Smart meter readings.

Cardew

For interest only.

I had gas and electricity smart meters fitted some months ago. Recently my house was unoccupied for 8 days and I turned off the gas at the mains.

I thought it would be interesting to see how much electricity had been used over that period as it would give an idea of the ‘standing consumption’ for fridge/freezer burglar alarm, Sky box etc.

I was aware that my on-line energy account gave a daily consumption figure for both gas and electricity; albeit I hadn’t looked at it since the meters were fitted.

To my surprise for this period the gas and electricity daily figures were roughly the same as normal,(remember gas was turned off) and displayed to two decimal points e.g. 10.46kWh.

Further investigation showed on 26th of each month a large adjustment was shown for that day. On one day it showed – 1011.57kWh gas( a negative gas consumption!!)

Obviously the daily readings were an estimation and completely meaningless, but nothing indicated they were estimated.

My supplier OVO confirmed that:   ‘The reason why your online account was not showing accurate daily usage figures is because we are only receiving readings once a month from your Smart Meters (on the 27th of each month). Because of this, your online account would only be estimating daily usage. To resolve this, we can receive half hourly readings from your Smart Meters so that you will be able to see accurate, up to date daily usage. If you would like us to do this, please respond’

[Deleted User]

I take it that when the index reading was pulled from your smart meter for billing purposes, it was accurate? That said, looking back to dual fuel with Octopus, it would use readings down to one DP whereas Zog, for gas, don't use decimal places. Both my meters are on half hour usage recording with data pulled once per day.

I should add that Ofgem is consulting on moving all smart meters to HH usage UNLESS the consumer opts out. Arguably, another Government 'U' turn.

Cardew

What advantage is there in opting out?

QrizB

Cardew said:

What advantage is there in opting out?

The black helicopters don't know when you're home, so they can't target you with mind-control rays.

[Deleted User]

Cardew said:

What advantage is there in opting out?

There are no disadvantages when you opt in to 30 minute usage. Each meter has storage for 4 registers' worth of HH import data for 12 months. This historical data will be used to populate future price comparisons (with your approval): it will no longer be a case of how much data you use but when you actually use it. HH settlements are also used between suppliers and wholesalers and this is the main reason for the change. I suspect that The Government went for opting into HH data as a way of calming down the smart meter sceptics. Increasingly as smart meters become the norm then, rather like organ donation, I guess by using HH as the default then most people will just not bother to opt out.