Pure Planet faces becoming latest casualty of industry crisis

maryb

Thank you!  It's not quite as bad as I thought. Electricity 20.772p per unit instead of 18.611 and gas 4.186p instead of 3.903.  The standing charge for electricity works out at 41p per month more and the standing charge for gas £1.27 a month more. 

Because we haven't had the heating on yet we have a fairly big credit which should cushion the blow a bit.  Besides, they estimated our usage quite high as last year we had two daughters move back in during lockdown WFH.  We are now back to being a child free zone so that should reduce costs a bit.

At any rate it will mean we don't have to have the smart meter they were forcing on us.  I told them it wouldn't work as our meters are in the cellar of our Victorian house and they won't get a wifi signal.  But they insisted. 

So little man turns up but decides he needs UK Power Networks to come in and do 'something'  UKPN come along and think the main fuse might have a bit of asbestos behind it.  Visit number 3, someone comes along and takes samples.  We get a call saying yes it is asbestos so UKPN will be back with a specialist removal team and once the asbestos backing is dealt with they will do the 'something' they were going to do on visit 3.  Then visit number 5 was going to be to actually fit the smart meters

Which won't work because they are in the cellar

Budweiser_072000

All those visits are legitimate, its part of the safety process and if your meter is located in a victorian basement its probably very outdated.

Smart meters dont use wifi they rely on phone signal as they have inbuilt sim cards, they will most likely try and install a mesh hub with an aerial for a signal boost if its bad, if it doesnt work it will be left in place for future connections when the signal gets increased in your area

maryb said:

Thank you!  It's not quite as bad as I thought. Electricity 20.772p per unit instead of 18.611 and gas 4.186p instead of 3.903.  The standing charge for electricity works out at 41p per month more and the standing charge for gas £1.27 a month more. 

Because we haven't had the heating on yet we have a fairly big credit which should cushion the blow a bit.  Besides, they estimated our usage quite high as last year we had two daughters move back in during lockdown WFH.  We are now back to being a child free zone so that should reduce costs a bit.

At any rate it will mean we don't have to have the smart meter they were forcing on us.  I told them it wouldn't work as our meters are in the cellar of our Victorian house and they won't get a wifi signal.  But they insisted. 

So little man turns up but decides he needs UK Power Networks to come in and do 'something'  UKPN come along and think the main fuse might have a bit of asbestos behind it.  Visit number 3, someone comes along and takes samples.  We get a call saying yes it is asbestos so UKPN will be back with a specialist removal team and once the asbestos backing is dealt with they will do the 'something' they were going to do on visit 3.  Then visit number 5 was going to be to actually fit the smart meters

Which won't work because they are in the cellar

moocowone

I like having a smart meter 😃

mine looks a lot like this…



it was originally installed by (if I remember rightly) first utility, then became dumb when I moved to pure planet, then eventually (after many months) became smart again.

Will it go dumb again when I get moved to another supplier if/when pure planet collapse?

Umiamz

moocowone said:

I like having a smart meter 😃

mine looks a lot like this…



it was originally installed by (if I remember rightly) first utility, then became dumb when I moved to pure planet, then eventually (after many months) became smart again.

Will it go dumb again when I get moved to another supplier if/when pure planet collapse?

Yes, that's a Secure SMETS1 meter. If it has become 'smart' again with Pure Planet then it sounds like it may have been enrolled and adopted into the DCC, so should, theoretically, work with other suppliers.

QrizB

moocowone said:

I like having a smart meter 😃
Will it go dumb again when I get moved to another supplier if/when pure planet collapse?

If it's smart now, chances are it will remain smart.
Some of the smaller suppliers wouldn't read smart meters, even though they were fully working; most of those suppliers are going bust so hopefully your next supplier will be able to make proper use of them!

maryb

It's a big cellar but the roof was reinforced to use as an air raid shelter in the war hence poor reception.  They were going to refit the meters in the cellar and they have in fact been replaced within the last ten years.  I just thought it was amusing to have so many visits.  But it all makes work for the working man to do

scrimpandsave

Whilst we are waiting for the announcement….does anyone here have a smart meter? (Know Maryb almost does) I have always decided against it because I’m one of those people who researches the ‘health implications’ and scares themselves, however can promise I’m totally normal 😂 If you have one, is it worth it? Have you reaped any benefits in the past? Does it make you more aware?

Grabs39

scrimpandsave said:

Whilst we are waiting for the announcement….does anyone here have a smart meter? (Know Maryb almost does) I have always decided against it because I’m one of those people who researches the ‘health implications’ and scares themselves, however can promise I’m totally normal 😂 If you have one, is it worth it? Have you reaped any benefits in the past? Does it make you more aware?

It means I don't have to move all the junk out of the cupboard every month.

The display can be interesting, but if you already turn things off when you aren't using them then it can't actually save you anything.

Ultrasonic

The two main benefits of having a smart meter are not having to bother submitting meter readings, and not being hassled to get a smart meter installed!

moocowone

Mine is one of the older smart meters and the display unit is total rubbish. As example, it defaults (and you can’t change this setting) to telling me how much my bill will be. But it doesn’t estimate my monthly bill, it simply tells me how much I’ve spent since my last bill (but then it doesn’t tell me how how many days have passed since it billed me and reset the counters).

The main reason I like the smart meter is that it automates the meter readings.