Smart meters?

BML

I moved to a new Gas/Electric provider who sent me an Email each month asking for my meter readings which I sent. I then noted that all they were taking was the same sum each month and I asked them why. They replied that was the sum that I told them I was paying my last company. I then asked them how much in advance I was and as it was a substantial amount I asked for it back.
I thought that I would be charged for what I use based on the meter readings that I sent but obviously that was to easy for them so I then asked them when were we going to be offered a smart metre and they told me that they don't offer them.
I am now looking for a cost effective alternative to that company that does offer a smart metre and does only bill me for what I use. Can anyone suggest one?

chippy2u

Just changed to EDF and have a smart meter. I love it! I can see exactly how much I am using per hour, check what each appliance is using and how much leccy I am using per day, per week etc. Maybe not the best rate but I'm on 14.01p per unit on a fixed rate for one year. at least I know exactly how much my bill is going to be.

J_B

BML wrote: »

I am now looking for a cost effective alternative to that company that does offer a smart metre and does only bill me for what I use.

You can be billed that way if you prefer, but all (?) providers charge extra for that method.
Monthly DD usually gives a discount.
Just tell them to reduce your monthly payments.

chippy2u

I do pay by DD. But as I have only recently joined EDF I haven't had much experience of payments yet.

reeac

chippy2u wrote: »

Just changed to EDF and have a smart meter. I love it! I can see exactly how much I am using per hour, check what each appliance is using and how much leccy I am using per day, per week etc. Maybe not the best rate but I'm on 14.01p per unit on a fixed rate for one year. at least I know exactly how much my bill is going to be.

Interesting viewpoint. You love knowing the details of your consumption but don't see to mind that you're paying well over the odds for your leccy. In the business admin. field there is the concept of Pareto which means concentrate on the big effects ...don't waste time on the small ones.

System

chippy2u wrote: »

Just changed to EDF and have a smart meter. I love it! I can see exactly how much I am using per hour, check what each appliance is using and how much leccy I am using per day, per week etc. Maybe not the best rate but I'm on 14.01p per unit on a fixed rate for one year. at least I know exactly how much my bill is going to be.

I just wonder how many people would accept a smart meter if they were asked to pay £400 for it? Oh I forgot, we are all paying £400 each for them with a projected saving of £11 per customer per year.

Seriously, if saving energy is the aim, we would all benefit more from the installation of Hive and £136 meter monitoring device such as NorthQ which is clever enough to 'sense' what is turned on and how much energy each household device is using.

I manage to monitor my usage/billing by reading my meters once a week and entering two meter readings into an App, surprisingly, called Meters (99p)

SG27

J_B wrote: »

You can be billed that way if you prefer, but all (?) providers charge extra for that method.
Monthly DD usually gives a discount.
Just tell them to reduce your monthly payments.

Most don't charge extra but not all offer it. It's called monthly variable DD. British Gas let you pay that way but sainsbury who also are British gas don't.

Just ring them and ask if you can pay by monthly variable direct debit.

BML

Idle I might be but I'm sure it was much simpler when there was a publicly owned energy organisations. I wonder if anyone has ever done an analysis of costs during nationalisation and privatisation.

badmemory

The big advantage when these companies were nationalised, we all knew what we were paying for energy, those less able to get/search for deals were not penalised and we weren't giving the profits away to who knows who (or where).

A nationalised company, properly run, using internet access for many, could make profit for the country AND keep our bills down. The problem is that they compare how things work now with how they worked before the communication systems worked as they do now and that is bound to be a big fail.

BML

"The problem is that they compare how things work now with how they worked before the communication systems worked as they do now and that is bound to be a big fail."
I'm not sure I understand that.

BML

I 'm still looking for a cost effective alternative to the company that does offer a smart metre and only bills me based on the DD I used for my previous supplyer. Can anyone suggest one?