New Smart Meter are dangerous - Budget Exceeded

EssexHebridean

if the meter is telling them they are over budget,

The important point here is that the smart meter is not telling anyone anything - it’s quietly working away in the background, doing what it’s supposed to. Metering. 

If I buy a new phone, or a new camera, I don’t expect that device to be set up personalised for me the moment I take it out of the box. I think most people understand that electronic gadgets generally come with default settings, and those settings are generic. I’d suggest that generally speaking if someone is unable to grasp and understand that fact, they probably should be getting help with any number of tasks, and the IHD would in fact be being set up for them by the person who undertakes those tasks for them.   Yes, there are exceptions to that generalisation, but those exceptions should be getting more and more rare as we become generally more tech-savvy as a population. 

Officer_Dibble

Zanderman said:

Deleted_User said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

My IHD shows that the daily budget I set in the summer is being exceeded because of more gas usage due to colder temperatures.

All I need to do is reset the daily budget to an amount reflecting the present consumption and all is well, budget not exceeded.

This is "nanny state" and blame everyone else for personal shorcomings gone mad!

I blame my energy supplier for not telling me what daily budget to set!

"New Smart Meter are dangerous"

My SMART meter(s) is/are only dangerous if I tamper with any live leccy connections or gas connections.

....it's not unreasonable for people who never asked for the meter and aren't remotely interested to feel concerned when it tells them they've used too much energy!! ....

This is about the device displaying usage.
No-one is forced to plug this device in.
Anyone uninterested can just switch it off or even chuck it away. 

Indeed. I've done that (well, not chucked it) because we get much better info from an app. The problem is that a small minority of users are going to get worried by the "budget" thing, won't understand what it means, and might even think that if they don't turn the heating off they'll be in trouble for going over budget. They're not the ones who'll be happy just to chuck it away.

Whatever level you set it at, the IHD budget feature is of absolutely no real use to anyone, in that fuel consumption will always vary massively from the daily average. All it tells you is that it's cold or that you've had a nice roast dinner. It's just been put there as one of the features which show how Smart Meters help save customers money - which as we all know is rubbish. Smart meters help hugely for SEG payments for PV (which is why I've got one) and for controlling demand when supply's limited (which is why the government wants us to have them) but are worse than useless on the green front.

The_Green_Hornet

Personally, I can see both sides of the argument.

Yes knowledgeable posters on here know that the smart meter, comms hub and IHD are three separate entities and it must be very frustrating when less informed people come along and use the wrong terminology. 

However, I'm not surprised that some people refer to the IHD as the smart meter as that is how it has been marketed and it is the appliance which has been given to the customer to show them how much energy is being used and what it costs.

They are not stupid, just badly informed.

Dandytf

I calculated 5 pounds per dayx365 days -Double my part time wages.
I've had much better success achieving 2pounds or pennies more per day.
Though difference during cold spell is 3pounds or more pennies per day.
Smart budget should be your chosen affordable daily costs.
At very least its a very decent indicator to help 'keep control'


  

poppellerant

If anybody thinks that smart meters and/or In Home Displays (IHD) are dangerous, then they are probably either in a care home or at least under the care and supervision of somebody 24/7.

Chrysalis

You talking about the IHD not the smart meter, you can set the budget to whatever you want.

Officer_Dibble

Did you miss the intervening 8 pages Chrysalis?

Chrysalis

Officer_Dibble said:

Did you miss the intervening 8 pages Chrysalis?

I answered the OP, not reading 8 pages of replies.

Sea_Shell

Chrysalis said:

You talking about the IHD not the smart meter, you can set the budget to whatever you want.

I've just whacked my "budget" on the IHD up to a silly amount just to stop it flashing red at me all winter.    I did have it set to an accurate average, which is obviously far too low at this time of year.

I know the tariff information is correct, and so the daily costs are correct, as is the usage.

EssexHebridean

Chrysalis said:

Officer_Dibble said:

Did you miss the intervening 8 pages Chrysalis?

I answered the OP, not reading 8 pages of replies.

In fairness, once there are 8 pages of replies, if you’re not going to read through to check, it might be best to assume that the original question will have been answered!  😆