Smart Meters

SnowTiger

https://www.smart-energy.com/industry-sectors/smart-meters/uk-consumers-told-to-switch-off-and-ignore-smart-meter-displays/:

UK energy customers are being told to unplug and ignore their smart meter in-home displays after devices started showing inaccurate and varied usage information.

Ron Thomas, a 72-year-old Shell Energy customer from Monmouthshire contacted the company after multiple inaccurate and alarming readings, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Whilst his monthly payment via direct debit is £40, the in-home display would report usage as high as £46 in a single day, only to change to £8 or £9 hours later. Thomas called the device a “joke”.

A customer service agent reportedly told Thomas to unplug his meter’s display, saying the issue with in-home displays is part of a broader challenge.

Another supplier told the newspaper that the issue is known in the industry and that the head of smart for a Big Six energy supplier, at a recent meeting of several energy companies, mentioned that his display switches off whenever he turns on his dishwasher.

The Telegraph article is here.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Well, I've just started a switch to a fixed tariff with EON that includes agreeing to be contacted about smart meters: when they do contact me, I will be asking them what make of meter will be fitted - if they say "Secure Liberty", I'll be asking them if I could get a different make such as Landis & Gyr since, from what I've read, the Secure Liberty is relatively acceptable until you have to take a manual meter reading...

Hello MothballsWallet and thanks for switching to us.

We're installing smart SMETS2 meters wherever we can (approx 85% of all smart meters we put in). These are made by either Landis & Gyr or EDMI.

There are certain situations where it's not possible to fit SMETS2 right now. This is mainly down to signalling issues or local difficulties. In these cases, until we've sorted the issues, we're continuing to offer SMETS1. These will then be upgraded later this year, so they're managed in the same way as SMETS2. The make of SMETS1 meters we're using are Landis & Gyr, Elster and Secure Liberty. There's no need for a return visit as the upgrades are done remotely.

We won't be able to guarantee whether we're able to fit SMETS1 or 2 when appointments are booked as it depends on the circumstances technicians find when they're on site. As I say, wherever possible, it'll be SMETS2. Our technician will go through everything when they arrive and you're free to abort the installation if you're unhappy with any aspect of it.

Hope this is useful MothballsWallet. Let me know if you need any more information as happy to help.

Malc

Nick_C

I've only just learned how to read my Liberty Secure smartmeters, after having them nearly two years. You just press "9". Couldn't be easier.
(The meters were installed by Ovo, and are SMETS1. They will be dumb from next week, when I switch to Outfox the Market).

molerat

You will save £100 if you have a smart meter. You can charge your car overnight cheaply using renewable energy if you have a smart meter. You will also be saving the planet. It must be true because the director of SmartEnergy GB said so on BBC Breakfast this morning. Who knew that by simply changing your electric meter we could do all that. I can't figure out why the ASA has not had them gagged, if any other company had been peddling so many lies they would be in serious trouble. I wonder how many additional Kg of CO2 the smart meter rollout has consumed.

Gerry1

Nick_C wrote: »

I've only just learned how to read my Liberty Secure smartmeters, after having them nearly two years. Couldn't be easier.

It could be a whole lot easier ! If it just displayed the meter reading at all times like a conventional meter it wouldn't have taken you two years to fathom it out.

Gerry1

molerat wrote: »

You will save £100 if you have a smart meter. You will also be able to charge your car overnight cheaply using renewable energy if you have a smart meter. You will also be saving the planet. It must be true because the director of SmartEnergy GB said so on BBC Breakfast this morning. Who knew that by simply changing your electric meter we could do all that. I can't figure out why the ASA has not had them gagged, if any other company had been peddling so many lies they would be in serious trouble. I wonder how many additional Kg of CO2 the smart meter rollout has consumed.

And people who ask why they keep pretty quiet about why smart meters include facilities for remote disconnection, time of use tariffs and load limiting are just ridiculous scaremongers, even by some Forumites (see above !)

Nick_C

Gerry1 wrote: »

It could be a whole lot easier ! If it just displayed the meter reading at all times like a conventional meter it wouldn't have taken you two years to fathom it out.

It didn't take me two years to fathom it out. It took two minutes. Because it is smart, I haven't had to read it before. My supplier has been getting data directly from it, and providing me with accurate bills and data which have helped me to monitor my consumption and budget more accurately.

I'm really going to miss the smart functionality, and hope I can get it restored soon.

I think Smart Meters are great. But then I live in the 21st Century.

brewerdave

Nick_C wrote: »

It didn't take me two years to fathom it out. It took two minutes. Because it is smart, I haven't had to read it before. My supplier has been getting data directly from it, and providing me with accurate bills and data which have helped me to monitor my consumption and budget more accurately.

I'm really going to miss the smart functionality, and hope I can get it restored soon.

I think Smart Meters are great. But then I live in the 21st Century.

But how did you make sure that the readings your bills were based upon ,were correct?? Initially I would want to be able to cross check that the Utility Co. were charging on the real readings -too many stories of customers getting a shock bill when it turns out that the "smart" meter HASN'T been sending anything back to HQ and the bills have been estimated.:(

zeupater

Nick_C wrote: »

It didn't take me two years to fathom it out. It took two minutes. Because it is smart, I haven't had to read it before. My supplier has been getting data directly from it, and providing me with accurate bills and data which have helped me to monitor my consumption and budget more accurately.

I'm really going to miss the smart functionality, and hope I can get it restored soon.

I think Smart Meters are great. But then I live in the 21st Century.

Hi

Do you pay by fixed monthly direct debit? .. I've always found that form of smoothing to be a reasonable budgeting tool, and that's without spending £billions to achieve the same outcome ...

Anyway, what elements of 'smart functionality' have you been using on a regular basis & how much money does the accurate data tell you that you've saved vs not using it? .... ah, whilst on that, don't forget to nett off the ~£500-£600 repeating additional cost per ~10-15 year meter lifespan along with the occasional replacement IHD, which, don't forget, is a chargeable item! ....

I'm pretty sure that our basic sub-£50 energy monitor has helped save considerably more over the decade we've had it than the majority could ever expect to achieve from using a smart-meter ... nothing to do with any difference in the technology itself, just how we've tended to leverage the information it provides to help reduce wasteful energy consumption! ... if the IHD isn't set-up in full view of where bill paying consumers spend most of their in-home time (eg, next to or on top of the TV!), then it's probably not even as useful a money-saving gadget as a chocolate teapot, at least most people would eat the chocolate itself when they've realised that without expending considerable effort & additional money, the product is pretty useless ... :whistle:

HTH
Z

Nick_C

brewerdave wrote: »

But how did you make sure that the readings your bills were based upon ,were correct?? Initially I would want to be able to cross check that the Utility Co. were charging on the real readings -too many stories of customers getting a shock bill when it turns out that the "smart" meter HASN'T been sending anything back to HQ and the bills have been estimated.:(

I copy the meter readings from the monthly statements into a spreadsheet that checks that the usage has been charged correctly. My spreadsheet gives me total KWh used each month, and the daily average over the last 54 months.

Any errors in billing or in the meter readings would have quickly become apparent.

I also sometimes use the app to check daily and weekly usage.