MSE Poll: Energy smart meters: what's your view?

MSE_Petar

Poll started 5 April 2022

Over 26 million smart meters have been installed across England, Scotland and Wales. They come with in-home displays showing you information about your energy usage in real time, so can help you identify where you can cut back – especially important right now. Plus they automatically send meter readings to your supplier as often as every half hour, so you don't have to. Yet they're not without issues – for example, older models may go 'dumb' if you switch provider. So what's your opinion of them?

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Jcbkabs

The cost of up grading to smart meters has been massively under estimated and then you have their on going costs which are more as this tech costs more than the old dumb meters it’s not free someone has to pay for them and just look at how the standing charge has gone up?
public have been lead down garden path the industry always change old meters, faulty or damaged one instead industry has been forced down this path and government has set time frame which in turn has seen cost rise out of control and some have made large amounts of money.
pits very similar to the PPE scandal 

Philycheesesteak

I had my smart meter installed by OVO and I wasn't impressed by the inhouse gadget, the one which clamped to my electricity cable by British Gas was clearer for knowing instantly what devices were taking electricity. 
What was good was not having to send off meter readings. Tick.
Then I switched to some tin pot supplier who couldn't read this meter.
The in house device would only tell me daily and monthly use not the actual meter reading.
So instead of just looking for an analogue number outside I had to press number 9 it would scroll through different bits of information until the back light went out...then would tell me the meter reading. Obviously x 2 for gas and electricity.
Oxymoron meter it became not just dumb.
I suffered like that for a year before I got a good deal with Octopus. I asked them would they be able to read my meter... yes!
Relief, and I've been with them for 3+ years.
The in house device was unplugged years ago.

Has a smart meter saved me money? No
For the majority of having it, it has saved me doing meter readings - Tick.
The risk of switching and it going dumb again is a big issue and they really need to make them easier to get something as simple as the total use - meter reading in future.

fances

I wanted to have smart meters fitted 3 years ago when gen2 meters came out and could record energy 7 as well as continuing to work when I switched suppliers
However meters, 1 gas 1 electric, were fitted by Scottish Power, after a day working on them the engineer told me they were not communicating with the network!
3 years on, rulings in my favour from the ombudsman, lots of sympathy from troubleshooting teams
I finally have meters that send reading to the company, sadly the IHD has never worked and I still have to climb the ladder to press buttons to see my meter readings I am not at all convinced that the money they just take out of my account is the right amount.  Through this whole sorry saga I have paid my direct debit every month and have accepted the estimated readings the company have used.
My advice now STEER CLEAR.  I know I am one person with a bad experience but I also know I am not the only one!!!

sebtomato

Was keen to have a smart meter installed, so that I could monitor my energy usage, given the high prices. Lots of appliance are permanently connected (e.g. fridge, hot water tank, heaters) so it's difficult to know the energy they use without a smart meter.

Got one installed in January by EDF, and it has never worked. Has never sent any data back to EDF (no readings) and In Home Display (IHD) has never displayed any data (apart from the time, indicating it's paired with the meter).

EDF initially told me to wait 30 days for provisioning to complete, made zero difference. Four WhatsApp interactions and 3 calls later, still not working after 2.5 months, no engineer visit planned either. I have raised an escalation now.

Hardly a good advert for a smart meter. Arguably, it's not worse than the one it replaced, in term of functionality. I can still do manual readings...

[Deleted User]

Last year my area had a powercut, when the power was back on I noticed that me storage heaters were on during the daytime, I rang edf and they said they would send someone out to reset the timer, I was given an appointment for a week later, so I asked when could they fit a smart meter and they said the next day. I had the smart meter fitted and he asked where to plug in the display clock, I told him I didnt want that plugged in as I didnt want to keep watching how much electric I was using. 
Its good for me as now I dont have to struggle reading the meter, it does annoy me  though when I go online to look at the energy graph (I have cut down my usage) it hasnt been updated! I do have the meter set to send readings every day as I didnt see the point in every 30 mins!

Eightseconds

It’s niche but my smart meter also tracks the electricity export when my solar is running. It’s not on the in house display or any billing but at last I can read it after ten years of guessing. 

Zoobzi37

I've got a smart meter with BG. It saves me doing meter reading and that's all I have it for. 
My previous house had the old dial meters and they were a nightmare. I had a two year fight with a very nasty, so called green, utility company as it was my contention the meter was off. I finally won after 2 years. They even called in a debt collector. That only spurred me on. Most people would have caved in and paid. 
My new house has smart meters. As soon as it was in the smart tablet thing went in the drawer. I don't need to be reminded what I'm spending. It's like a ticking time bomb. I know people who watch them rack up every time they go in their kitchen. 
I don't have to do reading anymore. Apart from that the smart meters are totally useless. 
They don't save money. Only people can do that. 

Keep_pedalling

Deleted_User said:

Last year my area had a powercut, when the power was back on I noticed that me storage heaters were on during the daytime, I rang edf and they said they would send someone out to reset the timer, I was given an appointment for a week later, so I asked when could they fit a smart meter and they said the next day. I had the smart meter fitted and he asked where to plug in the display clock, I told him I didnt want that plugged in as I didnt want to keep watching how much electric I was using. 
Its good for me as now I dont have to struggle reading the meter, it does annoy me  though when I go online to look at the energy graph (I have cut down my usage) it hasnt been updated! I do have the meter set to send readings every day as I didnt see the point in every 30 mins!

I think many of the complaints against SMs, are really down to the failures of your supplier rather than the meters themselves. Our SMETS 1 meter was installed by Scottish Power, but is now being utilised by Octopus for electricity and their implementation is outstanding. From their web portal I can see my use on a half hourly basis, and I can clearly see what my background use is by checking what the consumption was in the early hours of the morning. I also have an EV so a smart meter is a requirement if you want cheap off peak charging.

Gas is a different story. I switched to Zog last year and after a couple of months they were able to get access to the SM data, and provided simple monthly bills, which was all I really needed. Zog going out of business lumbered me with EDF, and now I have zero visibility for my gas usage via their website. I will eventually get a bill after 6 months but there is nothing to indicate they are actually taking readings from the SM. I now know they are but only after submitting my own reading for the end of March. During that process you do get told what the previous reading was, which was an actual reading from a few days before.

ReneSt5

Mine was installed by ovo. I didn't have a choice but it's meant I don't have to do my own meter readings now. They gave me a monitor to check my usage as if I'm not bright enough to know what I'm being charged for. It's no use to me as I don't waste energy. Advice from Martin Lewis and his team over the years has made sure of that. On a national level even without all the problems highlighted in this forum, they seem a waste of money in terms of cost benefit - except as income for those in China who manufacture them and the electricians who install them of course.

Keep_pedalling

I have not done the poll, as the main positive for me (shifting use to off peak) is not listed.