MSE Poll: Energy smart meters – Great tech or a pain in the neck?

Bluebay

An insight into my  unbelievable experience with a smart meter. The Electricity smart meter was  installed by First Utility, using Siemens. It was a bank holiday weekend, the power went off and I checked the meter cupboard. I found the smart meter and the cut-out fuse housing on the domestic  side of the meter were starting to melt and blister. Here is where my problems got worse. I had since moved to British Gas, but I contacted First Utility / Siemens first as they installed the smart meter and fused cut-out. F/U instructed me to contact the network operator who were Scottish Power. SP sent round an engineer who informed me this was really dangerous and would probably have led to a fire. However as SP were not my Utility company, he legally could only do work up to the meter not the fused cut out and also the heavy wiring (tails) which were also starting to melt. He said I need to talk to a manager as there is no way I`m going to leave you in this position. His manager told him to make safe with fused blocks and he removed the fused cut-out. It turned out the Neutral wire in the cut-out had either not been tightened properly or somehow slowly come loose due to over heating. Now however it was made safe !!!!! , but we had no power as he found the wiring in the consumer unit had melted also. I called out a British Gas Home emergency engineer ( did not have a policy with them) who tried his best giving us use of some sockets upstairs but nothing else, he said someone would need to come back. 2 days later we had electricity restored, BG  replacing the meter and fused cut-out and all meter wiring (tails) and consumer unit wiring. First Utility/ Siemens denied all responsibility using every excuse they could come up with and stating the Scottish power engineer and the BG electricians had been wrong in identifying the cause. It all went round and round with no eventual outcome from either F/U or Siemens.  As we were not a BG Home Emergency customer just a BG utility customer were issued with a repair bill which BG very kindly waived in the circumstances. BG meter, fused cut-out and all wiring doing fine. What would have happened if we had been away for the Bank Holiday weekend, probably have returned to no home, or if it had started a fire while we were all asleep.... to frightening to think.   

MrsAHBD

We had Smet1 meters fitted but between Christmas & New Year the gas meter failed and cut off the gas supply! Safety feature. No one at OVO Energy was contactable, other than  by email, with 48hr wait for a response - so NO heating. They eventually arrived to remove faulty smart meter & replaced with old-style one. 

I requested a 2nd generation SMET (because they are apparently less likely to fail) which they arranged to fit after several long phone calls - but they didn’t turn up (£30 inconvenience payment for us - big deal! All day wait in) When they did come they fitted new meters but couldn’t commission them so we now have  electricity smart meter but not gas. It is almost impossible to read the electricity meter as the button pressing order is complex. So far we have no idea how much electricity is being used because OVO don’t seem able to give me that detail. I’m sick of the whole thing. I guess will have to change suppliers at end of contract then we’ll get to know. 

Norman_Castle

Myself and my neighbours can't have either gas or electric smart meters because of their location, two people I know can't have smart meters for their electricity meters because (from memory) there are too many wires/economy 7? incompatibility.

Presumably we're all funding the installation for meters many of us cannot have.

Generous guestimate, only 10% of the in house displays are in use after a year. With 20 million UK households that's 18 million barely used displays heading for landfill.

Governments and technology should never mix as its always a disaster.

RFB_2

It is appalling waste of money that they started rolling these thing out before solving the supplier switching issue.

It is not as if it i a new requirement - supplier switching predates smart meters by years and even worse they still have not  solved the problem yet 8 years later.

Heads should have rolled over approving this fiasco

brianatmendip

I had a smart meter installed last autumn. It was fine until a month ago when all the script changed to a foreign language so now I don't understand any information it gives me.

