The Great Hunt: How smart is your smart meter?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

dj1471 wrote: »

Yes, I registered my interest with e.on and got them fitted once they were available in my area.

It's nice not having to submit meter readings and very useful to always have up-to-date annual usage figures available online when shopping around, but the monitor is destined for a cupboard. I already had an energy monitor, but the smart meter one annoys me by having a very bright backlight that you can't turn off... Aside from being a nuisance in the evening, it's also wasting energy!

Hi dj1471

Glad you like the Smart Meter but sorry you're not keen on the energy display. The actual cost to run the display depends on the type you have. The early ECO displays cost less than a penny a day and the later Chameleons between around 18p and 80p a year depending on the type.

Thanks for the feedback about the light dj1471. I'll pass this on.

Malc

sue.b_2

dj1471 wrote: »

Yes, I registered my interest with e.on and got them fitted once they were available in my area.

It's nice not having to submit meter readings and very useful to always have up-to-date annual usage figures available online when shopping around, but the monitor is destined for a cupboard. I already had an energy monitor, but the smart meter one annoys me by having a very bright backlight that you can't turn off... Aside from being a nuisance in the evening, it's also wasting energy!

I agree with everything you said. I had mine fitted by e.on in June and have found it is of little use except for the remote meter readings. The electricity meter has flashing lights that are bright enough to light up my hall from inside a cupboard with a slatted door. I have had to line the door with cardboard.

JoMull

Yes - British gas installed it. Worked great for some time. I don't have to bother with the meter reading. However the display works for electricity but not gas. They sent an engineer out to fix it - it worked for all of half an hour! Good for the meter readings but the display function a waste of time...

RunningMan_2

We had a smart meter installed by Eon in early September. We find the display extremely useful to be able to see how much energy different items use and I'd say it's definitely helped us reduce our usage.

My only concern is that when we switch companies (which we do regularly) it'll become redundant which seems ridiculous.

belle_de_jour

I had a smart meter for electricity (no gas here!) installed by British Gas in October 2012. No problems in using it and loved not having to think about meter readings.


When I switched to EDF in November 2012 I lost the automatic sending of meter readings and the pricing information. However, the display still shows the usage and meter reading – avoiding the need to stand on a chair and peer at the meter with a torch – so I still find it useful. So does the annual meter reader!

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

This is only temporary until all suppliers are able to use a centralised data communications company to look after readings. I don't have a time frame for this at the moment.

I think this is a major problem in getting people to adopt smart meters. Information on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/smart-meters-how-they-work has not been updated since October 2013. Although it states that "Most households will have smart meters installed by their energy company between 2016 and 2020 . . ." it is more than vague about how a full smart meter service will be maintained when switching supplier.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

magicgranny wrote: »

We live in one of a small group of houses on a farm, and our meters are housed in a shed some distance from the properties. The electricity companies tell us that smart meters will not work due to the distance. 😚
We are currently using eon as part of the latest collective switch.

Hi magicgranny

There's certainly some areas/circumstances where we're not able to fit Smart Meters at the moment but this is something we're working on. Have you registered an interest?

If not, might be an idea to do this as things are changing all the time. As above (post 18 and the link Futuristic's added in post 19 - thanks Futuristic), you can do this online. A member of one of our Smart Teams will be in touch to let you know the latest situation. Even if we're not currently able to fit one, we'll keep your interest on record and let you know when we are.

Hope this is of interest magicgranny. Let me know if you need any more information as happy to help.

Malc

ollybus

I was offered one of these when BG said I needed a new gas meter fitted. They said it would help me to monitor my usage easily. The chap who fitted it couldn't get it to show the usage on the monitor on the day, he said it was because the monitor needed to be recognised by their database. After several days it still wasn't working. After many phone calls, emails, live chats etc I gave up trying to get it sorted.

It did send my meter readings through to BG though so it was useful in that I didn't have to go outside to do it, but it was useless in terms of helping me to track usage easily (although I could do some of it on their website, but quite often data was missing).

So overall, not a great success.

I have now moved supplier to EON, who say I can have a smart meter.

What I want to know is why all these different suppliers have to install their own brand of smart meters - why isn't there just one which all energy providers simply 'take over' when a switch is done!

Talk about duplication of effort - no wonder everything costs a fortune

sebringmx

Have you had a smart meter installed?
Yes for the electricity

Was it voluntary?
It came with the house

Have you found it to be a smart addition or more clutter?
It is an EDF smart meter and I have my supply via EDF however smart meters aren't supported on my tariff. It doesn't have an indoor monitor. I have to send in my own meter readings, however because I am a potential fraudster EDF send a bod round to read the meter as well. Looks like a complete waste to me. Did the electric companies have some targets about smart meters?

We'd love to have your feedback.

You're welcome

trace365166

yes i have switched to dual fuel smart meter with british gas voluntarily. Though it makes you mindful of consumption my usage hasnt changed. Main problem is website says that your tariff will be unchanged this is incorrect as i was on economy 7 with 2 rates now am on one flat rate why would i want to change and pay more? Ive contacted British gas and awaiting explanation. Not happy

marilou66

I had one installed by OVO a couple weeks ago. It's probably very good, but it doesn't suit me(*) and obviously after changing the meters, OVO doesn't want to change them back again, which I totally understand.
The reasons why it doesn't suit me are: due to a past mistake in a provider reading (or rather estimating but showing as reading), I got in the habit of checking my meters at the end of every week (very useful when I forgot to switch off). But the new meters are impossible to read: the electricity meter is way too high and although I could read the large white digits on the black background in the past, it is impossible to read the new, tiny, faint ones on the LCD. The gas meter has the same problem, but in addition when you press 9 to read the meter, it only shows for a flicker - no good with those numbers on the LCD.
I have contacted Ovo who said that it wasn't possible to do a weekly reading, though it was possible to check the readings monthly online. When I compared these at the end of October, there was a big discrepancy between that reading and the ones I took last year for that period. Something to do, possibly, according to them: there is a chance that previous the meters used to clock in cubic feet not cubic metres which would cause this confusion.'
On the positive side, Ovo are marvellous at getting back to you, which compared to NPower and Scottish Power added to the fact that they are a green energy provider, is a big plus.