Smart Meters

zeupater

Eye_Wash wrote: »

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

Hi

Great comment, probably far more informing & relevant than the narrative in an advert starring Gaz & Leccy ...

By the way, did you look up any details on TOU billing experiences elsewhere where it's been used for going on a decade?

blanik

Hi,

I originally had Elec and Gas smets 1 meters fitted by British Gas and there is a separate Trilliant communication module suplied from the Elec meter.

I switched away from BG to separate Elec and Gas suppliers and the meters went dumb as expected.

I am now switching to a time of day tariff from Octopus who will install a Smets 1 secure smart meter which I think has an included communication module - Octopus only supply my electricity, not my gas, so will only change the electricity meter. ( I accepted their Smets 1 as their tariff will save me money instead of waiting for their Smets 2 or the DCC upgrade ).

Now, I'm presuming that when the new Electricity meter is fitted tomorrow, the installer should also pair the Smart communication module with the existing gas meter? Or is there a different process they should follow.

Otherwise I can't see how the Gas meter would ever communicate again.


Edit : Not sure if connected with tomorrow's meter swap.
This afternoon the IHD was not communicating with the Gas meter ( it has worked fine until now ), it just bleeped and is now connected to the Gas meter but now can't see the Electric one! Strange.

rizla01

Just did a comparison for my dual fuel and found I can save a pretty imporessive £402 by changing so thats got to be a 'go for' whilst keeping in mind my warm home discount BUT chewing over the Smart meter quandry it sounds like I wouldn't get much benefit (I am unlikely to change usage habits - - too set im my ways but also I guess once fitted there would be no going back. Scary stuff when I read a few negs about them!

Being old, i am of the 'leave well alone if not broke' brigade (Unless I get some benefit, of course)

Free car insurance for me and the OH sound like a good plan. (£400 wil cover that )

Any thoughts anyone?

thorganby

rizla01 wrote: »

Just did a comparison for my dual fuel and found I can save a pretty imporessive £402 by changing so thats got to be a 'go for' whilst keeping in mind my warm home discount BUT chewing over the Smart meter quandry it sounds like I wouldn't get much benefit (I am unlikely to change usage habits - - too set im my ways but also I guess once fitted there would be no going back. Scary stuff when I read a few negs about them!

Being old, i am of the 'leave well alone if not broke' brigade (Unless I get some benefit, of course)

Free car insurance for me and the OH sound like a good plan. (£400 wil cover that )

Any thoughts anyone?

Are you sure that you could actually save over £400 by switching?

I'm assuming that you have not done the simple calculations yourself to prove if this figure is true?

annual gas consumption in kWh?
annual elec consumption in kWh?

old & new tariff unit rates?
old & new daily standing charge?

any other tariff discounts plus VAT.

It really is that simple so don't be fooled smart meter or not!

blanik

rizla01 wrote: »

Just did a comparison for my dual fuel and found I can save a pretty imporessive £402 by changing so thats got to be a 'go for' whilst keeping in mind my warm home discount BUT chewing over the Smart meter quandry it sounds like I wouldn't get much benefit (I am unlikely to change usage habits - - too set im my ways but also I guess once fitted there would be no going back. Scary stuff when I read a few negs about them!

Being old, i am of the 'leave well alone if not broke' brigade (Unless I get some benefit, of course)

Free car insurance for me and the OH sound like a good plan. (£400 wil cover that )

Any thoughts anyone?

Hi Rizla,

I would split it into 3 sections.....

How much would you save - thorganby already suggested checking the calculations, the other thing I would add is that the smart meter 'bribe' may be a one-off payment so I would suggest accepting this, checking the ongoing price, and possibly switching again depending on the T&C or penalties.

The smart meter is just the box in the cupboard, you can fit it and forget it. It just sends the meter reading to the company and also gives you access to more innovative tariffs. I have very cheap electricity for 4 hours overnight to charge my car, there are others if that suits your lifestyle.
Don't get too hung up about SMETS1 or SMETS2, the only practical difference is how the readings are sent to the electricity company. The worst case is that you will have to manually read a SMETS1 meter if you switch companies again until the communication unit in the meter is remotely upgraded so no worse off than you are now.


Then there is the In Home Dispaly (IHD) - which is what the customer/user actually sees.

I've had 2 different makes - the first was OK, I could see the actual meter readings, could configure the permanent red/yellow/green traffic lights for consumption - so could see at a glace if the consumption was higher than normal - e.g. if the oven had been left on.
The 2nd is rubbish - needs buttons pressed to see anything, not configurable, and does not even show the correct £ amount as the tariff on the IHD has not been updated to match my current tariff!

The IHD has never changed my behaviour - the only change I've made is to fit LEDs, buy energy efficient appliances when I change, and now run the dishwasher overnight when I have the cheap power.

So - if it is going to save you money, have one fitted, use your common sense for energy saving, and ignore the IHD.

Kamili_Jo

My first post - hope I'm doing it correctly!
Am I the only person who doesn't want a Smart Meter? Our current supplier - EDF - are being a nuisance telling me I need our meter changed and while I'm happy for them to change it if it *does* need renewing, I don't want it replaced with a Smart Meter.
Our current deal with EDF finished a short time ago so it's also time to look at moving but am I going to get the same hard sell with another supplier?

MeterMan

Why do you not want one Kamili?

zeupater

MeterMan wrote: »

Why do you not want one Kamili?

Hi

:think: ... and having read through this thread or almost any other discussion involving smart-meters it's considered necessary to ask this question?? .... :wall:

HTH
Z

Kamili_Jo

MeterMan
Primarily because I object to being presented with a fait accompli: your meter needs changing and we're putting in a Smart Meter.
Thus far, I have read nothing that recommends them to me and an interesting conversation with a "Meter Man" confirmed my reservations.

CakeCrusader

The energy companies are fined if they don't stick enough smart meters into peoples homes, this is why they are pushing them so much. It's down to each individual (it should be anyway), but I won't have one. Everyone I've spoken to has been left paranoid about their energy usage, they were all unhappy, and it's probably not good to take jobs away from the meter readers. If you're wise with your energy usage then having one will make no difference to your bills anyway. They need to tackle energy misuse from businesses before they force people into these, this is where the most energy is wasted.