Moving from the Standard Variable Tariff to a Fixed Tariff and Smart Meters

ayers

Hello,
I'm on the Standard Variable tariff with my Energy provider, which is one of the Big Six providers, and am seriously considering going on a fixed tariff to avoid the price increases. However, I am dubious about going onto a smart meter which is why I have stayed on the standard variable tariff.

Generally speaking are the smart meters reliable?

mmmmikey

ayers said:

Hello,
I'm on the Standard Variable tariff with my Energy provider, which is one of the Big Six providers, and am seriously considering going on a fixed tariff to avoid the price increases. However, I am dubious about going onto a smart meter which is why I have stayed on the standard variable tariff.

Generally speaking are the smart meters reliable?

Yes, the vast majority of smart meters just go in and work as expected. The problems of the early days have by and large gone. If you are unlucky you may find that the in house display (the gizmo that sits on the kitchen window sill and tells you how much your using now) may be too far from the meter to work, but this is nice to have and not essential. The other problem that sometimes happens is that the meter doesn't automatically send readings to the supplier which means that most of the benefits are lost, but even in this worst case scenario the smart meter will just work like any other meter. You will see other problems on this forum, but generally they either relate to people with older smart meters that are changing suppliers or bog standard issues like the engineer arriving late which can happen regardless of the type of meter you have. There are way more examples of customers saving £100s (or in some case £1000+) per year by moving to smart meter only tariffs. Unfortunately there's been a lot of bad publicity around smart meters and although some of it is deserved much of it isn't. You'll almost certainly be forced to have a smart meter sooner or later anyway so might as well bite the bullet, get it done now and start reaping the benefits.

Ayr_Rage

The metering bit of a smart meter is reliable.

The communication modules less so due to network coverage, just like mobile phones.

Not saving possibly hundreds of pound by refusing to upgrade your meters is quite frankly lunacy.

ayers

Thanks a lot mmmmikey! I am very much convinced now and change my tariff with a smart meter.

ayers

Thanks Ayr_Rage,

I hear you and you are quite right. I should have got a smart meter a long time ago. Doing it now to reap the benefits. 

Marvel1

Not in my case they haven't, my gas meter is not connecting to the DDC so I can have these time of use tariffs, electric has gone into prepayment mode - I think it's connected, tryign to see if I can get this TOU tariff.

Qyburn

Marvel1 said:

Not in my case they haven't, my gas meter is not connecting to the DDC so I can have these time of use tariffs

Ae there any TOU gas tariffs?

debitcardmayhem

Qyburn said:

Marvel1 said:

Not in my case they haven't, my gas meter is not connecting to the DDC so I can have these time of use tariffs

Ae there any TOU gas tariffs?

Tracker is a smart tariff , and you could loosely term as tou, since it varies day to day 

QrizB

debitcardmayhem said:

Qyburn said:

Marvel1 said:

Not in my case they haven't, my gas meter is not connecting to the DDC so I can have these time of use tariffs

Ae there any TOU gas tariffs?

Tracker is a smart tariff , and you could loosely term as tou, since it varies day to day 

That's the only one I could think of, too.

Octopus used to bill Tracker on an averaged curve if your gas smart meter went dumb. They might still accept new customers on that basis?

bob2302

QrizB said:

debitcardmayhem said:

Qyburn said:

Marvel1 said:

Not in my case they haven't, my gas meter is not connecting to the DDC so I can have these time of use tariffs

Ae there any TOU gas tariffs?

Tracker is a smart tariff , and you could loosely term as tou, since it varies day to day 

That's the only one I could think of, too.

Octopus used to bill Tracker on an averaged curve if your gas smart meter went dumb. They might still accept new customers on that basis?

From: https://octopus.energy/tracker-faqs/

"We currently require anyone switching to Tracker to have a working smart meter. Unlike with other other smart tariffs, if your smart meter stops sending readings, you won't be forced to switch to another tariff, as we are able to bill based on monthly meter readings."