Smart Meters
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Zooming in, the word "Unsubscribe" appears - in tiny grey text - which all but disappears when viewed at normal resolution. Something like this:- Unsubscribe - although MSE sensibly doesn't have a light enough grey nor small enough font to accurately represent the original.
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thanks. Found it and unsubscribed. I don't need a smart meter, particularly not a SMETS1 one, as I have my own monitor, solar panels and an awareness of what I'm using and when. The sun should come out Wednesday and I'll be setting off the washing machine!0 -
I live in shared accommodation. Would a smart meter show which room in the house is using the most electric & save this information?
No they are DUMB, all they can tell you is how much you have used in total to date.
Being in a room will not be your only energy usage
A DUMB meter will not tell you that the fridge freezer is using the most electricity
A DUMB meter will not tell you that the Gas Cooker is using more than the Boiler
You can buy meters on eBay for £6 that will tell you how much you are using on a given appliance.
Monitor each one for a week and you will have an idea of your usage but unless you are a lodger you are probably responsible for an equal share of the bill (divided by the number of occupants).
Friends of mine have noticed how some Landlords have made energy bills and even the TV Licence a profit centre, charging occupants more than the bill.0 -
No. This link is helpful https://www.smartenergygb.org/en/about-smart-meters/what-is-a-smart-meterPlease note - taken from the Forum Rules and amended for my own personal use (with thanks) : It is up to you to investigate, check, double-check and check yet again before you make any decisions or take any action based on any information you glean from any of my posts. Although I do carry out careful research before posting and never intend to mislead or supply out-of-date or incorrect information, please do not rely 100% on what you are reading. Verify everything in order to protect yourself as you are responsible for any action you consequently take.0
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Around 82% of people with smart meters say they now have a better idea of what they are spending on energy, with the same proportion saying they have taken steps to reduce energy waste.
If 82% change their energy habits and and use less energy as a result, this would mean less energy used so less profit for the energy companies which then complain and have to increase energy prices as a result to get back to profits they were used to. No one wants to educate people to make them earn less money.
Didn't this happen in the past (years ago) in the governments last big push on reducing energy ? I'm sure my bill went down at the time, but not for long before it was hiked up again!0 -
If 82% change their energy habits and and use less energy as a result, this would mean less energy used so less profit for the energy companies which then complain and have to increase energy prices as a result to get back to profits they were used to. No one wants to educate people to make them earn less money.
Didn't this happen in the past (years ago) in the governments last big push on reducing energy ? I'm sure my bill went down at the time, but not for long before it was hiked up again!
I am not sure that I agree with you as energy use has already fallen without the ‘benefit’ of smart meters. For example, condensing gas boilers; LEDs; smart heating controls, and AAA rated appliances have all contributed to the fall.
In the main, as energy itself now accounts for less than 40p in every £ that we pay, the reason for cost increases is down to factors out with the supplier’s control. For example, social and economic costs - WHD; FIT payments; the consumer levy etc.0 -
Around 82% of people with smart meters say they now have a better idea of what they are spending on energy, with the same proportion saying they have taken steps to reduce energy waste.
Originally posted by Michaelw
If 82% change their energy habits and and use less energy as a result, this would mean less energy used so less profit for the energy companies which then complain and have to increase energy prices as a result to get back to profits they were used to. No one wants to educate people to make them earn less money.
Didn't this happen in the past (years ago) in the governments last big push on reducing energy ? I'm sure my bill went down at the time, but not for long before it was hiked up again!
You are right except that we must not believe this 82% nonsense, if you look at the questions they ask they are very wish washy, more aware, honestly what a load of BS. The DUMB meters do not tell you that your old fridge freezer uses more energy than chernobyl or any other appliance.
What we have seen is that they made more profit gambling because of the increased demand caused by the snow this winter.
You are right that they will make more and more profit, because that is the expectation of their shareholders, when we regulate them they find a way to make us pay more. They have become dependent on the billions they hold of customers money in advanced direct debt payments.
The useless energy regulator says they have to pay that back within 28 days upon request, WHY 28 days when it is YOUR money, one customer was owed over £3600!
When they were told to make consumers aware of how much they had on account they buried it in a load of blah on their bill. So they have had to be regulated AGAIN to make it more clear.
In any other business if you were owed more than the next bill you could get a refund immediately.
How many threads on here have been started where the energy company increases the direct debit unreasonably. That is why I do not pay by direct debit and never will again.
