Smart Meter Installations

Norman_Castle

reeac wrote: »

The glib argument is that with the accompanying in house display you'll be more aware of how much leccy your're using and will switch things off. This will probably be the case with the oblivious masses but all good MSE people will already be operating economically ....hence no saving. The whole project seems like an expensive way to save money.

In my experience the oblivious masses are happy in their ignorance. 90% of smart meter displays will be shoved in a drawer within weeks of being fitted. I had a spare plug in monitor which I gave to people and kept getting back. Too much effort and people said they would use the same whatever the meter said.

People are either interested in energy use or they're not. Having a display in their home won't change that.

reeac

Norman_Castle wrote: »

In my experience the oblivious masses are happy in their ignorance. 90% of smart meter displays will be shoved in a drawer within weeks of being fitted. I had a spare plug in monitor which I gave to people and kept getting back. Too much effort and people said they would use the same whatever the meter said.

People are either interested in energy use or they're not. Having a display in their home won't change that.

You're probably correct. We had a freeby electricity consumption meter from our supplier a few years ago and kept it on a shelf in the kitchen. The only interesting data that it yielded were the daily consumption when we were in residence and when we were away on hol.....10kWh and 3 kWh respectively (2 fridges and 2 freezers in the latter case). Eventually the meter packed up and we don't miss it.

Norman_Castle

Its annoying households are being told these meters will save them money which they wont. The meters will give information which if the householder uses to change their behavior should save them money. Having a different meter won't save anything.

Do these smart meters consume energy that current meters don't? There are 26 million households potentially getting one or more smart meters. At 1 watt each isn't that is a constant 26,000,000 watt drain?

[Deleted User]

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Its annoying households are being told these meters will save them money which they wont. The meters will give information which if the householder uses to change their behavior should save them money. Having a different meter won't save anything.

Do these smart meters consume energy that current meters don't? There are 26 million households potentially getting one or more smart meters. At 1 watt each isn't that is a constant 26,000,000 watt drain?

The meters consume no more energy than any other digital electric/gas meters. What tiny amount they use in a year is not paid for by the consumer. The In house display is reported at using approx 60 p a year in energy.
Smart meters are preferred by the suppliers and the government because they are better, so that should be enough reason for having one. Its the normal way of the world when something better comes along otherwise we would all be still playing LP vinyl records ! The government made a big mistake in trying to sell smart meters to a public which had no business in having a say in what type of meter is installed. They should have done exactly what most of Europe did ( Germany/ Sweden excepted ) and made it obligatory to have the new meters .

victor2

sacsquacco wrote: »

The meters consume no more energy than any other digital electric/gas meters. What tiny amount they use in a year is not paid for by the consumer. The In house display is reported at using approx 60 p a year in energy.
Smart meters are preferred by the suppliers and the government because they are better, so that should be enough reason for having one. Its the normal way of the world when something better comes along otherwise we would all be still playing LP vinyl records ! The government made a big mistake in trying to sell smart meters to a public which had no business in having a say in what type of meter is installed. They should have done exactly what most of Europe did ( Germany/ Sweden excepted ) and made it obligatory to have the new meters .

They should have insisted on meters with "smartness" that would work across all suppliers from day one. That would have been better.

molerat

Yet another box ticking exercise - Government says smart meters should be available - OFGEM encourages companies roll out smart meters - box ticked - (the fact they don't actually do what they are supposed to and will need changing again is irrelevant)

Government says customers should be encouraged to switch suppliers - OFGEM dreams up misleading savings formula to encourage switching and punters fall for it - box ticked -(the fact that many switchers will be no better off again irrelevant)

What is the common factor here ?

DJC1690

'Once all meters
are ‘smart’ they will be support both credit and prepayment
tariffs; defaulting customers will simply be cut off remotely
and told to buy topup online or from a local shop in future.