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Advantage of having smart meters

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  • Mineral1
    Mineral1 Posts: 134 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts
    tim_p 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. 
    Think that explains it all really, for most people reading their meters isn't a 'hobby'.
  • uptdale
    uptdale Posts: 176 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Based on my experience I would definitely avoid smart meters.  Earlier this year we bought a house with smart meters.  Both gas and electricity were supplied by People's Energy, but their systems did not enable them to read the smart meters remotely (I assume that the meters were installed by a previous supplier).  So I have had to read the smart meters manually, which is much harder to do than read a conventional meter.  Among the many hard-to-read figures shown on the gas meter are both cubic meters and kwh, and it turned out that the previous owner had been reading the gas meter incorrectly and reporting the kwh, not the cubic meters.  Which meant that the gas bills were all wrong.

    When I realised the problem I emailed People's Energy, and two days later PE ceased trading....I've just had my "final" bill from PE, which of course shows a final gas reading completely different from British Gas's opening reading (it looks like BG can read the smart meters).  A complete mess!
  • Mineral1
    Mineral1 Posts: 134 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts
    You won't have a choice eventually anyway so its irrelevant, the only relevant question is how long you can avoid it for.
  • I'm happy with smart meter. I was happy to get it installed by Bulb and saved me a whole lot of hassle reading the gas in the back of the kitchen units and lecci high up near the ceiling. I then changed to Peoples energy thinking they could read the smart meters but they couldn't. However I found that the IHD had the meter readings on it so saved an old man having to lie down to read the meters. Never had a final reading from PE so hope BG meter reads agree with the photo's I took of the meters. BG can read them its just the changeover problems to get over and life will be easier again.
    I'd rather be an Optimist and be proved wrong than a Pessimist and be proved right.
  • Spies
    Spies Posts: 2,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    In all honesty I was perfectly happy with my dumb meters but to get paid for export I needed smart meters. 

    My Gas one has been a bit of a pain, getting random erraneous readings at midnight which makes tracking usage somewhat difficult but isn't affecting the overall reading.
    4.29kWp Solar system, 45/55 South/West split in cloudy rainy Cumbria. 
  • Ultrasonic
    Ultrasonic Posts: 4,265 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    wild666 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 bet you didn't in that I bet you didn't manually read your meter. The fact that people can otherwise carry on as before is why all the reluctance to have them is becoming harder to understand for me. I resisted for a long time but because of issues with older models that no longer seem to apply.

    I haven't used my smart meter to reduce energy consumption but mine was pretty low to begin with (~1500 kWh electricity and ~4000 kWh gas per year).
  • Ultrasonic
    Ultrasonic Posts: 4,265 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Mineral1 said:
    tim_p 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. 
    Think that explains it all really, for most people reading their meters isn't a 'hobby'.
    To be fair it was me that called it a hobby, but as I don't see the need for anyone to routinely take meter readings every day. 
  • The killer application for smart meters was time of day pricing and the management and regulation of supply and demand. At present, that concept appears to be dead. It may come bouncing back.  
    I have osteoarthritis in my hands so I speak my messages into a microphone using Dragon. Some people make "typos" but I often make "speakos".
  • lohr500
    lohr500 Posts: 1,346 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Gerry1 said:
    lohr500 said:
    molerat said:
    Nope, still can't think of any.  Marketed as ideal for the lazy but it seems that is not always the case, just lulls them into a false sense of security.
    So how would I enjoy off peak rates for 10 hours through the week and all day through the weekend without a smart meter?

    Get a time machine and travel back to the 70s !
    Legacy tariffs are being withdrawn, and those that remain became stupidly expensive, even before the recent market turmoil.  Any switch of tariff may well be far more expensive that what you have at the moment.
    I may not have phrased my post clearly enough! I am a big fan of Smart Meters. Getting one installed enabled me to switch in July to EDF's GoElectric98 tariff. It wouldn't have been possible with our old dumb 5 wire Eco7 meter.

    We need a minimum of 6 1/2 hours off peak to recharge our electric Aga. It was a close call between the EDF tariff which is fixed to August 2023, or the Octopus Go Faster tariff which had a 12 month fix. At the time, if I had gone with Octopus it would have worked out a little less expensive, even with using 1 1/2 hours of peak rate. But with everything that is going on in the market right now, I'm glad I have some degree of certainty through to August 2023.

    Anyway, I digress. Back to my point, I couldn't have switched to either beneficial tariff without having the smart meter.

  • kimp22 said:
    That doesn't sound good. I need to lower amount I am spending. My electricity is over £100 a month now and I have used around £40 in three weeks on gas. Its been on a lot recently with bad weather.
    I already have started switching cooker and microwave off unless using them. I do a lot of washing have three kids and one that disabled. I have a dehumidifier to help with the washing
    I have a tumble dryer but never use it.
    I have £10.46 on the electricity now and it was £22.20 on Tuesday morning. Been doing small top ups till the new meters go in. But have around £90 on gas usually build in up so I don't have to worry about it when it gets cold.

    Thanks
    Kim
    Gosh, how do you manage to get all that washing dry without a tumble dryer? I hang clothes out if possible and if I use the tumbler I never fully dry clothes, except towels otherwise I find they end up smelly. Dry to still slightly damp then hang on clothes horse in utility room with window cracked open. Of course we don't have a dehumidifier, but still. 
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