British Gas still using intimidatory tactics for smart meter appointments

badmemory

So you use the IHD to track what you are using.  Remind me how long does an IHD work for & what happens when the guarantee runs out.  What about when they stop getting readings from your smart meter & you need to read them yourself, I gather they are somewhat harder to read than the old meters (for info I am not getting any younger & whilst bending & reading is still possible whilst bending & reaching to press buttons & reading is definitely unlikely) .  I find it amusing that they want to replace meters that still have 15 yrs of life left with meters that will need replacing AGAIN before that 15 yrs would be passed.  So true what they say buy cheap buy twice.  Presumably they are hoping another supplier will be left to do that, whilst we all pay the bill.

So in conspiracy theorist mode, lets all don the tin foil & wait for china (smart meters are all chinese after all) to turn all our power off.

Seriously however, once we all have smart meters they will just use them to modify out behaviour & not to our benefit obviously but for theirs, it is their business after all.

Perhaps I should add here that I do have unfortunate history with BG.  Once almost 50 years ago & again more recently when they insisted on fitting a new meter.  They left me with a gas leak & then tried to charge me to repair it.  I was not amused.

powerful_Rogue

casjen said:

Smart meters do not save you money. They are just a bit of kit that transmits your readings. The myth of saving is just that.. a myth...  Its people who saves them selves money and once the novelty has worn off  of staring at the kettle I would hazard a guess that the vast majority go back to using the same as before.... 

Absolute nonsense. Smart meters open up a variety of TOU tariffs which can and do save people money.

powerful_Rogue

badmemory said:

So you use the IHD to track what you are using.  Remind me how long does an IHD work for & what happens when the guarantee runs out.  What about when they stop getting readings from your smart meter & you need to read them yourself, I gather they are somewhat harder to read than the old meters (for info I am not getting any younger & whilst bending & reading is still possible whilst bending & reaching to press buttons & reading is definitely unlikely) .  I find it amusing that they want to replace meters that still have 15 yrs of life left with meters that will need replacing AGAIN before that 15 yrs would be passed.  So true what they say buy cheap buy twice.  Presumably they are hoping another supplier will be left to do that, whilst we all pay the bill.

So in conspiracy theorist mode, lets all don the tin foil & wait for china (smart meters are all chinese after all) to turn all our power off.

Seriously however, once we all have smart meters they will just use them to modify out behaviour & not to our benefit obviously but for theirs, it is their business after all.

You download a number of free/paid apps and track your usage that way.

badmemory

Would they notify me of that, sorry I'm pushing 80 and even the word app has me thinking smart phone which I do not have.

powerful_Rogue

badmemory said:

Would they notify me of that, sorry I'm pushing 80 and even the word app has me thinking smart phone which I do not have.

No. Even if the IHD stops working, it's no different from an old school meter that never had that additional tech.

badmemory

But I can read my old meter I just worry that the difficulties in reading the new ones, with the buttons to press etc, might make them in practical terms inaccessible for me.  As in I can bend but bending AND turning has some issues & I think smaller numbers too.  I currently read & post on my account monthly & unfortunately know just how much my sons showers cost me & how much the bathroom dehumidifier costs (which is cheaper than an extractor fan).  I also know that I will save a lot when I finally replace my last appliances fridge & freezer as they are currently using almost 3 times what new ones would.

matt_drummer

badmemory said:

But I can read my old meter I just worry that the difficulties in reading the new ones, with the buttons to press etc, might make them in practical terms inaccessible for me.  As in I can bend but bending AND turning has some issues & I think smaller numbers too.  I currently read & post on my account monthly & unfortunately know just how much my sons showers cost me & how much the bathroom dehumidifier costs (which is cheaper than an extractor fan).  I also know that I will save a lot when I finally replace my last appliances fridge & freezer as they are currently using almost 3 times what new ones would.

Unfortunately, it's not about you. The meters are not ours and when they are replaced they will be replaced with what's available, and that is smart meters.

I assume your son lives with you, maybe he can read them meters (if necessary) if you find it difficult?

powerful_Rogue

badmemory said:

But I can read my old meter I just worry that the difficulties in reading the new ones, with the buttons to press etc, might make them in practical terms inaccessible for me.  As in I can bend but bending AND turning has some issues & I think smaller numbers too.  I currently read & post on my account monthly & unfortunately know just how much my sons showers cost me & how much the bathroom dehumidifier costs (which is cheaper than an extractor fan).  I also know that I will save a lot when I finally replace my last appliances fridge & freezer as they are currently using almost 3 times what new ones would.

The genius being you don't actually have to read a smart meter. However if you do, the figure are easy enough to check.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/your-energy-meter/how-to-read-your-smart-electricity-meter/

badmemory

matt_drummer said:

badmemory said:

But I can read my old meter I just worry that the difficulties in reading the new ones, with the buttons to press etc, might make them in practical terms inaccessible for me.  As in I can bend but bending AND turning has some issues & I think smaller numbers too.  I currently read & post on my account monthly & unfortunately know just how much my sons showers cost me & how much the bathroom dehumidifier costs (which is cheaper than an extractor fan).  I also know that I will save a lot when I finally replace my last appliances fridge & freezer as they are currently using almost 3 times what new ones would.

Unfortunately, it's not about you. The meters are not ours and when they are replaced they will be replaced with what's available, and that is smart meters.

I assume your son lives with you, maybe he can read them meters (if necessary) if you find it difficult?

Unfortunately he is not always 100% with it so can't totally trust what he reads. It is what it is & why I can't/won't put stop to the 30 min showers.  He is willing always to help so my problem I know.  I just know that if I had a smart meter that needed reading I would be asking him 3 times how many times he had pressed the button & that would stress both of us out.

pochase

Brie said:

matt_drummer said:

You know exactly where your smart meters are, you've just told us!

Your gas meter is in a box outside and your electricity meter is at the back of a crowded cupboard.

What makes you think you don't know where they are?

Do I? 

When we moved in to the property and I set up our account I was told we didn't have smart meters and so would need to provide readings.  Fine.  After I while I spotted a good deal with someone else and switched.  And was told that as I didn't have smart meters I would have to provide readings.  Fine.  Two years later, another deal, another switch.  And suddenly I apparently had meters that were talking to the provider. Neat.  Nothing had been installed in the meantime so was it just that the previous 2 companies unable to connect?  I guess that must be it. 

So maybe I do know where my smart meters are.  But what do they tell me.  Nothing useful.  There are simply numbers that occasionally flip forward to indicate that I am using electricity or gas.  Nothing to tell me how much this costs me so short of me checking the meters every hour on the hour and logging it all on a spreadsheet with my tariffs I am none the wiser.

And if they did tell me my use at X time was ZZ costing £YY/minute how helpful is that.  Not much.  I'm back to the thing that if I want to save electricity I need to be in the habit of turning off lights when I leave a room.  And to save gas I need to turn the boiler down or off.  Which has nothing to do with the meter itself.  So having a smart meter isn't saving me money.  Being sensible is.

From what you describe you have Smet1 meters that were dumb after a supplier change after you moved in, so you received the correct information you don't have smart meters and need to read the meter, which was correct.

A few years later they were enrolled back and became smart again, so now you have a working smart meter again.

So why do you claim you don't know where they are? Just because they werre dumb for a while due to supplier changes before they were enrolled again?