The future with Electric Smart Meters query

amtrakuk

There seems to be a lot of hype on the TV, leaflets though the door and cold calling sales man from the door asking me if I wanted to switch over to a "smart meter". The main claim being more accurate billing rather that relying on estimates.

As with all cold callers I told him to shoe off.

It got me thinking and I'm struggling to work out the benefits of Smart meters. surely 1000 units is 1000 units no matter if its used over a quarter or a year, in the round you wont be saving any electricity or money.

It makes sense why a few years ago all energy suppliers stopped the 2 tariff system and now work on a single tariff and standing charge, to align the billing to be compatible with Smart Meters.

Doing some research it turns out our friend in the US have had Smart Meters for quite a while, judging from some of the reports it appears the future is a combination of;

"Dynamic Billing" where they can charge more per unit in peak demand (Evenings etc) less at times of low demand (overnight etc)

"Load Balancing" your meter can be told to reduce the supply into your house if there increased demand in your area. I'm not sure how that works.

As I understand it the Smart Meters have a built in WiFi transmitter that transmits your usage hour by hour 365 days a year so in theory you never need an estimated bill.

Has anyone had experience on them, how do they work if you have Storage heaters and Economy 7, will you end up with a massive monthly bill in the winters?

Does it really save money? I can't see how?

System

amtrakuk wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of hype on the TV, leaflets though the door and cold calling sales man from the door asking me if I wanted to switch over to a "smart meter". The main claim being more accurate billing rather that relying on estimates.

As with all cold callers I told him to shoe off.

It got me thinking and I'm struggling to work out the benefits of Smart meters. surely 1000 units is 1000 units no matter if its used over a quarter or a year, in the round you wont be saving any electricity or money.

It makes sense why a few years ago all energy suppliers stopped the 2 tariff system and now work on a single tariff and standing charge, to align the billing to be compatible with Smart Meters.

Doing some research it turns out our friend in the US have had Smart Meters for quite a while, judging from some of the reports it appears the future is a combination of;

"Dynamic Billing" where they can charge more per unit in peak demand (Evenings etc) less at times of low demand (overnight etc)

"Load Balancing" your meter can be told to reduce the supply into your house if there increased demand in your area. I'm not sure how that works.

As I understand it the Smart Meters have a built in WiFi transmitter that transmits your usage hour by hour 365 days a year so in theory you never need an estimated bill.

Has anyone had experience on them, how do they work if you have Storage heaters and Economy 7, will you end up with a massive monthly bill in the winters?

Does it really save money? I can't see how?

This forum is littered with threads on the subject so I will not repeat all the arguments for and against. A few points:

1. The present generation of smart meters do not give you smart switching. Your meter will lose its 'smartness' if you switch suppliers. The next generation of smart meters which allow smart switching are due to start rolling out late next year (watch this space).

2. You will not save 1p unless you reduce your energy consumption - that is a simple fact.

3. There are no smart meters yet which are compatible with Economy 7.

4. Yes, you will get bills based on actual meter readings.

5. Yes, it is likely that we will see ToU tariffs to reduce peak demand. BG already has a Freetime ToU tariff that gives 8 hours/week of free electricity based on its standard variable tariff. It would be cheaper to go for a fixed tariff.

Finally, I should that billing and monthly DDs are not the same thing. If you estimate that your energy cost will be £600 per year or £50 per month then this will continue with the money accrued being used to offset bills. Use more than £600 worth of energy, then you monthly DD will increase as I am sure you know.

[Deleted User]

6. Any one cold calling is not doing you a favour and should be ignored.

amtrakuk

So the whole thing is a complete con then. Typical government crap

matelodave

there must be several hundred, if not thousands of posts or threads on the subject of smart meters - do we really need another one?

r2015

I'm supposed to be getting a smart meter on Friday between 8am and 12:30, at least according to the 3 letters and 20 emails I've had from SG in the past 3 weeks.

Sterlingtimes

To balance some of the negatively here, from Ovo at least I get high granularity and accurate statistics for gas and electricity presented on my computer screen with all historic data retained. Example follows:



I also get accurate export readings.

Other benefits for the future may be:

better fraud avoidance reducing payments for the vast majority of users;

better demand-side control;

differential tariffs; and

better detection of network outages.

Richie-from-the-Boro

how do they work if you have Storage heaters and Economy 7, will you end up with a massive monthly bill in the winters?

I hope so I made many posts 5 years ago on this forum wishing for exactly that scenario.

iamlucky18

The key thing is that your bills won't be estimated any more. In my case, I'm actually saving close to £30 a month by making the switch. If you have a copy of your previous bills with actual readings, use those to work out your energy usage/consumption and then do a comparison using MSEs energy comparison tool.

Also - like others have said, you will also need to reduce your energy consumption. E.g. now I only use led bulbs and set my heating for longer but on eco mode. It has made a difference.

System

iamlucky18 wrote: »

The key thing is that your bills won't be estimated any more. In my case, I'm actually saving close to £30 a month by making the switch. If you have a copy of your previous bills with actual readings, use those to work out your energy usage/consumption and then do a comparison using MSEs energy comparison tool.

Also - like others have said, you will also need to reduce your energy consumption. E.g. now I only use led bulbs and set my heating for longer but on eco mode. It has made a difference.

You are not saving anything by, as you put it, 'making the switch'. A meter is a meter: it does nothing more than measure consumption. If your DD has been recalculated using estimated readings then I am afraid some of the responsibility sits with you as you haven't been providing the supplier with frequent actual meter readings. DD monthly payments are only payments made on account: you could pay £10 or £100 a month and it would make no difference whatsoever to your annual energy bill. This is based on your usage times the tariff that you are on.

I agree though that a smart meter should give you accurate bills but only if you stay with the supplier that fitted it. Switch suppliers and the meter will lose its smart connection.

Norman_Castle

iamlucky18 wrote: »

The key thing is that your bills won't be estimated any more. In my case, I'm actually saving close to £30 a month by making the switch. If you have a copy of your previous bills with actual readings, use those to work out your energy usage/consumption and then do a comparison using MSEs energy comparison tool.

Also - like others have said, you will also need to reduce your energy consumption. E.g. now I only use led bulbs and set my heating for longer but on eco mode. It has made a difference.

Switching to led bulbs and eco mode on your heating is responsible for the savings.