Smart Meters

badmemory

They will be able to give tariffs relevant to one property only. So yes!

Talldave

Wayfarer8678 wrote: »

Is it true that the real reason why "Smart" Meters are being installed - and paid for by the Utility Companies is that when the majority of consumers have one installed they will allow the Utility Companies to introduce Variable Time Based tariffs i.e. If you use a lot of energy between 6.30am and 9.00am you will pay more than at an off peak time of say 10.30am?

They might offer you cheaper energy at other times of the day to incentivise you to shift that load and help balance the generation requirements. Is that a bad thing?

Just charging you more will simply result in you switching to another supplier so that would be a rather weird commercial decision.

That said, there are people happily refuelling at a local petrol station that charges 4-5p more per litre than other local petrol stations. So presumably their business model is to target stupid people?

Benight

Wayfarer8678 wrote: »

Is it true that the real reason why "Smart" Meters are being installed - and paid for by the Utility Companies is that when the majority of consumers have one installed they will allow the Utility Companies to introduce Variable Time Based tariffs i.e. If you use a lot of energy between 6.30am and 9.00am you will pay more than at an off peak time of say 10.30am?

That is not the reason they are being installed, but Variable Time Based tariffs will be able to be offered if you have one.

Yes, you may pay more during peak periods, but that will be more than balanced by much cheaper electricity during off peak periods. It will be up to the consumer to change their usage patterns to benefit from the cheap rate periods to take up the over supply. The smart meter will assist them to do that via their IHD unit

A levelling of demand should mean lower investment costs due to less power generation facilities required because of the current large fluctutions in usage. That should result in lower costs for all :money:

In the meantime, may I take this opportunity to welcome you to MSE following your first ever post
Lots of new users here lately - MSE will be pleased with that.

EH75

Had our EDF smart meters installed a couple of weeks ago (SMETS 2). Electricity working fine but gas meter unable to send readings to either EDF or the IHD. They've sent me the following letter:

"“At your appointment, your installer should have explained that in some instances we can’t always establish a
communications link with your smart meter. We’re sorry we’ve not been able to get your new <Gas fuel> smart
meter working fully. We’ve continued to try and connect remotely but at the moment we can’t receive your
reads automatically. This means you’ll need to continue to provide manual readings, and we’ll ask for these
when you’re due a bill.
There are three quick and easy ways you can give us readings:
• By phoning our automated telephone service on 0333 200 5108*
• Online via MyAccount at edfenergy.com/myaccount
• Via our website at edfenergy.com
Rest assured your meter is still recording reads correctly. We just can’t receive these automatically. If you have an
in-home display this also won’t work until we fix this issue.
We’re working hard to resolve these issues and once we’ve sorted everything we’ll be in touch to update you. "

Has anyone else had this issue and managed to get it fixed? How long did it take and what did they have to do? Does anyone know what their definition of "working hard" to resolve the issue is?

badmemory

Benight wrote: »

That is not the reason they are being installed, but Variable Time Based tariffs will be able to be offered if you have one.

Yes, you may pay more during peak periods, but that will be more than balanced by much cheaper electricity during off peak periods. It will be up to the consumer to change their usage patterns to benefit from the cheap rate periods to take up the over supply. The smart meter will assist them to do that via their IHD unit

What concerns me is - new fixed period so you get a deal with a VTR tariff. Designed to charge you more when you use most energy. So you change the times that you use that energy.



Next new fixed period happens & your new VTR tariff charges you more for the new times you changed to because of your last fix. Remember they will have access to the information to enable them to do this.

gambler99

I am a pensioner living alone so I don't normally use much energy.
I was told by EDF that a smart meter would save me money, yet since it was installed my bills have increased by 50%.
I don't use any more energy than I did before so I would guess that EDF used the installation to speed up my meter.
Are they legally entitled to do this without first informing me of the increase ?.

zeupater

Benight wrote: »

That is not the reason they are being installed, but Variable Time Based tariffs will be able to be offered if you have one.

Yes, you may pay more during peak periods, but that will be more than balanced by much cheaper electricity during off peak periods. It will be up to the consumer to change their usage patterns to benefit from the cheap rate periods to take up the over supply. The smart meter will assist them to do that via their IHD unit

A levelling of demand should mean lower investment costs due to less power generation facilities required because of the current large fluctutions in usage. That should result in lower costs for all :money:

In the meantime, may I take this opportunity to welcome you to MSE following your first ever post
Lots of new users here lately - MSE will be pleased with that.

Hi

Would you mind to comment on the net effect on consumer bills of TOU tariffs as enabled by smart-meters in other parts of the world? ... maybe starting with the experiences in Canada (Toronto etc) as they have been [STRIKE]suffering[/STRIKE] using this combination for a number of years ...

The last time I looked into the issue there was plenty of evidence (in Ontario & elsewhere globally) that demand shifting had largely failed to meet targets and that initial assumptions to set those targets were flawed as they ignored inflexible consumer work-day schedules are the primary influence on peak demand timing ... as a result many domestic customer bills had risen by an overall ~50% ...

The issue therefore revolves around the simple question ... in a supply model with similar renewable/legacy energy generation mix, why would the UK be considered to achieve any different outcome ??

HTH
Z

Talldave

gambler99 wrote: »

I am a pensioner living alone so I don't normally use much energy.
I was told by EDF that a smart meter would save me money, yet since it was installed my bills have increased by 50%.
I don't use any more energy than I did before so I would guess that EDF used the installation to speed up my meter.
Are they legally entitled to do this without first informing me of the increase ?.

A smart meter can't save you money, that's just marketing crap. If you have an in home display that shows consumption it might help you become more aware of the energy you use. Two things save you money, using less and paying less. Maybe you're on an expensive tariff so are paying more.

Look back at your bills, has your consumption gone up?

Trees_R_Us

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Would you mind to comment on the net effect on consumer bills of TOU tariffs as enabled by smart-meters in other parts of the world? ... maybe starting with the experiences in Canada (Toronto etc) as they have been [STRIKE]suffering[/STRIKE] using this combination for a number of years ...

The last time I looked into the issue there was plenty of evidence (in Ontario & elsewhere globally) that demand shifting had largely failed to meet targets and that initial assumptions to set those targets were flawed as they ignored inflexible consumer work-day schedules are the primary influence on peak demand timing ... as a result many domestic customer bills had risen by an overall ~50% ...

The issue therefore revolves around the simple question ... in a supply model with similar renewable/legacy energy generation mix, why would the UK be considered to achieve any different outcome ??

HTH
Z

I blame the EU. They are the ones who dictated we have these montrosities

Brexit means Brexit, and don't allow Bercow dictate otherwise. He can be voted out come the next general election, just like all the other MPs who are attempting to bypass our democracy and sovereignty.

Eye_Wash

zeupater wrote: »

Would you mind to comment on the net effect on consumer bills of TOU tariffs as enabled by smart-meters in other parts of the world? ... maybe starting with the experiences in Canada (Toronto etc) as they have been [STRIKE]suffering[/STRIKE] using this combination for a number of years

When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is ... worth two in the bush.