Smart Meters - Ask me anything!

Be_Happy

Will electrical smart meters require new time clocks for E7 operation.

Query is because I have a modern, standard E7 meter (Normal/Low rate) with the transfer between rates controlled by a separate time clock which is still on the old Scottish Power White Meter system giving 8 1/2 hours overnight off-peak.

Will a new time clock have to be fitted along with a smart meter, probably meaning I will lose a very useful extra 1 1/2 hours of off peak rate.

(The present digital meter replaced the old meter around 4 years ago, with no effect on the working of the time clock.)

lstar337

Opened my door this morning to see EDF fitting SMETS1 smart meters to my neighbours left and right.

I guess there phone call went differently to mine.

rubyandjas

My gas supply has just been cut off due to my smart meter not working. i'm with iSupply but I cannot contact them due to it being out of hours. I called the emergency gas number and a guy came out to check the supply. He confirmed that the meter has been switched off/not working therefore gas is not going through the meter. I have emailed iSupply but not received a reply and doubt I will do until tomorrow. Until I can speak to anyone i'm left the night without heating or hot water. Is there anything I can do??
Thanks
Chloe

CHess

Can you tell me whether it is Ok to have a smart meter with solar panels?

ASavvyBuyer

CHess wrote: »

Can you tell me whether it is Ok to have a smart meter with solar panels?

Yes; we had a Smart meter installed last week so that we can take advantage of the Octopus Go tariff to charge the EV at 5p/kWh when we don't have sufficient Solar PV generation to charge the car during the daytime (through the winter months).
It works fine.

C_Mababejive

rubyandjas wrote: »

My gas supply has just been cut off due to my smart meter not working. i'm with iSupply but I cannot contact them due to it being out of hours. I called the emergency gas number and a guy came out to check the supply. He confirmed that the meter has been switched off/not working therefore gas is not going through the meter. I have emailed iSupply but not received a reply and doubt I will do until tomorrow. Until I can speak to anyone i'm left the night without heating or hot water. Is there anything I can do??
Thanks
Chloe

I'm guessing you have this sorted now? what was the final solution and how long were you without gas ??

nanny_beach

Have of course, seen all the news about smart meters from the start, government saying they will save us money. If I want to put the kettle on, am not going to look at it, think OMG I cant have a cuppa it uses too much electricity. John Prescot said a new boiler would save me £300 a year, that didnt happen. We had a perfectly funtioning back boiler behind our gas fire, told we had to have self condensing, which would have entailed digging up lounge, and kitchen floors, no thanks! My enrgy company has been bombarding me, finnally decied to take their call the other day, was told they would come and fit smart meter, said no thansk, asked why, said I alrady had lots of energy saving products in place, (economy 7 for a start) then was told it wasnt a money saver, but the old meters (ours was installed 2014) were probably dangerous, might catch fire, it was for safeties sake, they were being installed, said the government said it was to save money. Oh, she said it would save me time, I wouldnt have to read the meter every 3 moths which takes maybe 60 seconds. Plus each time I have had a new meter installed, there has been problems, some years ago, the new meter ran backwards, BG coming to read a gas meter I didnt have sending me bills, and threatening court action for none payment of bills. Unfortunately for her, I had a reply to everything she said. After all these problems with meters, you can understand I am not interested!

EachPenny

nanny_beach wrote: »

...My enrgy company has been bombarding me, finnally decied to take their call the other day, was told they would come and fit smart meter, said no thansk, asked why, said I alrady had lots of energy saving products in place, (economy 7 for a start) then was told it wasnt a money saver, but the old meters (ours was installed 2014) were probably dangerous, might catch fire, it was for safeties sake, they were being installed, said the government said it was to save money....

Personally I would report this in the form of a formal written complaint to your energy supplier.

It is scandalous that people are being scaremongered into having smart meters fitted.

