British Gas and the Smart Meters

matt_drummer

The sad thing is that these companies have to spend so much money, that the rest of us have to pay for, trying to convince people to allow them to change meters that belong to the supplying company.

They are not our meters and they belong to the supplier.

Why they have to beg us to let them install their equipment that we agreed to have installed as a condition of supply is beyond me.

Those that resist are just increasing the costs for those that don't.

BarelySentientAI

SilasMarner said:

bob2302 said:

I do think it's a bit much sending someone round. However, the "tales of despondency and dismay surrounding the downsides of these meters" are based on misinformation. 

Thanks. I understood many were now dumb due to changing supplier, some bills being incorrect and also the possibility of losing control, down the line, of your energy as the supplier can turn you and on off at will. 
Perhaps my "intransigent position" seems a bit outdated now. 

The ones installed nearly a decade ago couldn't automatically cope with changing supplier.  Almost all of them now can, and so can all the new ones.

I have no idea where this "supplier can turn my electricity on and off at will" comes from.  Under what circumstances do you think the supplier is suddenly going to turn your electricity off?  If it's for bad debt - they already can.  If it's for emergencies in the system - they already can.

"The man might do bad things, but I can't tell you what they are or when they might happen" isn't really an argument.

bob2302

Qyburn said:

It really is time all this was knocked on the head. The position should simply be that the choice of meter is up to the supplier. 

It's counterproductive to force people to take them if it means holding up people that are keen to use TOU tariffs.

matt_drummer

bob2302 said:

Qyburn said:

It really is time all this was knocked on the head. The position should simply be that the choice of meter is up to the supplier. 

It's counterproductive to force people to take them if it means holding up people that are keen to use TOU tariffs.

I am sure you didn't mean it this way.

People are not forced to take them, they are not theirs, they don't belong to them and never will do.

If you don't want the meter your supplier wants to fit then fine, get disconnected.

But it would have been a lot simpler and a lot cheaper if they were just installed on a street by street basis.

Why anybody was ever given a `choice' is beyond me, a ridiculous idea that we all have to pay for.

They are just meters and they evolve over time, this is just the latest incarnation.

Oh dear, the internet, brilliant and awful at the same time!

bob2302

matt_drummer said:

bob2302 said:

Qyburn said:

It really is time all this was knocked on the head. The position should simply be that the choice of meter is up to the supplier. 

It's counterproductive to force people to take them if it means holding up people that are keen to use TOU tariffs.

I am sure you didn't mean it this way.

People are not forced to take them, they are not theirs, they don't belong to them and never will do.

If you don't want the meter your supplier wants to fit then fine, get disconnected.

But it would have been a lot simpler and a lot cheaper if they were just installed on a street by street basis.

Why anybody was ever given a `choice' is beyond me, a ridiculous idea that we all have to pay for.

They are just meters and they evolve over time, this is just the latest incarnation.

Oh dear, the internet, brilliant and awful at the same time!

We are where we are - it wasn't done on a street by street basis. Right now we have people who have a good reason to get a smart meter having to wait. Why do you think it's a good idea to waste  time installing them for people that don't want them and have no intention of  going on TOU tariffs.

matt_drummer

bob2302 said:

matt_drummer said:

bob2302 said:

Qyburn said:

It really is time all this was knocked on the head. The position should simply be that the choice of meter is up to the supplier. 

It's counterproductive to force people to take them if it means holding up people that are keen to use TOU tariffs.

I am sure you didn't mean it this way.

People are not forced to take them, they are not theirs, they don't belong to them and never will do.

If you don't want the meter your supplier wants to fit then fine, get disconnected.

But it would have been a lot simpler and a lot cheaper if they were just installed on a street by street basis.

Why anybody was ever given a `choice' is beyond me, a ridiculous idea that we all have to pay for.

They are just meters and they evolve over time, this is just the latest incarnation.

Oh dear, the internet, brilliant and awful at the same time!

We are where we are - it wasn't done on a street by street basis. Right now we have people who have a good reason to get a smart meter having to wait. Why do you think it's a good idea to waste  time installing them for people that don't want them and have no intention of  going on TOU tariffs.

I don't think that at all.

I just think that if an energy supplier wants to change their meters then there is no justification for trying to stop them or making it difficult.

If they were changing the ones at my house and wanted to do others at the same time then that's up to them.

Nobody should be allowed to refuse.

Then it would all get done in the most efficient manner.

Wasting time and resources is doing them all over the place, they all need to be done eventually. The installers should be allowed to decide and control how it is done most efficiently.

That will result in everybody getting them as soon as possible, the cheapest and most efficient solution.

pseudodox

From the outset it should have had the same approach as conversion to natural gas.  A street by street, area by area updating exercise.  What has riled many people is the totally ridiculous marketing by the totally ridiculous Einstein look-a-like suggesting to us that SMs will manage our energy bills, save us money, make life simpler.  But the advantages of TOU tariffs were never a leading light (excuse the pun) in the garbage being pumped out on the TV adverts.

How much money has been wasted on prime time advertising that treats us like mushrooms?  Look how many post on here weeping and wailing that their fixed DD turns out not to be all you can eat as they thought it was going to be.  They no longer check their meter/consumption because the SM is their Nanny & Nanny knows best.  The marketing arm of the energy industry has a lot of the blame for resistance on it's own shoulders.

bob2302

pseudodox said:

From the outset it should have had the same approach as conversion to natural gas.  A street by street, area by area updating exercise. 

When that happened most households had someone who could very easily stay in - that's no longer true.

Ectophile

BarelySentientAI said:

I have no idea where this "supplier can turn my electricity on and off at will" comes from.  Under what circumstances do you think the supplier is suddenly going to turn your electricity off?  If it's for bad debt - they already can.  If it's for emergencies in the system - they already can.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a796c9e40f0b642860d7fa9/smart_meters_equipment_technical_spec_version_2.pdf

Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications Version 2, Section 5.5.3.9.

Hoenir

pseudodox said:

From the outset it should have had the same approach as conversion to natural gas.  A street by street, area by area updating exercise. 

A while back around here. Thames Water did every street in rotation, Switching those without water meters to having one. Productivity was exceptional. As the job was seamlessly done very quickly. Rather than one at a time which would have taken an eternity.