Shell Energy - Useless when it comes to Smart Meters

EssexHebridean

Replacing the full set would seem to be a good way of at least trying to sort it out. Fingers are crossed for you. 

pensionpawn

I've had problems with the internal display ever since the "smart" meter arrived 18 months ago. Gas displays fine however I've never seen an electric reading. I complained at first however as I have plenty of other ways to monitor my electricity usage (due to having solar panels) and I don't want to spend anymore time than essential (essential being complaining about them continually wanting to increase my DD because they keep on forgetting / ignoring that I have solar panels and my import won't (again) be what they estimate for the summer) on the phone to them, I just couldn't be bothered anymore. Well until their external meter also stopped communicating to Shell and they started estimating my usage without letting me submit readings via the web portal. Complete Muppets, and what a waste to the consumer (as we pay for them via the green levy) smart meters have been.

EssexHebridean

Literally millions of households in the country successfully using their smart meters without issue doesn’t really say “a waste” to me. Traditional meters of all types have also sometimes failed - by your logic those too are “a waste” in which case surely trying something new and more technologically advanced is precisely what should be happening? 

mac.d

Not been impressed with Shell & my limited experience of their smart meters. Posted it elsewhere how they fitted smart meters in September, it was noticed within 10 days of the meters being installed that there were no gas readings on the IHD, and a check of the gas meter showed the display was blank and nothing worked to wake it up. Shell were contacted and asked to fix ASAP due to person being on the PSR. Took them a month or two to send out an engineer who said the meter required a part he didn't have so they'd need to come back (already noted elsewhere that this seems a very odd response for a meter that appears to simply not be working). Earliest date they could return isn't until next month, so the household has been through a significant part of the winter based on estimated readings, at a time when many people are trying to cut their energy usage due to cost but Shell will just estimate based on previous years use. Pretty shoddy.

pensionpawn

EssexHebridean said:

Literally millions of households in the country successfully using their smart meters without issue doesn’t really say “a waste” to me. Traditional meters of all types have also sometimes failed - by your logic those too are “a waste” in which case surely trying something new and more technologically advanced is precisely what should be happening? 

My "dumb" meter worked without fail for just under 25 years before being replaced. The new "smart" meter, which I only agreed to as I was told by Shell that the radio teleswitch for my E7 meter was being switched off (which keeps on getting delayed...odd that...) has made no positive difference to me. I have subsequently moved off from E7, due to the Jan E7 change which we have exchanged views on. In retrospect I would rather still be on my old "dumb" meter. All consumers are paying for these meters in their standing charge for no positive benefit, yet.

[Deleted User]

pensionpawn said:

EssexHebridean said:

Literally millions of households in the country successfully using their smart meters without issue doesn’t really say “a waste” to me. Traditional meters of all types have also sometimes failed - by your logic those too are “a waste” in which case surely trying something new and more technologically advanced is precisely what should be happening? 

My "dumb" meter worked without fail for just under 25 years before being replaced. The new "smart" meter, which I only agreed to as I was told by Shell that the radio teleswitch for my E7 meter was being switched off (which keeps on getting delayed...odd that...) has made no positive difference to me. I have subsequently moved off from E7, due to the Jan E7 change which we have exchanged views on. In retrospect I would rather still be on my old "dumb" meter. All consumers are paying for these meters in their standing charge for no positive benefit, yet.

I have had SMETS1 meters now for nearly 4 years and I can honestly say that time-of-use tariffs have saved me £100s compared to having a dumb meter on a standard tariff. Have a look at Octopus Agile. When the wind blows consumers get laid to use electricity.

GingerTim

[Deleted User] said:

pensionpawn said:

EssexHebridean said:

Literally millions of households in the country successfully using their smart meters without issue doesn’t really say “a waste” to me. Traditional meters of all types have also sometimes failed - by your logic those too are “a waste” in which case surely trying something new and more technologically advanced is precisely what should be happening? 