Now they are going to allow two of the big 6 to merge, mark my words, it will make the market less competitive, they already have a stanglehold on the smaller players because they control the gambling rate of energy.0 -
Smart meters are irrelevant re your actual usage. Are you going to turn your freezer off because it is using too much. Well maybe if you have used all the food it contains. But seriously would having a smart meter convince you to dispose of your freezer?
My usage ( not the size of the bill that is just about never going to drop) went down when I replaced my old CRT? screens for TV & computers by the newer flat screens. Then went down again when I replaced my old boiler, then again when I replaced my light bulbs with lower usage ones but ones I could actually see across the room with & didn't take so long to warm up I'd turned them back off again.
I expect my next drop in usage to be when I replace the freezer & fridge with something which should use about a third of what they do. Yes my usage will drop but my bill - not a chance.
These companies are going to bill £xbn per annum so that they can have profits of £ybn no matter what we do, our main focus should be preventing them from making £zbn profit.0 -
Smart meters are irrelevant re your actual usage. Are you going to turn your freezer off because it is using too much. Well maybe if you have used all the food it contains. But seriously would having a smart meter convince you to dispose of your freezer?
My usage ( not the size of the bill that is just about never going to drop) went down when I replaced my old CRT? screens for TV & computers by the newer flat screens. Then went down again when I replaced my old boiler, then again when I replaced my light bulbs with lower usage ones but ones I could actually see across the room with & didn't take so long to warm up I'd turned them back off again.
I expect my next drop in usage to be when I replace the freezer & fridge with something which should use about a third of what they do. Yes my usage will drop but my bill - not a chance.
These companies are going to bill £xbn per annum so that they can have profits of £ybn no matter what we do, our main focus should be preventing them from making £zbn profit.
My niece did actually replace her Fridge Freezer because of energy consumption but not because of a smart meter, she used a meter she saw on a YouTube video.
You are SO right though, we all trot around like lemmings doing what we are told to save energy and the actual price we pay keeps going up.
If you want to know why just listen to the business news and how share price is reduced when they make less money and vice versa in the alternative.
Ironically the trading in these markets and related activities is so massive that it could fund giving us all free energy. Such gambing would not be possible without our usage, it is done on our backs.
The simple fact is that Dumb Meters have been a con from the beginning, the billions it cost for the programme is being borne by US albeit that costs are hidden in what we pay.
The Regulator is useless and not fit for purpose, the Politicians are just as useless, I am not a Corbyn fan but I do feel that if he got into power he would at least give this disgusting industry some comeuppance.
Meanwhile the Dumb Meter programme should be abandonned immediately along with the standing charge and of course energy rates should be lowered by 40% across the board.1 -
Although not as effective as the government was hoping, I do believe that smart meters will overall influence people to reduce the energy they use. For example, I know of people who used to spend an age in electric showers and as they use so much electricity you can see the usage mount up in the meter display. Once they realised this they cut down their showering time to less than 10 minutes which made a massive difference to their bills. This still won't cover all the money spent on meters though.
The thing that peeves me is that not only have the government allowed the energy companies to pass on the costs to the consumer but what about all the savings made through needing less meter readers?
The companies will claim that they have passed on the savings to keep prices low but going by their past record, I simply do not trust them.0 -
So, as an EON customer, I arrived home today to find a leaflet posted through my letterbox from EON.
It says "We called round to book an appointment to change your old meter for a free self-reading smart meter." Who is "we"? Sounds like I am being pressured in to this!
It then listed all the usual "benefits" of a smart meter and urged me to phone them or go online to book an appointment.
No thanks, EON. I don't want a "free" smart meter (for which I am already paying through my bills).
I am quite happily providing regular readings so my bills aren't estimated and I have no time to rush to the smart meter and watch how much energy I use whenever I turn on an electrical appliance or the gas boiler.
My boiler is past its best, to say the least, and I fear that it may not come on again once it has been turned off to install a new meter. Yes, am in the process of sorting a new boiler, but not yet.
Am I now paying through my bills for someone to trail about delivering these leaflets?
I am reminded about smart meters every time I log on to EON. I will not have a smart meter until/if they become compulsory. As far as I'm aware the 2020 government target for smart meters is that all households should have been "offered" the opportunity to change over, not that all the old meters are replaced by smart meters.
This scheme is a joke, with the phase 1 meters' incompatability , the phase 2 meters roll out, reports of meter redundancy if you change supplier and reports of faulty meters which, by all accounts, only last 10 years at best before they need replacing.0
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