New Smart Meter are dangerous - Budget Exceeded

[Deleted User]

justAnotherBadger said:

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.

Hi,

maybe you should ask them to set yours to suit your needs.

dunstonh

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.

So, you haven't set your target budget figures then.   

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.

Interesting experiment but as the budget wasn't actually set but a default, there was little hope in you achieving that.

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!

That is not a pipedream for many people.  Excluding a major use item that is a luxury, we use about £90pm.  So, the default for the IHD would be too high in our case.

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.

It isn't dangerous.  It was a bit of a folly by you to attempt it.  You didn't read the instructions and are now accusing the suppliers of being negligent.

EssexHebridean

justAnotherBadger said:

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.

My electricity "budget" would be blown very rapidly indeed...my gas budget however would never even come close - in fact, I could use my entire YEAR'S gas in a week and I suspect it would STILL not be telling me that I'd exceeded my weekly budget, at this time of year. 

I'll also repeat - the device you have pictured is not the smart meter - the smart meter doesn't set any sort of budget for anyone, it meters, that's it. 

I would suggest that if someone is aware that the detail on the IHD is a "default" budget, they ought to also be aware that it can be re-set... 

Deleted_User said:

One of the major selling points of smart meters is that the public are too thick 9or busy) to work things out for themselves.  They're told that simply by getting a smart meter they'll save money and it'll all be taken care of.

So, given this widely publicized hype, the OP is absolutely right. If you've misled people into thinking that by letting the smart meter do it's thing you'll save money, there is a responsibility to make sure that people blindly following it don't run into trouble. 

Not really any need to even obliquely refer to another forum member as "thick" IMO - the OP may have been a little foolish, as already pointed out, but that's about the extent of it. 

The Smart Meter in this instance IS doing it's thing - at least we assume so as the OP hasn't actually told us anything at all about the SM itself , just the IHD.

Most people don't assume that a piece of tech will simply work to suit their needs "straight out of the box" in fairness. It's like getting a smart phone and not adding contacts to it, then complaining that you can't find anyone's number.  

GingerTim

Deleted_User said:

One of the major selling points of smart meters is that the public are too thick 9or busy) to work things out for themselves.  They're told that simply by getting a smart meter they'll save money and it'll all be taken care of.

So, given this widely publicized hype, the OP is absolutely right. If you've misled people into thinking that by letting the smart meter do it's thing you'll save money, there is a responsibility to make sure that people blindly following it don't run into trouble. 

I don't think the public are 'too thick', but I do think the public should the read the instruction manual before they complain about the alleged shortcomings of an appliance (an observation that applies to most appliances!)

matelodave

Unfortunately IHD's seem to focus on cost rather than consumption and most people dont take the trouble to understand how they work or what information they can get from them.

Add that to the fact they are sent out with default settings and not all energy suppliers download the correct tariff settings they send people into panic and meltdown, as evidenced by the OP of this thread. 

To my mind, the cost screen should be buried in the menus somewhere and just consumption shown on the home screen as it's more meaningful. Likewise sticking the budget on the home screen is meaningless to a lot of people who don't know how it's been set nor even what it means

Giving people summat they dont understand is worse than giving them nothing at all. TBH giving instructions or even a booklet is beyond the understanding or concentration level of some.

AFAIK in the very early days, there were committee's set up to determine what info to display to ensure than even the "less able" were capable of getting info from them, however they didn't seem to realise that there are people even less able than even they thought.

Sea_Shell

I set mine to our "annual" budget equivalent.

This doesn't even help really, as all summer we were way under budget, and now we regularly exceed budget.

But then I know my costs and usage and keep my own records.

So unless you're going to set a "winter" specific budget, based on what you feel is comfortable and affordable, then the IHD is of limited use.

It will flash red at you until spring!!

[Deleted User]

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

This information is available on supplier and device manufacturer websites. Suppliers use different installers who install meters for a number of suppliers. 

https://octopus.energy/blog/smart-meter-screen-user-guide/

FreeBear

[Deleted User] said:

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.

My smart meter/IHD hasn't been updated with tariff info since Solarplicity went bust. According to the IHD, I've used £285 worth of electricity this year and am under budget by £150. Gas is even more laughable. Zero spend and zero budget despite using 4000KWh.

As a "feature", I only ever look at it for entertainment value.

justAnotherBadger

Deleted_User said:

One of the major selling points of smart meters is that the public are too thick 9or busy) to work things out for themselves.  They're told that simply by getting a smart meter they'll save money and it'll all be taken care of.

So, given this widely publicized hype, the OP is absolutely right. If you've misled people into thinking that by letting the smart meter do it's thing you'll save money, there is a responsibility to make sure that people blindly following it don't run into trouble. 

This is my point exactly, I'm not complaining about the cost of energy, it's expensive I know, we all use different amounts depending on the house. 

The fact I have identified the smart meter incorrectly as others have pointed out shows the issue, you're told it's an energy saving device but not told how to use it.

I did not receive any form of instructions around budgets, I did not receive a link to the PDF manual, thank you to the other poster for sharing that.  People are receiving these and not being told how to use them, my concern is around this.

The smart meter fitter, could have asked some simple questions about the house, how many people live there, any children, is the house double glazed etc, they could then have looked to a chart and set a budget based on that, they could have shown me the option at the same time.

My worry is Smart Meters are being fitted without enough instructions around budgets, the fitter could ask do you want me to quickly show you how to set the budget feature.

I want the energy companies to provide this information, I don't want to think of my grandparents freezing this winter because the fitter wasn't allowed an extra 10 minutes to go through this with them.

The_Fat_Controller

My IHD gave up doings its sum correctly for electricity a few years ago, despite the kWh usage and tariff showing correctly.

It shows the gas usage and actual cost.

However, even though the meter are set for 30 minute readings and the gas usage updates on the IHD at that interval, for over 3 years I have been unable to see the hourly gas usage in my online EDF account, the daily usage shows fine.

The call centre can access both smart meters in real time during our (many) chats without issue.

EDF have today admitted defeat after 37 months and offered me a small bung to close the complaint.

The Bright app will not show the gas tab at all even though the meter is showing as DCC registered and permissions are granted, Loop Energy is the same.