Smart Meters

[Deleted User]

Official MoneySavingExpert Note November 2017:

We now have a dedicated Smart Meters guide that may be of use.

Back to Deleted_User's original post...

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We have had an offer from our energy supplier to fit a smart meter, would value others experience with them as we are undecided. Have read quite a few stories about billing problems etc, are you still able to take manual readings from the meters or do you have to rely on the figures the smart meter gives. I read our meters every week and send the readings in, would the smart meters really benefit us?

footyguy

Deleted_User wrote: »

We have had an offer from our energy supplier to fit a smart meter, would value others experience with them as we are undecided. Have read quite a few stories about billing problems etc, are you still able to take manual readings from the meters or do you have to rely on the figures the smart meter gives. I read our meters every week and send the readings in, would the smart meters really benefit us?

What do you hope to achieve from having a smart meter?

System

Deleted_User wrote: »

We have had an offer from our energy supplier to fit a smart meter, would value others experience with them as we are undecided. Have read quite a few stories about billing problems etc, are you still able to take manual readings from the meters or do you have to rely on the figures the smart meter gives. I read our meters every week and send the readings in, would the smart meters really benefit us?

One of the key advantages of fitting a smart meter is that it can send meter readings to your supplier every 30 minutes (if you agree). That said, at the moment, smart meters only communicate with the supplier that installs them. If you are diligent about sending in meter readings then there is no advantage in having a smart meter fitted at this time. My advice would be to say 'No' until suppliers are forced to offer you a SMETS2 meter which, among other things, will have better cyber security.

EachPenny

Hengus wrote: »

My advice would be to say 'No' until suppliers are forced to offer you a SMETS2 meter which, among other things, will have better cyber security.

I agree with that advice. For more pro and con discussion there is another thread currently running on the same issue-
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5644767

System

Ignore a lot of stuff you may read on here and the press.There were a few headlines last month about incorrect readings from smart meters.This is because most people do not know the difference between the free in house display monitors and the actual smart meter itself and the Daily Mail and Telegraph are two of these idiots. A batch of faulty in house display freebie gadgets did display obviously nonsense readings which was enough for some of the UK press to make a headline out of it tand make a headline declaring smart meters to be increasing the readings
If the OP is a health and safety freak/ always wears hivis/ suffers from paranoia/worries about cyber hacking / then maybe its better to refuse a smart meter. If you consider yourself normal just go along with what your supplier wants to do and install a smart meter. I ve had mine for many years. They lost their remote reading facility when I switched to EDF but regained it again when I went back to BG.
Sorry OP for ignoring one of your questions..Yes you can take manual readings from the smart meters..Landys Gyr meters its 2nd push of the red button for gas, 6 th on the green button for electric. On the Secure Liberty meters it is button 9 , press once and the second display will show the reading on both gas/electric. Other smart meter types I have seen over the years it is obvious where the electric khws reading is but watch out for smart gas which will show kwhs as well as M 3 (cubic metres )
The naysayers on here now can only grasp at the stupidity of the worry over "cyber security " as the winning hand in an excuse to refuse what the suppliers want. They have given up on the health n safety guff of Radio Frequency emissions because now they just get laughed at. I think its time now to start laughing at them and their ridiculous cyber security b/s./its odd how Italy is now virtually 100% smart meter on electric and 90% smart gas with none of this typical UK health and safety crapola we all infected with over here..
I m just nipping out now for a 15 mile bike ride on my new carbon fibre beauty..NO hi vis NO silly helmet neither...

matelodave

Getting mine in a couple of weeks, cant wait

Pincher

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08njlmc

To sum it up, wait for SMETS II.

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User wrote: »

We have had an offer from our energy supplier to fit a smart meter, would value others experience with them as we are undecided. Have read quite a few stories about billing problems etc, are you still able to take manual readings from the meters or do you have to rely on the figures the smart meter gives. I read our meters every week and send the readings in, would the smart meters really benefit us?

Having had a smart meter for a couple of years I've experienced no billing problems. And, yes, in principle you can still take manual readings from the meters but it depends on where they're sited. I first got my smart meter specifically because of the meters' locations it means you need to be approaching an Olympic standard athlete to read them. In your own case it may not be a problem.

While my meters came with an in-house display, for some perverse reason it could not display any meter readings. Having raised this as an issue, my supplier finally agreed to change the meters for ones which came with an in-house display which does display meter readings. The bad news is that the gas reading is displayed in kWh and my supplier insists they will only accept readings in cubic metres. They then convert their cubic meter reading back into kWh to produce my bill. This needless double conversion sounds like total lunacy to me.

The final consideration is whether you will ever contemplate changing providers. If so, don't bother getting a smart meter as the smile will be wiped off your face when you find out your new provider tells you they can't use it.

The whole roll out programme of energy smart meters in this country has in my view been a disaster and a waste of a vast amount of money.

Rubidium

matelodave wrote: »

Getting mine in a couple of weeks, cant wait

Getting mine in a couple of years, I can and will wait and I urge other sensible MSE'ers to do the same.

[Deleted User]

@picks
Gas has to be measured in cubic meters as the kW value depends on the calorific value of the actual gas in your region and is variable. This calorific value is only known daily in arrears.

The IHD (In House Display) value of gas used in KWh is only an approximation. Just look at the mess that Iresa is in due to using the wrong calorific value for gas in their bills.

EachPenny

Deleted_User wrote: »

The bad news is that the gas reading is displayed in kWh and my supplier insists they will only accept readings in cubic metres. They then convert their cubic meter reading back into kWh to produce my bill. This needless double conversion sounds like total lunacy to me.

The meter itself can only measure volume, it can calculate an approximation of kWh, but since the energy provided by a cubic metre of gas varies with time (calorific value and gas temperature fluctuations) it is necessary to convert the measured m3 into kWh.

It would be possible for meters to be constantly updated with the relevant conversion factors so they can accurately calculate consumed kWh, but from what I understand of gas supply (I much prefer the simplicity of electricity ) the actual calorific values and volumetric conversion factors aren't yet measured and computed in real time - they are calculated and applied to the bill after the event.

However, smart meters and the communication network are designed to upload the consumption to the central system with only limited capability to download data to the meter. You can imagine the scandal that would result if an energy company failed to accurately update smart meters with the right correction factors at any given moment in time.

So they aren't doing a double conversion, it is just one conversion which is done to the accuracy required by regulations, rather than the approximation shown on your display unit.

Edit: gsmlnx got there before I did.