Shell Energy - Useless when it comes to Smart Meters

EssexHebridean

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.

Oh - I follow now, sorry. Whether something is a waste of money is decreed by whether you personally have found it works for you. So YOUR traditional meter worked faultlessly - or at least you assumed it did - for all those years, while your smart meter has not therefore that = "Smart meters are a waste of consumer money". Meanwhile the views of someone who is now equipped with a faultlessly (again - as far as they know!) SM because their old traditional meter failed on them would be entirely irrelevant.

The many elderly people who no longer have to get into an impossible cupboard, or down on their knees on cold wet ground outside to read a traditional meter  each month probably don't see their smart meters as a "waste". Those as already stated in the thread benefiting from some money saving TOU tariffs only available via SMs to reduce their outgoings too - they also probably don't see them as a waste. The struggling families who now - thanks to their IHD - have something tangible to SHOW their kids why turning the lights off/not switching the oven on then wandering away and forgetting about it/spending 20 minutes at a time in the shower is beneficial and so are reducing their use AND their bills to more manageable levels - I'd guess that they don't see any form of waste either. But none of those millions of folks have any relevance at all, right? 

This is the thing with positive steps forward - they tend to be for the good of wider society as a whole. Some of us - thankfully - are able to see that. The world isn't "all about us" - again, thankfully. There is a bigger picture out there. As someone who has an accessible dumb meter, who doesn't have problems with eyesight, who is already on a non smart TOU tariff and can afford the bills that my relatively low use produces I too probably wouldn't directly, personally benefit from a SM - but that doesn't mean that I'm going to decree that the smart meter rollout is "a waste" because of that - and in due course, I too will be more than happy to benefit from it! 

Once again - ALL meters can fail - Smart, old style dial, digital. None of these are infallible. 

Dolor said:

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?

I particularly like the fact that you haven't edited!  

[Deleted User]

pensionpawn 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.

...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.

I am just offering you an alternative. Time-of-use tariffs work when the consumer makes changes to their routine. Agile is capped by Octopus but the upper capped price is modified by the EPG to 35p/kWh. 

As we live in a connected World, no one can guarantee that when the wind blows that electricity prices will be low as there are inter-connectors with Ireland and mainland Europe.