Gas meter certification period

Rishtonite

SAC2334 said:

Rishtonite said:

bob2302 said:

Rishtonite said:

MP1995 said:

Why wouldn't you want a smart meter?

My "old fashioned" meters work just fine. It takes me a couple of minutes at the end of each month to take readings and upload them to the UW website. I know how much gas and electric I use. I've been taking my own weekly readings since February 2009 so I know what to expect at different times of the year. A smart meter would not tell me anything I don't already know.

It would allow you to go on tariffs like Octopus Tracker

Thanks. I've taken a look at their website. Doing a comparison with my current bills...

First, NOT the Tracker... Their quote based on my actual usage...standing charges are higher than what I'm paying with UW, electricity 0.5p/kWh dearer, gas 0.04p/kWh cheaper than my latest bill, so I see no advantage.

For the Tracker it's impossible to do a comparison with the kwH prices changing frequently.

Also research Octopus Agile for electricity .I have Tracker for gas and Agile for electricity. Every now and then when the weather is right , windy and sunny we get very cheap electricity like last Fri and Saturday with lots of free electricity with many half hour segments where they pay you to use electricty . Electric today has been very cheap too all day , currently at 2.30 pm its  9 p /kwh coming up to the expensive 3 hr peak period 4 pm to 7 pm .
You can compare these tariffs with the standard variable rate using Octopus Compare 

I did a comparison with the Agile prices. Their standing charges are higher than what I'm paying with UW and the kWh prices very similar, so (as a previous post I made) there would be no advantage in me moving to that.

Bottom line... if it ain't broke don't fix it. For now I'm happy to stay with old non-smart meters.

Rishtonite

bob2302 said:

Rishtonite said:

bob2302 said:

Rishtonite said:

MP1995 said:

Why wouldn't you want a smart meter?

My "old fashioned" meters work just fine. It takes me a couple of minutes at the end of each month to take readings and upload them to the UW website. I know how much gas and electric I use. I've been taking my own weekly readings since February 2009 so I know what to expect at different times of the year. A smart meter would not tell me anything I don't already know.

It would allow you to go on tariffs like Octopus Tracker

Thanks. I've taken a look at their website. Doing a comparison with my current bills...

First, NOT the Tracker... Their quote based on my actual usage...standing charges are higher than what I'm paying with UW, electricity 0.5p/kWh dearer, gas 0.04p/kWh cheaper than my latest bill, so I see no advantage.

For the Tracker it's impossible to do a comparison with the kwH prices changing frequently.

I only mentioned tracker because, for some reason, I thought we were talking about. gas. The rates I'm paying on Agile are a lot lower. 

Bear in mind that all current SCs are higher than before April, and SCs set before that wont last forever.

Well the initial query was about the certification period of gas meters, but I get gas, electric and phone with UW, so unless Octopus do phone as well it would complicate things just moving gas and electric and finding an alternative for phone.

Re. the standing charge, I compared my UW June bill (the most recent I have) with the online quote from Octopus based on my "Past 12 months' usage" of gas and electric (not their low/medium/high estimates of a typical user)

MP1995

Rishtonite said:

bob2302 said:

Rishtonite said:

bob2302 said:

Rishtonite said:

MP1995 said:

Why wouldn't you want a smart meter?

My "old fashioned" meters work just fine. It takes me a couple of minutes at the end of each month to take readings and upload them to the UW website. I know how much gas and electric I use. I've been taking my own weekly readings since February 2009 so I know what to expect at different times of the year. A smart meter would not tell me anything I don't already know.

It would allow you to go on tariffs like Octopus Tracker

Thanks. I've taken a look at their website. Doing a comparison with my current bills...

First, NOT the Tracker... Their quote based on my actual usage...standing charges are higher than what I'm paying with UW, electricity 0.5p/kWh dearer, gas 0.04p/kWh cheaper than my latest bill, so I see no advantage.

For the Tracker it's impossible to do a comparison with the kwH prices changing frequently.

I only mentioned tracker because, for some reason, I thought we were talking about. gas. The rates I'm paying on Agile are a lot lower. 

Bear in mind that all current SCs are higher than before April, and SCs set before that wont last forever.

Well the initial query was about the certification period of gas meters, but I get gas, electric and phone with UW, so unless Octopus do phone as well it would complicate things just moving gas and electric and finding an alternative for phone.

Re. the standing charge, I compared my UW June bill (the most recent I have) with the online quote from Octopus based on my "Past 12 months' usage" of gas and electric (not their low/medium/high estimates of a typical user)

Faster switching is in place now within 5 days for electricity and gas, Mobile phone switching and porting numbers has never been easier as a process.

bob2302

Rishtonite said:

Re. the standing charge, I compared my UW June bill (the most recent I have) with the online quote from Octopus based on my "Past 12 months' usage" of gas and electric (not their low/medium/high estimates of a typical user)

A standing charge is the fixed amount you pay each day before you use any energy - it doesn't depend on usage. If you are on a fix with low SCs that wont last forever. I would suggest getting a smart meter well in advance of the that contract ending.

I never thought I would benefit from TOU tariffs because I cant  shift anything into the middle of the night, but last month I averaged 15.4 p/kWh compared to 21.6 p/kWh on SVR. Most months are lower, but I don't like to quote periods with gratuitous use during negative pricing.  

Rishtonite

Thanks to all for the comments. I'm still not convinced that moving to a smart meter and/or changing supplier will be of much benefit to me, so for now I'm going to stick with my old fashioned meters, which I believe are still within their calibration period.