British Gas - Smart meter upgrade?

[Deleted User]

brewerdave wrote: »

Forget the lunacy about microwave radiation & health - the main reason for NOT having one currently, is that they don't remain "smart" if you switch supplier. The utility cos. have a stockpile of old spec. meters which they are desperately trying to shift at the moment.

I don t think that theory holds water given that the suppliers have never kept a stock of meters in the past. The idea to get the suppliers to fit the meters was brought in because OFGEM thought that they could "sell " the idea better than the DNOs. That stupid idea immediately doubled/tripled/quadrupled whatever the cost of getting them fitted.Instead of the DNO s descending on streets in one fell swoop fitting them quickly and cheaply they have each supplier responsible for installation. That means badly run suppliers who can t even run their own businesses have to get people trained and mobile all at great cost. They then flit here there and everywhere doing a few meters a day on a good day.
The DNO s are the people to fit them, they have the trained employees all ready, they have the knowledge and expertise.Only the UK could think that was a good idea ( the rest of Europe don t) and judging by people like Justanothersaver with his inbuilt distrust of a smart meter they have failed badly. And by the way Justanothersaver, the old meters are broke ! they allow people to avoid paying their bills and they allow hundreds of thousands to bypass the meters which all adds up to £60 a year extra on every ones bills at least with theft of electricity and gas increasing all the time.Someone has to pay for all their free lunches and its the honest who pick up the bill.
I wonder if Corbyn fancies renationalising the utilities as well as the railways. He d have my vote if they did

vacheron

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Why are they better than old meters?

Is it such a hassle to read off your old meter & enter the details online?

We had ours fitted in January.

• They remove the need for manual reading.
• They allow you to review your gas and electricity use online down to a single day (or single 30 minute interval if you wish).
• They let you see the immediate improvements in your energy saving measures.
• You have your aging meters replaced with newer more accurate meters and get a free gas / electrical inspection included by default.
• Ours also includes a wireless indoor receiver to view our instantaneous and historical gas usage.

PS. Ignore the tinfoil hat brigade regarding health risks. adding or removing a meter has an utterly insignificant increase in your daily exposure to RFI.

JustAnotherSaver

I see & accept those positives but for me they're just not worth it right now.

I know if I leave a light on in a room that I don't return to for 2 hours I'm just throwing money away. I don't need to see how much of a change turning that light off makes for example. I don't like to throw money away but equally I don't want to spend time trying to scrape every penny.

When they're a necessity I'll get one, or if I change my mind I'll get one but for now I'll stay as I am. Thanks.