Smart metres - very old metres are 'better'/cheaper?

Daniel1111

I have been wanting to get smart metres installed for a while now and finally have an appt for it tomorrow. My friend has today though told me I shouldn't do it, saying  electricians/plumbers are saying on the downlow to not do it because they old metres are cheaper since they are run slower.

I have been researching this online and other than a few random posts by very few people here and there, all I could find was this old 2010 article from the US, which is as relevant in this context as anything local I suppose, saying a very old metre (past its 30 year lifespan) seems to have a 5% chance of being a few % off / slow.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/are-traditional-elecricity-meters-accurate?fbclid=IwAR1pE2W7070QY8krNh29vmlKiMDoM9-VtYS0c5hUMLyt4u0r_1l82FnbmPk

My electric metre is from 1987 and my gas from 1991, so just past or around that 30 year mark. But the electric says it was certified in 2008 (the gas metre has no such sticker but I am sure it would have had a check at some point - we only moved in 2 years ago so no idea, but everything in this house is ancient).

Any thoughts? I don't want to get this done tomorrow if we are inadvertently 'saving' by having extremely old metres, but this seems almost like an 'urban myth' and maybe I should just go ahead with it tomorrow?

Hasbeen

Friend is talking rubbish. And it is meter for gas/electic. Metre is a measurement.

Daniel1111

Duly noted on the spelling.

I am inclined to think he is talking rubbish as well, but there does seem to be some backing for that train of thought. Here for example, from an ovo energy employee replying to someone complaining about their usage going up after installing a smart meter (I tried linking to the ovo energy forum thread, but I am too new of a poster to be allowed to post a link).

Old meters (this does depend on how old your previous meter was) can slow down, or even speed up meaning they're not measuring your energy useage correctly. We'd only expect to see this with very old meters. A brand new meter, smart or otherwise, will clock what you're using accurately.

That quoted bit is from an actual ovo energy employee replying. My 30 year old meters I guess would count as 'very old', I suppose, so maybe I am currently getting lucky? Who knows.

fatewise

You will pay for measured energy according to your tariff.

Meters have a designated lifespan to ensure they remain accurate.
e.g. for an electric meter, it is considered accurate in the UK if it does not fall outside +2.5% to -3.5% throughout the entire load range.

If your meter was recertified as recently as 2008, it will almost certainly still be accurate.

ElephantBoy57

Just as an old car may have less accurate equipment(but it can be less or more), modern equipment my be more accurate.

PennineAcute

Daniel1111 said:

Duly noted on the spelling.

I am inclined to think he is talking rubbish as well, but there does seem to be some backing for that train of thought. Here for example, from an ovo energy employee replying to someone complaining about their usage going up after installing a smart meter (I tried linking to the ovo energy forum thread, but I am too new of a poster to be allowed to post a link).

Old meters (this does depend on how old your previous meter was) can slow down, or even speed up meaning they're not measuring your energy useage correctly. We'd only expect to see this with very old meters. A brand new meter, smart or otherwise, will clock what you're using accurately.

That quoted bit is from an actual ovo energy employee replying. My 30 year old meters I guess would count as 'very old', I suppose, so maybe I am currently getting lucky? Who knows.

Okay, your meter could be running slower (so that is in your favour).  However, it may also be running faster (so not it your favour).