Advantage of having smart meters

Mineral1

Spies said:

Mineral1 said:

You might find using the tumble dryer instead of a dehumidifier saves you money as dehumidifiers are energy hogs. 

Ironically that is the sort of thing you could easily see by having a smart meter.

What a load of twaddle, a (compressor) dehumidifier uses 250w, for 4 hours use that's only 20p.

It'll take a fair while longer than that to dry clothes to the same level of dryness as a tumble dryer though which is what the comparison is.

wild666

tim_p said:

Swipe said:

Saves me going outside in the cold to get a daily reading for my spreadsheet

I go every day (evening actually) and read both gas and electric. Takes about 20 seconds, rain, shine, cold. No big deal. 

My Smart electric meter is inside the flat and I take daily readings but the gas meter is outside and I read it weekly because I use so little gas. My weekly gas usage and be only a quarter of my SC especially in the summer months. 

wild666

Spies said:

Mineral1 said:

You might find using the tumble dryer instead of a dehumidifier saves you money as dehumidifiers are energy hogs. 

Ironically that is the sort of thing you could easily see by having a smart meter.

What a load of twaddle, a (compressor) dehumidifier uses 250w, for 4 hours use that's only 20p.

That's something I agree with my daily usage is around 3.6 to 4 kWh but if I put the drier on for 60 minutes the drier uses nearly 4 kWh, that's why I only use it once per week.

Laycity

Smart meters seem to a love/hate thing don’t they? Maybe we need a thread of the advantages of not having one?

It’s all about opening up time of use tariffs and accurate billing for the user. How many threads do you see about people suddenly receiving  a £500 bill and wondering why?

Most people have no interest in going into their garage every night and taking meter readings.

Ultrasonic

Laycity said:

Smart meters seem to a love/hate thing don’t they? Maybe we need a thread of the advantages of not having one?

Overwhelmingly, those against them have never actually used a modern (SMETS2) smart meter and in home display...

Shedman

Laycity said:

Most people have no interest in going into their garage every night and taking meter readings.

Or ever it would seem....judging by the number of 'shock horror my bill is horrendous' posts we see on this forum

tim_p

Ultrasonic said:

tim_p said:

Swipe said:

Saves me going outside in the cold to get a daily reading for my spreadsheet

I go every day (evening actually) and read both gas and electric. Takes about 20 seconds, rain, shine, cold. No big deal. 

Strange hobby. I bet it actually takes you quite a bit longer than 20s too.

Nope, 20 seconds max, open meter cupboard, door read meter, close door. Open other meter door, read meter, close door. Re-enter house, sit down and enter readings in an app. Outdoorsy bit is 20 seconds or less. As a ‘hobby’ it’s pretty low involvement. I do the water meter once a month too. That one admittedly takes a minute or two. 

tim_p

wild666 said:

tim_p said:

Swipe said:

Saves me going outside in the cold to get a daily reading for my spreadsheet

I go every day (evening actually) and read both gas and electric. Takes about 20 seconds, rain, shine, cold. No big deal. 

My Smart electric meter is inside the flat and I take daily readings but the gas meter is outside and I read it weekly because I use so little gas. My weekly gas usage and be only a quarter of my SC especially in the summer months. 

Mines probably less that a quarter as gas only gets used for cooking between approx Mar / Oct when all water heating is taken care of by solar PV. 

tim_p

Laycity said:

Most people have no interest in going into their garage every night and taking meter readings.

They’ll be the ones coming on here asking why their DD has suddenly gone through the roof and that the meter must be faulty. 

wild666

Ultrasonic said:

Laycity said:

Smart meters seem to a love/hate thing don’t they? Maybe we need a thread of the advantages of not having one?

Overwhelmingly, those against them have never actually used a modern (SMETS2) smart meter and in home display...

I think that the people who have changed to smart meters just continued to use them as they did with an analogue meter, I know I did for months, I now am more cautious with my usage, especially after Avro went under. My usage dropped from 6 kWh per day to 3.5 kWh per day. I was a low user anyway before I got the smart meter installed, using around 50% of what the average usage is calculated at, 2000 kWh, now it's down to around 1400 kWh. 
I don't have an IHD as it got water damaged in the floods of 2015, but I now carefully monitor my usage. I now get my readings in 30 minute segments the day after the usage. The 30 minute usage is between 0.1 and 0.2 kWh unless I am cooking then that accounts for around 0.8 kWh