Smart meter required after certificaton period

silverflora

I have a flat in London for work purposes as I live in Devon.

My London flat is abt 10 yo - but Octopus have told me my electricity meter "has now reached the end of its certification period" and they are obliged to change it to a smart meter. What meter becomes obsolete after 10 yrs??

My Devon house meter is literally 50 yo - and energy providers seem happy with that.

So my questions are:
Do I have to change my meter - period? Can I refuse it?
Do I have to have a smart meter?
Can I insist on the smart meter being a "dumb meter"? How would I know?
Can I install a meter in my flat ( they are in communal areas on each floor at present) to have a check on what they record?
Lastly I absolutely don't want dynamic pricing of electricity - I need to know what tariff I am on and what I am using / owe?. HELP!!!

GingerTim

silverflora said:

I have a flat in London for work purposes as I live in Devon.

My London flat is abt 10 yo - but Octopus have told me my electricity meter "has now reached the end of its certification period" and they are obliged to change it to a smart meter. What meter becomes obsolete after 10 yrs??

My Devon house meter is literally 50 yo - and energy providers seem happy with that.

So my questions are:
Do I have to change my meter - period? Can I refuse it?
Do I have to have a smart meter?
Can I insist on the smart meter being a "dumb meter"? How would I know?
Can I install a meter in my flat ( they are in communal areas on each floor at present) to have a check on what they record?
Lastly I absolutely don't want dynamic pricing of electricity - I need to know what tariff I am on and what I am using / owe?. HELP!!!

If your meter is out of certification then it has to be replaced - and it will except in a vanishingly small number of cases be replaced with a smart meter. The meter is the property of the energy company.

'Dumb mode' is a bit of an oxymoron and a bit pointless, all it mans is that automatic readings are not used for billing purposes. The meter remains communicating with the network for software updates and the like.

You dont have to be on a dynamic tariff, Octopus have a range of fixed tariffs.

400ixl

Allow them to change the meter, collect the readings automatically and stay on the same tariff you are on today. Job done, less future hassle and no billing changes.

Taking the conspiracy theories and what are now on the whole non existent legacy problems and its a pretty simple decision to just let them get on with it.

You can still read the meter as you do today to validate (and submit) your own readings if you want to.

silverflora

Can you advise re buying a personal meter that can check what the smart meters are recording?

How do I check someone installing this is reputable?

Both at home and at the flat I read the meters every month to ensure I have accurate bills. There have been too many people recording incorrect smart meter readings so if I have to go down this road, how can I ensure that my readings are accurate?  I am still working out of necessity but am 70 - so am very cost conscious.

Thank you!

debitcardmayhem

You don’t need a personal meter. Octopus will send someone to replace the old meter, the guy they sent whilst I was in hospital was very competent, and courteous. He was a good teacher too he talked my wife through using the home display, and she knows it better than I.
Readings are usually easy to check, you can ask the engineer to show you, “ There have been too many people recording incorrect smart meter readings ”, really do you know any of them? 
We here are both older than you but we stick to real news not gossip/hearsay.

Gerry1

molerat said:

Of course you can install your own meter in parallel with the supplier meter.

Nope, it would need to be in series.

Gerry1

molerat said:

You can still ask to have it set to dumb (non smart) mode.

No such thing as a dumb smart meter.  See Dolor's comments.

bagand96

silverflora said:

Can you advise re buying a personal meter that can check what the smart meters are recording?

How do I check someone installing this is reputable?

Both at home and at the flat I read the meters every month to ensure I have accurate bills. There have been too many people recording incorrect smart meter readings so if I have to go down this road, how can I ensure that my readings are accurate?  I am still working out of necessity but am 70 - so am very cost conscious.

Thank you!

You do realise that the actual part of the meter that measures electricity consumption will be very similar, or even the same, as your current meter. 

The "smart" part of the smart meter just means it sends what it has recorded automatically to the supplier (via a network)

Your smart meter will have a display on it just like your current meter so you will be able to take your monthly reading and cross reference it with what your supplier has. (With Octopus you'll even be able to enter your reading on their website as you do now) 

QrizB

silverflora said:

Can you advise re buying a personal meter that can check what the smart meters are recording?
How do I check someone installing this is reputable?

You'll need a competent electrician. The electrician will be able to supply the meter. I would guess you'll be looking at £200-300 all in, unless you've got an unusual wiring system.

silverflora said:

Both at home and at the flat I read the meters every month to ensure I have accurate bills.

How do you know your current meters are accurate? Especially the 50-year-old one which is almost guaranteed to be beyond it's certified life.

silverflora said:

There have been too many people recording incorrect smart meter readings so if I have to go down this road, how can I ensure that my readings are accurate?

For most households, "people" aren't involved in reading the smart meters. The info is sent through automatically. But if you wish to read your meter yourself, it's just a matter of pressing the right button on the smart meter and reading the display.

silverflora said:

I am still working out of necessity but am 70 - so am very cost conscious.

Perhaps spending £200-300 on a second meter might not be the best use of your money, then?

mmmmikey

silverflora said:

Can you advise re buying a personal meter that can check what the smart meters are recording?

How do I check someone installing this is reputable?

Both at home and at the flat I read the meters every month to ensure I have accurate bills. There have been too many people recording incorrect smart meter readings so if I have to go down this road, how can I ensure that my readings are accurate?  I am still working out of necessity but am 70 - so am very cost conscious.

Thank you!

Hi - smart meters are just regular meters that record energy usage in exactly the same way, but as well as displaying the readings on the screen they are sent wirelessly to the supplier. What is it that makes you believe they are any less accurate than older meters? Nothing to stop you reading the meter like you always have done if you are concerned the supplier may be using the wrong readings are not getting them? Unfortunately there's a lot of complete nonsense on the internet about smart meter accuracy. That's not to say they never go wrong, but there's really no evidence I've seen to suggest they are any more or less accurate than older meters.

silverflora

Yes I realise that - but its too easy to just let the system do its thing without checking it.. Obviously I monitor when I'm in the flat, and when I am away - and I have monitored this for the last ten years. So what I am paying now is fine and in line with my being at the flat- it follows the trend. Same with at home. It certainly goes up with my usage - e.g. when I installed a heat pump and the electricity literally went through the roof. Who said that was s good idea?
When the people at the flat changed their heating and cooling system charging, I was being charged ludicrous amounts when I wasn't even there. 
Hence my scepticism about smart meters - and the many tales of wrong readings.