe of the public will not have the agility to deal with it and will suffer at the expense of those who can manage it..but then thats life.

allysbargainstore

We've been using smart meters for both gas and electric for a little over a year now. We've noticed that we are much better with saving our energy and a bit more religious at switching off anything we don't use. We did have a combi boiler installed last year and that has seen a significant drop in our bills too.

michdoha

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Hello & welcome to the fun house

I think your friend has got it a bit wrong.

At the moment if you have a smart meter fitted it will only remain "smart" while you remain with that supplier. If you switch to a different supplier at a later date the meter reverts to a standard "dumb" credit meter.

This will change in the future if current plans pan out as anticipated.

Actually this is the situation I'm in now. I was persuaded to change to a smart meter last year and now I want to change suppliers. The new suppliers either won't support the meter or are going to charge a higher rate.

matelodave

michdoha wrote: »

Actually this is the situation I'm in now. I was persuaded to change to a smart meter last year and now I want to change suppliers. The new suppliers either won't support the meter or are going to charge a higher rate.

I find that hard to believe, as already stated the meter reverts to being a dumb meter so should make no difference unless you've got a strange set-up (E10) or want to change tariff types (ie E7 to single, or pre-pay to credit or vice-versa).

Try a different supplier, they may not support it as smart meter but there's no reason for them not to accept it as a dumb one

lstar337

michdoha wrote: »

Actually this is the situation I'm in now. I was persuaded to change to a smart meter last year and now I want to change suppliers. The new suppliers either won't support the meter or are going to charge a higher rate.

They can't just 'charge a higher rate' as that would be discrimination.

The tariff's are what they are, they cannot single you out and charge you a higher rate.

They may ask you to pay for a meter change (though I doubt this is necessary for the reasons stated above), but if that is the case then just go to another supplier.

[Deleted User]

michdoha wrote: »

Actually this is the situation I'm in now. I was persuaded to change to a smart meter last year and now I want to change suppliers. The new suppliers either won't support the meter or are going to charge a higher rate.

whoever advised you is plain wrong, a meter is a meter if its a single rate meter and all suppliers must support that or they would nt be suppliers. Only today I ve seen several ex BG smart meters in use by EDF. No probs whatsoever apart from unpluging the excellent monitor display and putting it away in a drawer until smart switching comes about. All the smart meters I ve seen from other suppliers are all the same Landys and Gyr model anyway. It sounds like a bit of a con by some telesales operator to get you to stay with same supplier

C_Mababejive

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Hello & welcome to the fun house

I think your friend has got it a bit wrong.

At the moment if you have a smart meter fitted it will only remain "smart" while you remain with that supplier. If you switch to a different supplier at a later date the meter reverts to a standard "dumb" credit meter.

This will change in the future if current plans pan out as anticipated.

True,,although I know of someone who has smart meters and has changed to some no name energy company and is now suffering intermittent valve closures thus cutting off their gas. I advised her to contact her no no name company for them to arrange a replacement/dumb meter. Now that smart meters have been fitted for a couple of years, the cracks are beginning to show.