Bulb Smart Meter Installation - Any downsides I should be aware of?

Arfa__

Just been persuaded to have a smart meter installed by Bulb (install by Siemans). Never had one before, any downsides I should be aware of?

It'll only be the electric meter. The gas meter is outside and more than 10m from the electric meter, so apparently they can't swap that one.

Obviously, the electricity being off for an hour or so during installation is a PITA, as I work from home every day...

Automatically submitting meter readings could be handy, although it's the gas meter outside in the cold that's actually more faff...

Can't see much point from watching my electric usage on a display. Not like I'm going to stop drinking tea once I find out my kettle uses 3kW of power...  There's too much stuff in use in the house to ever reliably pinpoint a change in energy usage to a single device. Stuff on standby is standing by ready to be used, e.g. network printer, wifi light bulbs, wall-mounted TVs with hidden cables, integrated kitchen appliances, digital cordless phones, Hive hub etc. I've got a separate wattmeter to monitor individual devices anyway.

So, before it's installed, have I made a good choice, any reasons for not swapping to a smart meter?

Spies

Cant they install a relay for the gas signal?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

your leccy probably won't be off an hour if things are straight forward, they say that to cover themselves incase of problems.

I would reckon 30min at most.

Edit: you will know, of course, to make sure any computer stuff is properly shut down before the fuse is pulled.

[Deleted User]

Spies said:

Cant they install a relay for the gas signal?

As yet, there are no approved wifi extenders.