Smart Meter

Geoffsta

Official MoneySavingExpert Note November 2017:

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

Back to Geoffsta's original post...

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I got a smart meter from Ovo then swapped to British Gas (BG). Within days I got a call from BG offering me a smart meter so I made an appointment for it to be fitted but then got a message from BG saying smart meters weren't available in my area. BG sent a meter reader round to read the existing meter and the readings are astronomically high so I made an appointment for another BG meter reader to visit, he didn't turn up. I gather from national press this is a wide scale problem, does anyone know how I can get an accurate reading of my real energy usage or otherwise get the meter removed/replaced?

Cisco001

??
You can read the meter yourself everyday.
Why do you need smart meter?

adindas

Presumably people want a smart meter because they do not want extra work from reading the meter often.

But I read somewhere that the smart meter does not compatible from one company to other companies. So if you switch the providers it will confuse the meter and might give a wrong reading.

I too have got an appointment for smart meter installation from BG but I am seriously considering to cancel it due t this incompatibility issue. This will make the switching for providers are more difficult.

The question here is that, is it better to install the smart now or wait until a few months until all of them are compatible one to each other ?

Beside incompatibility issue what are other advantages or disadvantages of installing smart meter now compared to waiting for about a year until they are all compatible ? Currently it is free, but could they charge it later ??

Any info, opinion on this will be very much appreciated.

System

adindas wrote: »

Presumably people want a smart meter because they do not want extra work from reading the meter often.

But I read somewhere that the smart meter does not compatible from one company to other companies. So if you switch the providers it will confuse the meter and might give a wrong reading.

I too have got an appointment for smart meter installation from BG but I am seriously considering to cancel it due t this incompatibility issue. This will make the switching for providers are more difficult.

The question here is that, is it better to install the smart now or wait until a few months until all of them are compatible one to each other ?

Beside incompatibility issue what are other advantages or disadvantages of installing smart meter now compared to waiting for about a year until they are all compatible ? Currently it is free, but could they charge it later ??

Any info, opinion on this will be very much appreciated.

Smart meters will remain free - however, you will be paying your share of the £12Bn rollout cost on your future bills. The present generation of smart meters will only communicate with the supplier that supplied the meter. If you switch, the meter will ACCURATELY record your usage but you will have to read the meter.

The next generation of smart meters will start rolling out later this year. They will connect to a central hub and will remain smart if you switch suppliers.

footyguy

Geoffsta wrote: »

I got a smart meter from Ovo then swapped to British Gas (BG). Within days I got a call from BG offering me a smart meter so I made an appointment for it to be fitted but then got a message from BG saying smart meters weren't available in my area. BG sent a meter reader round to read the existing meter and the readings are astronomically high so I made an appointment for another BG meter reader to visit, he didn't turn up. I gather from national press this is a wide scale problem, does anyone know how I can get an accurate reading of my real energy usage or otherwise get the meter removed/replaced?

What exactly have you read in the presss??? :huh:

As Cisco001 has already mentioned, you can read the meter yourself.

If you want an in house display, you can buy energy monitors. OWL is one such manufacturer, but I am sure these type of energy monitors are available from other manufacturers.

Perhaps have a look on a well known auction site - I guess the novelty wears off for many after a very short while.

adindas

Hengus wrote: »

Smart meters will remain free - however, you will be paying your share of the £12Bn rollout cost on your future bills..

Would you please elaborate this further ?
I understand that smart meter will remain free. So if they want to cover their £12bn roll out cost they will need to increase the energy price to all customer with or without smart meter, are not they ??

System

adindas wrote: »

Would you please elaborate this further ?
I understand that smart meter will remain free. So if they want to cover their £12bn roll out cost they will need to increase the energy price to all customer with or without smart meter, are not they ??

Correct - we will all pay as we do already for such things as Environmental and Social costs. The wholesale price of your energy now accounts for less than 40p in every £. It is estimated by Govt that the rollout cost of smart meters will add £6/year to every consumer's energy bill.

chris-j

Not a fair comment on Hengus in this context since he has not said anything which is not true.
The fact is ALL energy consumers are paying through their bills for expensive ECO schemes and Smart Metering, despite the fact the meters are not smart at all. It is quite disingenuous to suggest these meters are free since we have already been paying for these and overpriced ECO schemes for years.

System

Hengus is trying to suggest that the roll out is going to add to the bills, which it is, but so is every thing else associated with the price of energy.Subsidising green energy, subsidising solar panels , even subsidies on prepayment meters all bump up the price..as does teams of meter readers, theft of gas and electric and bad debts caused by dumb meters also call centres staffed just to try and sort constant billing problems caused by dumb meters from the last century Its not fair at all for Hengus to play a sly move like that to the OP. .Theres enough anti smart rubbish on here as it is on here .Last week he was introducing paranoia on cyber attacks.. Why he does nt stick to the excellent advice he usually does and keep his prejudices out of it is beyond me.
Advice to people saying wait for SMETS2 is also a bit long term also as it will be many many years before the suppliers get round to fitting the things, certainly most people won t be getting one in the next 5 years. Its costing 11 billion because the government ordered the suppliers to fit them individually to their customers and not through the usual route of the DNO s..
Don t forget, all these meters which come up for smarts are only coming up for change because their meters have reached the end of their working life so they would have to be exchanged anyway for dumb meters..just like they have been doing since meters were first installed...all at a cost which falls ultimately to the consumer

adindas

House_Martin wrote: »

Advice to people saying wait for SMETS2 is also a bit long term also as it will be many many years before the suppliers get round to fitting the things, certainly most people won t be getting one in the next 5 years. Its costing 11 billion because the government ordered the suppliers to fit them individually to their customers and not through the usual route of the DNO s..
Don t forget, all these meters which come up for smarts are only coming up for change because their meters have reached the end of their working life so they would have to be exchanged anyway for dumb meters..just like they have been doing since meters were first installed...all at a cost which falls ultimately to the consumer

Government make mistake and all of the consumers need to bear the cost ????. I think all of them who get involved in this decision making will need to pay part of it taken from their salary for the rest of their life.

From this post I understand the next generation of smart meter will not come until about five years time, so there is little point point for it ?? AM i Understand it correctly ??

Rubidium

adindas wrote: »

From this post I understand the next generation of smart meter will not come until about five years time, so there is little point point for it ?? AM i Understand it correctly ??

No you understand wrong because you are choosing to believing a meter reader who does not know what he is talking about and cannot provide any evidence to back up his ridiculous fantasy claims!

He should stick to reading meters and stop posting incorrect uncorroborated information at every possible opportunity.

It makes no sense to accept foundation stage smart meters now, when suppliers will not be permitted to fit these after next year and will then have to fit SMETS2 meters.

Smart meters do have advantages and should provide accurate bills and make switching suppliers much easier, but only the second generation ones.