General thoughts on Smart Meters?

Ballymoney

As the title says, what is the general consensus on smart meters these days? Are they reliable and worth having? Having access to the hourly/daily usage stats is appealing but not at the cost of reliability.

I’m with eon next so if anyone has any first hand experience of the meters they fit that would be appreciated.

And lastly, are todays smart meters able to remain smart when changing supplier?

[Deleted User]

Generally, they're completely fine.  Reliable and will follow you between suppliers without issue.

You will always find a few people who have problems, but this is true of everything.  The actual problems reported are extremely rare.

Apart from British Gas on Economy 7, but that's just odd.

RobM99

SMET1 meters can't adapt to new suppliers - or so I thought...

[Deleted User]

RobM99 said:

SMET1 meters can't adapt to new suppliers - or so I thought...

Nobody is fitting SMETS1 meters any more.

And they can, as soon as they are adopted onto the DCC network (which many are and there is a process for all to be).

[Deleted User]

RobM99 said:

SMET1 meters can't adapt to new suppliers - or so I thought...

Sorry - you thought wrong. SMETS1 meters are no longer being installed. The DCC - the network operator - has an ongoing programme to enrol and adopt all SMETS1 meters onto the DCC network. Millions of SMETS1 meters have already  been ‘ E and A’d and they are no longer supplier-dependent.

[Deleted User]

They are just meters that are built and certified to the same Government standards as the old analogue meters. Yes, there are some issues that suppliers have to grapple with but in the majority of cases they do not impact the ability of the meter to record usage and display a meter reading.

I have had SMETS2 meters for nearly 3 1/2 years and I have no regrets. They give me access to time-of-use tariffs that will increasingly become the norm.

matelodave

RobM99 said:

SMET1 meters can't adapt to new suppliers - or so I thought...

As above, you thought wrong - my SMETS-1 smart meter was enrolled into the DCC in the middle of last year and has been happily working with both Symbio and Eon-Next. Not only that I can use the Bright app to read the data from the meter as well.

Ballymoney

Positive comments, thanks all. Might bite the bullet and get one. Eon have been messaging me for 3 years to say my particular tariff requires a smart meter to qualify for the rate but have always ignored them.

As someone who keeps a rigid spreadsheet recording my usage I quite like the idea of this Bright app that I’ve seen mentioned a few times recently.

[Deleted User]

There is another consumer benefit. Future tariff price comparisons will no longer require consumers to input kWh/year. Twelve months of data will be pulled from the consumer’s meter and the result will be the cheapest time-of-use tariff. The tool for this has already been developed by BEIS.

Plasticman

There are always people who have problems when their meters are changed. I had problem with mine. That was before smart meters came along though. 

BooJewels

May I ask a supplementary question, as I'm still on dumb meters and have resisted smart meters for various practical reasons.   Can they communicate okay from in a cellar?  My gas meter is set inside my thick stone outer wall, but the electricity is in the cellar, with quite a lot of stone and earth around it.