My "dumb" meter worked without fail for just under 25 years before being replaced. The new "smart" meter, which I only agreed to as I was told by Shell that the radio teleswitch for my E7 meter was being switched off (which keeps on getting delayed...odd that...) has made no positive difference to me. I have subsequently moved off from E7, due to the Jan E7 change which we have exchanged views on. In retrospect I would rather still be on my old "dumb" meter. All consumers are paying for these meters in their standing charge for no positive benefit, yet.

I have had SMETS1 meters now for nearly 4 years and I can honestly say that time-of-use tariffs have saved me £100s compared to having a dumb meter on a standard tariff. Have a look at Octopus Agile. When the wind blows consumers get laid to use electricity.

Sign me up!

[Deleted User]

GingerTim said:

[Deleted User] said:

pensionpawn said:

EssexHebridean said:

Literally millions of households in the country successfully using their smart meters without issue doesn’t really say “a waste” to me. Traditional meters of all types have also sometimes failed - by your logic those too are “a waste” in which case surely trying something new and more technologically advanced is precisely what should be happening? 

My "dumb" meter worked without fail for just under 25 years before being replaced. The new "smart" meter, which I only agreed to as I was told by Shell that the radio teleswitch for my E7 meter was being switched off (which keeps on getting delayed...odd that...) has made no positive difference to me. I have subsequently moved off from E7, due to the Jan E7 change which we have exchanged views on. In retrospect I would rather still be on my old "dumb" meter. All consumers are paying for these meters in their standing charge for no positive benefit, yet.

I have had SMETS1 meters now for nearly 4 years and I can honestly say that time-of-use tariffs have saved me £100s compared to having a dumb meter on a standard tariff. Have a look at Octopus Agile. When the wind blows consumers get laid to use electricity.

Sign me up!

Old eyes; small keyboard and predictive text. What could possibly go wrong?

pensionpawn

[Deleted User] said:

pensionpawn said:

EssexHebridean said:

Literally millions of households in the country successfully using their smart meters without issue doesn’t really say “a waste” to me. Traditional meters of all types have also sometimes failed - by your logic those too are “a waste” in which case surely trying something new and more technologically advanced is precisely what should be happening? 

My "dumb" meter worked without fail for just under 25 years before being replaced. The new "smart" meter, which I only agreed to as I was told by Shell that the radio teleswitch for my E7 meter was being switched off (which keeps on getting delayed...odd that...) has made no positive difference to me. I have subsequently moved off from E7, due to the Jan E7 change which we have exchanged views on. In retrospect I would rather still be on my old "dumb" meter. All consumers are paying for these meters in their standing charge for no positive benefit, yet.

I have had SMETS1 meters now for nearly 4 years and I can honestly say that time-of-use tariffs have saved me £100s compared to having a dumb meter on a standard tariff. Have a look at Octopus Agile. When the wind blows consumers get laid to use electricity.

...and if a Smart meter is absolutely necessary for a particular tariff (and is proven to be cheaper for that particular consumer) then fair enough if it's able to remain connected 24/7 and always optimise your time of day charges. However there are many like myself who have been coerced onto a smart meter and it is making no difference to my usage / import cost. As I alluded to in my earlier post, Shell's changes to E7 this January has now made the most basic of smart tariffs, E7, now more expensive (for my usage profile, though for 25 years it wasn't) for me. That said, if we were all "laid" for using agile tariff I believe we'd all sign up lol!
Of course, looking at your graph, you're demonstrating how your tariff drops from "single rate"  when the wind blows. Can you confirm that the Agile tariff doesn't increase when the wind doesn't blow? Effectively you're saying that it's a capped tariff like capped mortgages that vanished a long time ago.

donutandbeer

We moved to a place supplied by Shell last December. I have booked a smart installation straight away when we moved in, but the earliest appointment I can get is February (so has not happened yet!). We never had any problem with our smart meter with British Gas before, so when we move I just thought why not get one… Now reading this post is giving me second thought!

I think I can still cancel it - should I cancel it? 

We are on single rate tariff. Both meters are very accessible and the smart meter will only allow me to not have to do the maths.