Smart Meters

Ectophile

twhitehousescat said:

changing topic slightly , but in 99% of back billing cases , the suplier must have failed to take 12 mthly meter readings? . as required by law , or is the cop out a bit of wet card asking YOU to do there work for them and for YOU to inform them 

The suppliers are no longer under any obligation to read your meters at any particular intervals.  If you don't like their estimates, you have to submit your own readings.

twhitehousescat

Ectophile said:

twhitehousescat said:

changing topic slightly , but in 99% of back billing cases , the suplier must have failed to take 12 mthly meter readings? . as required by law , or is the cop out a bit of wet card asking YOU to do there work for them and for YOU to inform them 

The suppliers are no longer under any obligation to read your meters at any particular intervals.  If you don't like their estimates, you have to submit your own readings.

Meter readers per se are no longer required as the obligation on suppliers was changed a couple of years ago to one of 'obtaining a meter reading once every 12 months'. Suppliers are still required to carry out safety checks on all meters. 

But IS it the customers job to do this work , can a person invoice the elec co for there time 
back billing is normally a result of a non read , this should be done by meter co at least on ce a year when doing safety checks

Biggus_Dickus

[Deleted User] said:

A._Badger said:

  The promise of saving money is just bait.

Hi,

there is no 'promise' of saving money, the smart meter records what you use and you pay for what you use.

Folks refer to the IHD as the smart meter, but it only gives you an indication of what you are using at a particular time, and to see the difference when you switch something off, thus the saving.

Exactly.

Notwithstanding smart meter exclusive tariffs, you’ll only save money if you change your gas/leccy consumption habits.

It was hoped that by displaying the cost of energy in £££’s on the In House Display unit  it would incentivize (or shock!) homeowners to moderate their energy usage wherever possible,... and to that end it’s probably been successful, to a degree.

For example, it may have come as quite a shock for some ‘not so savvy’ parents when they realized their 10.5Kw electric shower costs approx £1.50/hour to run. The bill for that alone can quickly rack up especially if you have several kids who spend inordinate amounts of time in the shower.

MSE ‘money-saving’  top-tip:

Don’t let your kids spend any longer in the shower than is absolutely necessary,...or for even greater  ‘money-saving’  sell them for medical experiments.

 

 

 

[Deleted User]

t0rt0ise said:

jack_pott said:

A._Badger said:

jack_pott said:

It's not misleading, but it does mean exactly what it says. You don't have to have a smart meter, but they don't have to offer you the most favourable tariffs, either. They want people to use smart meters because they save money, so they will incentivise customers by passing on the savings.

Really? And how do you suppose smart meters 'save money'?

Er, by saving the cost of a meter reader, of course.

And paying his dole money instead!

That was the Luddites argument, and history has proved them spectacularly wrong.

Vanillacat

Does anybody know if smart meters work correctly when you have both solar panels [with a FiT tariff] and a solar battery. Thank you.

[Deleted User]

Vanillacat said:

Does anybody know if smart meters work correctly when you have both solar panels [with a FiT tariff] and a solar battery. Thank you.

Yes and no. I have a 7kWp array and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery. My SMETS2 meter records both import and export kWhs usage. I am with Octopus Energy and they have identified an issue which is specific to the L&G E470 100mm meter and the Powerwall 2. From time-to-time, the E470 records Powerwall 2 reactive load. Octopus Energy will be changing my E470 to a Kaifa SMETS2 next week. 

For those who have fixed views on HH (30 minute) usage recording, the Powerwall 2/meter issue would not have been identified without  this level of granularity. 

milgo

FYI... I found out today, whilst helping MIL with her energy provider/tariff that OVO is able to take automatic readings from what I believe to be smets1 meters!  

Liberty EG4 v10 - Electricity
Liberty 100 - Gas

Information that maybe of use to someone.

imeach

I didn't think smart meters role was to kill off meter readers? 
Despite installers telling consumers they will never see a meter reader again, until we turn up

Surely the selling point is supposed to be the savings that not so savvy people can make by looking at their new toy, sorry IHD.
But they can obviously have a detrimental affect too, for instance the story an elderly lady told me of her sister who used to shower every day, got a smart meter, saw how much it cost, and stopped showering. Or see how much the heating costs and go cold.

Yes I agree they are in theory doing their supposed role of saving people money, but at what cost