Someone being told their meter was "probably dangerous" and "might catch fire" could easily decide that they were genuinely at risk, and make unwise decisions like turning their electricity supply off 'just in case'. The consequences of living in the cold and dark until a smart meter can be fitted could be serious, potentially fatal, for a vulnerable person.

Also, having stuff like this added to people's perceptions of what might happen to them only enhances the ability of distraction burglars to knock on someone's door and say they need to come in 'urgently' to cut off the electric because the meter is 'dangerous'. Rather than telling the scammer to 'p' off, vulnerable people who have heard that old meters are 'dangerous' might be panicked into allowing them in.

If energy companies really are using this kind of tactic they should be ashamed of themselves.

[Deleted User]

nanny_beach wrote: »

Have of course, seen all the news about smart meters from the start, government saying they will save us money. If I want to put the kettle on, am not going to look at it, think OMG I cant have a cuppa it uses too much electricity. John Prescot said a new boiler would save me £300 a year, that didnt happen. We had a perfectly funtioning back boiler behind our gas fire, told we had to have self condensing, which would have entailed digging up lounge, and kitchen floors, no thanks! My enrgy company has been bombarding me, finnally decied to take their call the other day, was told they would come and fit smart meter, said no thansk, asked why, said I alrady had lots of energy saving products in place, (economy 7 for a start) then was told it wasnt a money saver, but the old meters (ours was installed 2014) were probably dangerous, might catch fire, it was for safeties sake, they were being installed, said the government said it was to save money. Oh, she said it would save me time, I wouldnt have to read the meter every 3 moths which takes maybe 60 seconds. Plus each time I have had a new meter installed, there has been problems, some years ago, the new meter ran backwards, BG coming to read a gas meter I didnt have sending me bills, and threatening court action for none payment of bills. Unfortunately for her, I had a reply to everything she said. After all these problems with meters, you can understand I am not interested!

New meter ran backwards lol..not if its a digital meter, and all the meters in the last 7 or 8 years are digital meters not possible to reverse. They can show "reverse energy detected "
The only meters which are capable of reversing are old analogue meters with a rotating ring.
The newspapers filled a few inches with unsubstantiated claims of smart electric meters catching fire without any real evidence it was nt with a little help from the occupier. One had claimed to have been in the property for a full year.
I have seen many electric meters start to melt the incoming cables and a few even start to smoke .( cannabis farmers )..and everyone was because of tampering by the occupier.
There have always been examples of meter fitters not tightening all the cables properly. Loose cables can also overheat and it does nt matter what type of meter it is, smart or dumb but that does nt stop the news papers having a bit of fun with scare stories.The Daily Telegraph has been the worst surprisingly for a broadsheet.
The only thing potentially dangerous about any new meters are the extremely rare rogue meter fitters who go around with his head buried in his mobile on Twitter who does nt tighten cables and gas unions up properly, and I have certainly met one or two of them when they were fitting gas meters with only a couple of threads tightened on the J42 regulators attached to the meter

EachPenny

Houbara wrote: »

There have always been examples of meter fitters not tightening all the cables properly. Loose cables can also overheat and it does nt matter what type of meter it is, smart or dumb but that does nt stop the news papers having a bit of fun with scare stories.The Daily Telegraph has been the worst surprisingly for a broadsheet.

Not sure if you missed it Houbara, but according to the OP, it is their own supplier spreading such "scare stories".

If it is wrong for a newspaper to be doing this, then surely you would agree that a responsible energy supplier shouldn't be doing it either?

Houbara wrote: »

I have seen many electric meters start to melt the incoming cables and a few even start to smoke .( cannabis farmers )..and everyone was because of tampering by the occupier.

Although I assume you didn't see it (wrong region, wrong department) my parent's incoming cables started to 'smoke'. They are neither 'cannabis farmers' nor tampered with the equipment. The actual cause? The rubber insulation on the cloth covered cables had failed and water (it was raining) was causing a short.

Please move on from the idea that anything that can go wrong with an electricity supply is always the fault/illegality on the part of the householder. We aren't all criminals.