New Smart Meter are dangerous - Budget Exceeded

justAnotherBadger

Morning,

I am very concerned about new Smart Meters, on Friday morning at 9.16 my new Smart Meter was flashing at me that my weekly budget had been exceeded, that is only 4 and a bit days.

This was my first full week of using the meter, I have not played with any of the settings, this is a default meter that has come straight from the energy company.

I've tried to live within the budget as an experiment, I've gone with the heating the body principle, hot water bottles have been in regular use. Even doing this I can not get anywhere near the default recommend daily budget. The house is cold and I am cold.

This is my worry, I know the default budget supplied by the smart meter is rubbish. If I was able to keep to it my energy bill would be just over £1000 a year, a pipe dream!

I would like @MSE_Martin or any member of the team @MSE_Andrewto contact the energy companies and get meaningful default budgets set on smart meters, the current default is dangerous. People are going to die this winter if they try to stick to the default budget, it is dangerous. To be honest it feels negligent and criminal.

Nobody should wake up and see their smart meter flashing budget exceeded, I was shocked and worries until I checked my maths again.  All I want from this post is to raise awareness to the issue.

MWT

justAnotherBadger said:

I would like @MSE_Martin or any member of the team @MSE_Andrewto contact the energy companies and get meaningful default budgets set on smart meters, the current default is dangerous. People are going to die this winter if they try to stick to the default budget, it is dangerous. To be honest it feels negligent and criminal.

There is no 'meaningful budget' that would suit all customers, which is why you should set the budget yourself, not just use whatever is set by default.

It is neither negligent, nor criminal to provide people with a device that allows them to set the budget to suit their own needs.

It might on the other-hand be considered negligent to not take the option to enter your own budget numbers...

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you could set your own budget, the default doesn't know your lifestyle.

[Deleted User]

justAnotherBadger said:

This is my worry, I know the default budget supplied by the smart meter is rubbish. If I was able to keep to it my energy bill would be just over £1000 a year, a pipe dream!

I would like @MSE_Martin or any member of the team @MSE_Andrewto contact the energy companies and get meaningful default budgets set on smart meters, the current default is dangerous. People are going to die this winter if they try to stick to the default budget, it is dangerous. To be honest it feels negligent and criminal.

Nobody should wake up and see their smart meter flashing budget exceeded, I was shocked and worries until I checked my maths again.  All I want from this post is to raise awareness to the issue.

What budget would you like them to set?  £2000? £3000? £5000?

Lets get it set so everyone always sees "under budget" on the display and nobody has to worry about it ever again.

justAnotherBadger

At no point has the energy company indicated to me that a budget can be set, I was just told this is how to see your daily usage, weekly, monthly etc. A nice email from your energy company suggesting a budget and how to set it would be useful, it would not be much effort for them to do.

A meaningful default budget of something close to the current energy cap would be more useful, I am aware winter and summer heating requirements are different so it still won't be perfect. 

How many people never touch the settings on devices? Why risk even a few people panicking and turning off their heating because they have exceeded a ridiculous £1000 yearly budget.

RobM99

Mine has a "budget indicator" but I just take that as a guide.

GingerTim

Is that a Chameleon 3 IHD? You can download the manual from the EDF website and the instructions on how to set a budget on the device are on p. 5

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r1201_chameleon_3_and_geo_trio_one_guide_booklet_2020.pdf

Misslayed

That isn't actually a smart meter - it's an In House Display (IHD)

[Deleted User]

justAnotherBadger said:

A meaningful default budget of something close to the current energy cap would be more useful, I am aware winter and summer heating requirements are different so it still won't be perfect. 

And what about the 50% of people whose usage is above the median?

Or the similar-sized group of people whose usage is substantially below the mythical energy cap figure?

[Deleted User]

Wow - there is so much wrong with the OP's post that I do not know where to start.

Smart meters are just meters that record usage: in this respect, they are no different from the meters that they replaced.

As others have said, you set the budget. The IHD manufacturer has just gone for a default setting. You can change the budget in one of the sub-menus. The supplier does not send a budget to either meter: it should however set the tariff that you are on which is how the cost of energy used is calculated.

Most consumers ignore the budget feature. For usage and cost data, I use the free App BRIGHT. BRIGHT accesses the same smart meter data that is retrieved by your energy supplier using DCC-approved secure software. The App shows usage in kWh and (£) blocks by 30 min period; hour; day; week; month or year.

justAnotherBadger

GingerTim said:

Is that a Chameleon 3 IHD? You can download the manual from the EDF website and the instructions on how to set a budget on the device are on p. 5

Thank you, but this is information that should be provided by the energy company either during or after the fitting.

If my Grandparents received this product, they're not the most tech savvy, but they are money conscious. My concern is if they, or people like them received this product they're going to try and stick to the budget.  Thankfully their smart meter budget has been adjusted to suit their needs now.