Smart Meters (options)

Eldi_Dos

Thanks for all the helpful posts and the patience to explain things.

I went online this morning to sign up and ironically could not do so, as I presume their sites are so busy with people manually entering meter reads so will leave it a few days and do so, making sure to tick the right box, doubt if the credit offer will still be available but such is life.

Edit:
Tried again this afternoon and booking system back up,so booked for instal and credit offer still available on both meters so quite happy.
Many thanks again.

Ildhund

Scot_39 said:

If the customer isn't on a variable time of use tariff  - what else would a supplier do with that extra data ?

Well, what about Electricity settlement reform? Ideally, every half-hour's consumption by every customer would be recorded and settled both between the customer and the supplier, between the supplier and the distributor and, I suppose, between the distributor and the generator. This needs explicit consent on the customer's part, and some suppliers are already soliciting this prior to next year's trials of the system. 

I've seen a case where an EV owner noticed from his Hh-data one morning that his car was apparently being charged the previous day when it wasn't even plugged in. That took a bit of detective work and was eventually explained, but he wouldn't even have noticed if all he had to go on were meter readings. Another involved a holidaymaker returning home to an alarmingly large bill the next month. By examining the Hh data for the period when the house was empty, he could see precisely when the extra energy was being consumed. This enabled him to track down the culprit: a small section of underfloor heating he'd forgotten to turn off (or down) before going away. That poor little coil had been going flat out to try and heat up the whole house all the time he was away.

I noticed an unexpected spike on my own usage chart last Saturday. I can always spot the times when I have my shower, make tea, toast a slice of bread and so on. It was some time before I cottoned on to the fact that the unusual spike coincided with one of my sporadic hoovering sessions - a whole kWh just like that. It prompted me to advise an Economy 10 user to add that to the list of things to do - along with stuff like washing, drying and cooking - during offpeak periods wherever possible. Every little helps.

Again, I can't see any disadvantage to opting for half-hourly data. There may be a misunderstanding that the meter is calling home every half hour. That's not the case: a day's-worth of data is transmitted in one brief burst once a day. Tinfoil hats may not even notice it.

Eldi_Dos

I have read on here and other threads that the information gathered from smart meters helps the suppliers and distributors run things more effectively. Could this information not be collected at sub stations and valves along the network and what is the advantage from collecting it from the end user's meters.

Qyburn

Eldi_Dos said:

Could this information not be collected at sub stations and valves along the network and what is the advantage from collecting it from the end user's meters.

Information from substations would cover all users. So you notice a peak or a trough, but can't tell if that was Octopus' or BG's customers causing it.

Greeneyes64

Eldi_Dos
Wondered if you had got the credit offer from British Gas for smart meter installation? I had a lot of difficulty with BG as I booked smart meter installation last October 2024 after seeing a £50 payback offer on my account, to have them installed, eventually having them installed in December 2024. Didn't receive the incentive payment for meters to be installed and queried it. BG said they had never had such an offer but did ask for a screenshot. Of course I hadn't taken a screen shot(seemed ridiculous that I had to prove this). After several emails and a call they gave me the incentive payment.
Lesson learned...….if a company offers you a payback take a screenshot of it! I'm still not entirely sure if they paid it as a result of my persistence or that they did hold records of this offer. 

GingerTim

Greeneyes64 said:

Eldi_Dos
Wondered if you had got the credit offer from British Gas for smart meter installation? I had a lot of difficulty with BG as I booked smart meter installation last October 2024 after seeing a £50 payback offer on my account, to have them installed, eventually having them installed in December 2024. Didn't receive the incentive payment for meters to be installed and queried it. BG said they had never had such an offer but did ask for a screenshot. Of course I hadn't taken a screen shot(seemed ridiculous that I had to prove this). After several emails and a call they gave me the incentive payment.
Lesson learned...….if a company offers you a payback take a screenshot of it! I'm still not entirely sure if they paid it as a result of my persistence or that they did hold records of this offer. 

I can't find any evidence anywhere on the internet that BG have offered this £50 incentive - Eon used to offer £50 per smart meter, though.

Eldi_Dos

@Greeneyes64.
Like you they did not automatically appear in my accounts.I waited till my first bill/statement was produced after the meter installs and when the credits where not there I did a webchat, it was sorted there and then and credits appeared on my accounts while still on webchat.
I did wonder if they would have been paid if not chased up.

Eldi_Dos

GingerTim said:

Greeneyes64 said:

Eldi_Dos
Wondered if you had got the credit offer from British Gas for smart meter installation? I had a lot of difficulty with BG as I booked smart meter installation last October 2024 after seeing a £50 payback offer on my account, to have them installed, eventually having them installed in December 2024. Didn't receive the incentive payment for meters to be installed and queried it. BG said they had never had such an offer but did ask for a screenshot. Of course I hadn't taken a screen shot(seemed ridiculous that I had to prove this). After several emails and a call they gave me the incentive payment.
Lesson learned...….if a company offers you a payback take a screenshot of it! I'm still not entirely sure if they paid it as a result of my persistence or that they did hold records of this offer. 

I can't find any evidence anywhere on the internet that BG have offered this £50 incentive - Eon used to offer £50 per smart meter, though.

I think it was more a targeted offer, mines appeared on my account when I was inputting meter reads.

I believe they have targets to meet (and staff to pay) and many people may be reluctant to have work carried out in November and December, so a little incentive could keep things rolling along.
Receiving £50 credits in January was most welcome.

GingerTim

Eldi_Dos said:

GingerTim said:

Greeneyes64 said:

Eldi_Dos
Wondered if you had got the credit offer from British Gas for smart meter installation? I had a lot of difficulty with BG as I booked smart meter installation last October 2024 after seeing a £50 payback offer on my account, to have them installed, eventually having them installed in December 2024. Didn't receive the incentive payment for meters to be installed and queried it. BG said they had never had such an offer but did ask for a screenshot. Of course I hadn't taken a screen shot(seemed ridiculous that I had to prove this). After several emails and a call they gave me the incentive payment.
Lesson learned...….if a company offers you a payback take a screenshot of it! I'm still not entirely sure if they paid it as a result of my persistence or that they did hold records of this offer. 

I can't find any evidence anywhere on the internet that BG have offered this £50 incentive - Eon used to offer £50 per smart meter, though.

I think it was more a targeted offer, mines appeared on my account when I was inputting meter reads.

I believe they have targets to meet (and staff to pay) and many people may be reluctant to have work carried out in November and December, so a little incentive could keep things rolling along.
Receiving £50 credits in January was most welcome.

Ah, gotcha - that makes a lot more sense.