Can the smart bit of a smart meter be turned off?

Netexporter

MeteredOut said:

EssexHebridean said:

It might - but then if you get an unexpected visit to check on the meter, it might also count as meter tampering!

Do any energy companies actually pro-actively visit customers where the meter is not sending readings? So long as the customer is sending in readings that align with expected usage, I suspect that would be quite rare. On the contrary, evidence is that many have difficulty getting suppliers to check meters that are not communicating, so long as they are still counting usage.

I worked as a meter reader and read loads of smart meters. We didn't know why the supplier had requested an independent read, so some may have been routing inspections, but there were many that I read regularly, so they were, presumably, not communicating.

Qyburn

MeteredOut said:

Do any energy companies actually pro-actively visit customers where the meter is not sending readings? 

I wish they would. Ours stopped sending readings, or Octopus stopped requesting them, over three weeks ago. My experience leads me to believe they'd have done nothing at all about it, not even a retry, if I hadn't phoned to ask about it. Now three weeks down the line they're saying it may take "a few weeks" to get on to it.

MeteredOut

Qyburn said:

MeteredOut said:

Do any energy companies actually pro-actively visit customers where the meter is not sending readings? 

I wish they would. Ours stopped sending readings, or Octopus stopped requesting them, over three weeks ago. My experience leads me to believe they'd have done nothing at all about it, not even a retry, if I hadn't phoned to ask about it. Now three weeks down the line they're saying it may take "a few weeks" to get on to it.

My experience too - that they don't even proactively try to remotely fix meters not sending readings, never mind sending someone out to do it. I suspect, on any one day, there's too many, so they just deal with those from customers who contact them, until such a point that their monitoring systems point out potential meter-fiddling.

Marvel1

Scot_39 said:

Malchester said:

Being pestered by Outfox the Market to have a smart meter installed but they say it cannot be turned off from being a smart meter. I thought smart meters could be so they run like an old fashioned meter. 

Anyone know 

Others here save £100s per year on tariffs only available to smart meters.

Some don't save at all due to not sending regular readings.

MikeJXE

I guess it comes around to everyone eventually 

Email from Octopus today stating

We have contacted you several times regarding your meter is at the end of life (they haven't) although they have asked me to book one as they are in my area

I am happy giving readings every month and the amount I pay so if the meters were reading incorrectly didn't bother me 

This Email does state my dumb meters are at the end of life so I booked a smart meter 

9th December is installation day and I will be looking over their shoulder and noting end readings and start readings of the new meters. 

Since I have been here 2 years and keep my readings on a spreadsheet I know exactly what I am expecting to use

Time will tell and if anything significant changes I will be faced with 

We’re my old meters reading high or low or is smart meter 

debitcardmayhem

MikeJXE said:

I guess it comes around to everyone eventually 

Email from Octopus today stating

We have contacted you several times regarding your meter is at the end of life (they haven't) although they have asked me to book one as they are in my area

I am happy giving readings every month and the amount I pay so if the meters were reading incorrectly didn't bother me 

This Email does state my dumb meters are at the end of life so I booked a smart meter 

9th December is installation day and I will be looking over their shoulder and noting end readings and start readings of the new meters. 

Since I have been here 2 years and keep my readings on a spreadsheet I know exactly what I am expecting to use

Time will tell and if anything significant changes I will be faced with 

We’re my old meters reading high or low or is smart meter 

Pedantic we are my old meters …. you didn’t mean that but predictive text maybe 🫠

However you are faced with a non-existent conundrum, how can you possibly tell? Do you have a parallel measuring device which knows what is switched on and for how long , and can you then compare that against your old meters. Don’t expect you have , are you actually a conspiracy theorist?

OK I jest , nobody knows…..🙀

MikeJXE

No I am not a conspiracy theorist 

As I said If there are significant changes ie 

If usage goes up or down by a large percentage there would be some kind of problem with readings  having discounted the weather. 

Reed_Richards

Nothing to stop you paying to have a second meter installed in series with the smart meter, if you want to check whether it is reading accurately.  But if the two meters were to disagree, you still wouldn't know which one was wrong.

Gerry1

Reed_Richards said:

Nothing to stop you paying to have a second meter installed in series with the smart meter, if you want to check whether it is reading accurately.  But if the two meters were to disagree, you still wouldn't know which one was wrong.

If you count the flashes in the Meter Sanity Test that should give a good idea about which meter is correct.

Edit: The link may not go to the relevant post on that page.  Scroll to my post on 24 Dec 21 at 12:02pm.

FreeBear

MikeJXE said: 9th December is installation day and I will be looking over their shoulder and noting end readings and start readings of the new meters.

If you haven't already, ask them to fit an isolator switch between the meter and consumer unit. Tell them you may be getting an EV charger fitted in the near future, and the isolator should be installed free of charge.