How do I keep my analog meter

silverwhistle

Oh my goodness. Over 45 years ago I served for a short period as supervisor on the recertification of meter section in the district office of a local electricity company. I suspect the poster above is retired, like I am, but can imagine the sheer weariness of the staff who have to deal with a customer who has the time to write such screeds.

The cost of dealing with such a simple thing as replacing an out of certification meter, as required by law, should be minimal but as we can see delays add to the costs we all have to pay..

TroubledTarts

38 million smart meters installed and has been covered in previous threads on analog and smart meters the first gen are due for replacement.

Its going to be a huge task to continue the pace of new and replacement at the same time with a life of approx 10-15 years for 1st gen smart meters with the first ones installed in 2012.

With that in mind, those of the notion that smart meters are the devil's work can probably delay for a few more years yet if they wish.

I don't really care if the people that don't want a smart meter missing out on the savings anymore. After all coming here to a money saving forum and preaching a way to waste money just means they are here to ruffle feathers and nothing else.

Repeat.…Money Saving Expert not Money Wasting Expert.

TroubledTarts

There are very few tariffs, economy 10 springs to mind, that aren't fully available on smart meters so analog meter users have the same access to tariffs as they have on an analog meter.

What actually normally happens is that people use the IHD and realise what their background, houses load is and they can they go round turning things on and off to give an idea of standby use and decide....oh yeah I could leave this or that off and then once they have that baseline information they can indeed turn it off, like many do, and put it in the draw as that's job done money saved ongoing.

It is true some analog meters, through wear and tear or extreme temperatures, may run slow and equally true some may run fast so any arguement there is just one person choosing one end of the scale. Equally there are a good few myths to be shot down but it's a useless waste of time for those that cannot see the benefits.

Yes, to get the most out of a smart meter, you do have to put some time,effort, and thought into it but the benefits are saving money. This is why a forum like this, in the majority, has smart meters and uses them to save lots of money.

Reed_Richards

I have a smart meter; I'm very pleased that I do because it allows me access to a tariff that is saving me a lot of money. But a smart meter isn't a single unit, it has two separable parts. There's the part that does the metering and on top of that sits the "Comms Hub", the part that communicates your meter data to your supplier. The physical connection between the two just carries electrical power to run the comms hub. The meter will work perfectly well without the Comms Hub; I know this because a minority of people with smart meters have a Comms Hub that fails to communicate the meter readings. So if your supplier tells you that you have to have a new meter but you don't want a smart meter, see if you can persuade them to fit just the meter and not the Comms Hub. I have no idea if such an approach would succeed but it seems to me that this is a counter-argument to those that post that if your meter is replaced it has to be with a smart meter for lack of other equipment. A meter only becomes "smart" when the comms hub is fitted and operational. If you don't want "smart", that's the bit you don't want.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066405#Comment_82066405

I have no idea if such an approach would succeed but it seems to me
that this is a counter-argument to those that post that if your meter is
replaced it has to be with a smart meter for lack of other equipment. A
meter only becomes "smart" when the comms hub is fitted and
operational. If you don't want "smart", that's the bit you don't want.

It would not be possible as a working comms hub is required to complete commissioning of the meter.

When one subsequently fails the meter will not stop 'metering', but it has to be there at the point of installation to complete the install process.

Reed_Richards

It would not be possible as a working comms hub is required to complete commissioning of the meter.

When one subsequently fails the meter will not stop 'metering', but it has to be there at the point of installation to complete the install process.

I don't believe "commissioning" is necessary, @MWT . When my smart meter was installed, the installer left before commissioning was completed, believing that the signal was too weak for this to happen. As far as he was concerned, the only adverse consequence was that I couldn't have an IHD. As it happens he was wrong, but of the 8% to 9% of all smart meters that do not communicate, a significant fraction must have never had a strong enough signal to complete commissioning.

AFAIK "commissioning" means using the WAN signal between the comms hub and the supplier to set up the HAN link between the comms hub and the electricity meter. If you don't want "smart" then you don't want comms links so you don't need commissioning.

silverwhistle

Don't you just love being patronised by people on here who tell you how and why TofU tariffs can be more expensive. I think the advice given to me about a certain poster was wise, and so this will be my last contribution referring to what they say..

Just to mention though that I received an email at 11.46 this morning from Octopus with my bill attached. I'm pleased to say that my unit average cost (without SC) was 11.51p, without the benefit of a battery, but with solar. PV.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066568#Comment_82066568

There is a big difference between failing to commission a meter and planning to not even try…

I strongly doubt you will get a supplier to agree not to try as they are not going to be able to count that as a completed install for their targets.

Reed_Richards

I strongly doubt you will get a supplier to agree not to try as they are not going to be able to count that as a completed install for their targets.

You may well be correct but if the supplier is adamant that an old meter needs to be replaced but the consumer is adamant that they don't want a smart meter (and the OP is correct that a consumer cannot legally be forced to have one) then fitting the meter without a comms hub looks to be the most practicable compromise.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067221#Comment_82067221

I fail to see the reason for the supplier to compromise, they can force the change to happen as they are obliged to replace a meter with an expired certificate and it is their meter to manage, not the customers…

The changes to the customers ability to decline smart metering as part of the MHHS scheme have removed any right to prevent some level of data collection.