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Stop Smart Meters!
Comments
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What a load of tosh is published by those opposing smart meters (especially the website that this thread highlights). I agree they cost money, and that cost will of course ultimately be met by consumers. But I'd rather this than subsidise those that cheat the system.
Actually I only found this thread after a less-than-great experience with smart metering. BG offered smart meters, I accepted (without thinking, but having researched it I'd not change my mind), and they were fitted three days ago. But the engineer who fitted them was unable to commission them as "there is currently a problem in this postcode". He had checked signal strength before starting work, so I can't guess what the problem is. So for now my smart meters need "manually" reading !
The other mystery is why BG chose me for smart meters ? I'm not a longstanding customer (they can see that I joined in an MSE Mass Switch) so I'll likely be off again next February. My meters are on the outside of my garage, can be read (or checked for bypass) easily at any time. I have no history of poor payment, I submit readings regularly, no-one queried my readings the last two times I switched. My guess is that there is a government incentive for installing these meters, so they are "picking the low-hanging fruit" rather than targeting the more difficult customers where smart meters would be far more beneficial.0 -
Commissioning issues are quite common at the minute, literally, this week. Gas doesn't want to work at all. And you're no where near me.
Most smart work is determined by records, which aren't kept by the supplier, but more the companies that own the current meters in properties, as these records are released to the suppliers, we can go fit smart meters. This is usually based on meter age. Or a customer signing up to a free time tariff.0 -
Just received a bill (on British Gas website, notification by email) telling me my monthly-paid account is about £1500 in debit. The guy who swapped my meters on Monday has misread the old gas meter !
Probably the most annoying thing is that instead of noticing that the gas reading was outrageous, the BG billing system has replaced a meter reading by me in May (accepted at the time) with an inflated "estimated reading", so that the silliness is smoothed-out over two quarters. That seems fraudulent to me ! Though to be fair to British Gas after a 'phone call they did agree that the reading was implausible and that it would be "looked into".
If I was a member of the anti smart meter lobby suppose I'd be using this as an argument against smart meters, but in fact it's just normal human error by the meter engineer compounded by a bit of incompetence in the billing department. But nevertheless not what I needed to start my Friday morning !0 -
The most ludicrous thing about them is surely that they are unique to each supplier and not universally "smart"
If that situation has changed I stand corrected.
Why however did all the companies not agree to be able to use each others offerings from day 1.0 -
@superbigal36
Why did it happen? Because the people paying the bill were not represented in the decision making process. And they were, all the domestic energy customers (you and I) who are footing the bill via surcharges to our energy costs.0 -
The end game for smart metering is that they will link into smart distribution networks. You will pay more if you want to use energy when demand is high i.e in cold weather/darkness. You pay less in summer,,daylight.
Of course its such a fiasco that if it ever happens,well it will be at least a decade.
The concept of different charges for different days/times has already been demonstrated by BGs offer of free elec for saturday or whatever..for smart customers only.Feudal Britain needs land reform. 70% of the land is "owned" by 1 % of the population and at least 50% is unregistered (inherited by landed gentry). Thats why your slave box costs so much..0 -
C_Mababejive wrote: »The end game for smart metering is that they will link into smart distribution networks. You will pay more if you want to use energy when demand is high i.e in cold weather/darkness. You pay less in summer,,daylight.
Of course its such a fiasco that if it ever happens,well it will be at least a decade.
The concept of different charges for different days/times has already been demonstrated by BGs offer of free elec for saturday or whatever..for smart customers only.
Time of Use metering has also been in use for decades already in Eco 7 and Eco 10 .Its not new, and its not to be feared.It has been trialled in Northern Ireland where the the people who went on the trial was for a preference for the TOU tariffs if they had a choice0 -
free electric and smart meters.
if you have a " happy meter " then a smart meter isn't for you lol. if you have a smart meter then when you pull the 60/100A fuse im guessing it reports saying the supply has been disconnected.
if you have a split board in your house you can keep one side on the meter and the other can have a tail ran past the meter and directly into the 60 / 100a fuse , my house for example has 2 x live terminals so would be quite easy to borrow some free electric if I wanted, but I have LEDS and low energy items so my bill is next to nothing inaway..0 -
free electric and smart meters.
if you have a " happy meter " then a smart meter isn't for you lol. if you have a smart meter then when you pull the 60/100A fuse im guessing it reports saying the supply has been disconnected.
if you have a split board in your house you can keep one side on the meter and the other can have a tail ran past the meter and directly into the 60 / 100a fuse , my house for example has 2 x live terminals so would be quite easy to borrow some free electric if I wanted, but I have LEDS and low energy items so my bill is next to nothing inaway..
Exactly !! the "happy " meter occupiers are allowed to say" I want to keep my existing meter because its saving me thousands of pounds and I can heat my house like a tropical hothouse and the mugs who pay their bills can subsidise me".. I can point out whole streets in my area who have happy meters and they don`t want to change them..Can you delete the next section of your post because you seem to be assisting people to get around a smart meter0 -
Wait until the whole country is on smart meters and watch the fun begin. They'll start charging premiums during peak times or when there is an energy shortage after a couple more coal fired power stations have been shut down.
Or your energy supplier will give you a "friendly reminder" by shutting your electric off for 20 mins when you are a day late with your bill.
I don't usually go for this conspiracy theory BS but I can actually see something like this happening.0
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