SpenderBob

What is supposed to be the process for changing supplier with a SMETS 2 meter?
E-ON fitted one for my son but he's changed supplier to BG and has received a welcome message from them on his hand set. Then BG have asked him for meter readings to start his account. Why? 
Now E-ON have emailed him asking for a closing reading. WHY????
I assumed  (yes, I am that naive) that the two suppliers would sort it out between them in a smart way.
At any rate the losing supplier should get the readings from the receiving supplier, not the user.
Cheers,
              Bob

Al51M1

Smart Meters = nightmare for poorer households. They tout the advantage being you get preceisely billed for what you use. However, for those on a low income these are terrible idea. Paying the old way, it was possible to overpay by a fixed monthly debit so what you saved and over paid in the summer, covered you for the increased costs incurred in the winter. The result was, you never ended up in arrears and often got a money back bonus at the end of spring / start of summer. With Smart Meters, because billing is precise, in summer you now get charged a low rate and come winter, there's no buffer of payments to absorb the high charges due to increased usage, leaving those on low incomes with huge monthly charges unble to pay their bills.

To give an example:

Someone paying say £80 a month under the old system, would be paying a fixed £960 a year. Provided they pitched that amount so that it overpaid what they'd be using, their bills for both summer and winter would be totally covered by the fixed payment with a bonus return in spring / early summer of any overpaid monies. Their bills would be predictable because they could always budget for finding £80 per month.

Under the Smart Meter system with precise billing, the same person might be charged £40 per month in summer, but come winter face increased usage charges of £120 per month. For someone on low income finding another £40 on top of what they can afford to pay in £80 per month, might prove impossible putting them into debt. The answer here would be to save the difference in summer into a bank account to pay for extra in winter, but let's face it, very few if any are going to do this, meaning Smart meters are going to push a majority of low income people into bills and debt they can't afford.

This is why compulsory Smart Meter Deals shouldn't be allowed. They're being created to help meet Government targets but they're pushing poorer people into poverty through precise billing as a result.

Also, the whole idea you're going to save with a Smart meter is fantasy. All but the wealthiest are already consious about using too much heat or leaving too many lights on so a meter makes no difference if there's nothing else to run off. The meter itself uses energy as does the data transmission so potentially for someone not likely to reduce consumption further by installing the meter, their consumption will actually increase as a result of the installation.

Finally, I've noticed that in the terms and conditions of at least 1 provider, it seems that some replacement Smart meters (after the initial installation might be chargeable). I wonder how many people are aware of this and whether replacement meters generally might become chargeable if Smart. It cuirrently seems to mostly affect Economy 7 customers. From EDF's conditions:

1.4.2 Smart meters We may contact you at any time to offer you a smart meter. Smart meters aren’t currently available for some properties. If you’ve a smart meter we may be able to switch it to E7 or E10 mode. Not all smart meters are able to be switched but we may be able to exchange your meter for one that can be. We will charge you for this. If you previously had a complex meter we’ll try to match your off-peak hours as closely as we can to what you had before. You’ll still get at least 7 hours on E7 and at least ten hours on E10. If you’ve a tariff with cheaper off-peak rates, your bill or statement will show both the on-peak and offpeak usage and charges. We’ll tell you on every bill or statement whether you could save by switching to a different tariff (see the “Could you pay less?” section). To get a quote for a different tariff go to eonenergy.com/services or use the contact details in your confirmation letter.

I wonder if Martin Lewis is aware of these issues and is doing anything to campaign on these?

The biggest issue in my mind is still the folley of precise billing and how it adversely affects those on low income both by denying those not wanting meters access to the cheapest tarrifs and pushing those on low incomes into winter fuel poevrty if they accpet having one fitted.

elsien

I have a smart meter, so the precise billing you describe. I also have the option to change my direct debit to a higher level than the one the company are suggesting if I do want to build up a buffer. I presume other companies offer the same. 

Bonniepurple

elsien said:

I have a smart meter, so the precise billing you describe. I also have the option to change my direct debit to a higher level than the one the company are suggesting if I do want to build up a buffer. I presume other companies offer the same. 

I never knew that I could do that!  My bills are high anyway (when we moved the direct debit was set too low - even lower than for our previous house which was far smaller!) and, since getting a Smart Meter, it’s bounced around, varying across the months by an extra £50.  It also means I’ve got a large debt with my current supplier.  When we move, I am not having one.  I can’t afford it.

elsien

When you move you might not have a choice of there’s one already in situe.
Do you take regular readings yourself to track consumption?