Smart Meters

No, is the answer. If each room had its own meter then that would show the usage in that room, a smart meter is no better.

I wish!

European Union member states are legally obliged to turn 80% of legacy meter stock to smart by 2020 following a European Commission directive issued by Brussels in 2006. Some countries are steaming ahead while others like Germany are looking at 2027 for completion. The EU do not really care, this just gives them yet another stick to beat member states with and to justify their spend.

In France they are steaming ahead, over 35 million installed already, there was a campaign against them but they have an interesting ploy, they will not force you to have one during the deployment period but after that you have no choice and if that was not enough, you will be charged £35 for old type meters to be read when main deployment is finished. I suspect that we are/will be subject to the same rules it is just that for now they want to pretend it is all wonderful and bright.

Anyway all EU law is becoming British Law unless we change it per diem and even then only after the transision period if there is one because "nothing is agreed until all is agreed" !!

So sadly NO!

I have worked on some pretty large programmes in both private and public sector.

When I look at the business case for Smart Meters it is very very thin for the consumer, the benefits are intangible at best.

Sometimes you get a project where they just dare not say what a screw up it is, it then becomes politically dangerous (if you value your job) to even suggest the project should be scrapped because it is no longer going to deliver the assumed benefits of the business case. Yet that is the whole purpose of the regular reviews, to STOP wasting money.

We have numerous examples, HS2, Smart Meters and the DWP Universal Credit, the latter was such a balls up that they are concurrently running 3 developed systems in tandem.

With dumb meters we have a PR campaign called Smart Energy GB that costs us over £40m a YEAR, it is nothing less than a propaganda machine. I want to punch them in the face when I hear them say "for no extra cost" in the constant radio ads.

They implement the project poorly and we have to pay for it, not just the naff kit but concepts, did they really NEED to build their own network and spend upwards of £1.5 BILLION on it? We have hotspots in most places and considering how often these things need to phone home or be updated it seems like overkill to me.

Then we have the meters themselves, the debacle of SMET1 to SMET2, we then hear of cheapo business meters being used for consumers.

I wonder if we should be asking the more informed members if this forum who is the best energy company to switch to for the best Smart Meter?

Do any of these dumb meters have an API for an App so we can have functionality on our phone? I doubt it.

We also hear of customers getting surprise bills and the energy company saying they have not been able to see the Gas side of the premises for 6 months, but they do not do anything about it, no comms to customer, no sending an engineer, just throw a huge scare bill at the customer.

We are told SMET2 will roll out in October and of course the usual BS about the old bricks being updated wirelessly as and when, but is it beyond the wit of energy companies to upgraded to SMET2 as they install?

Or is it that they like SMET1 because they think it will lock a customer in because they will lose functionality when they change supplier?

We all know that there is no way that they are going to reach the 2019 target date, so when will they come clean? It seems they have already extended the delivery date to 2023, just not officially.

All this and we are supposed to HOPE that the industry will pass on some of their £12BILLION in assumed savings, yeh right, because they always pass on their savings, without any need for regulation don't they.

What a bloody mess.

mbmonty wrote: »

In some cases they will turn up at people's homes without being invited!

As usual OFGEM was as USELESS as it always is

So far they have installed under 10 million of the 46 million target for DUMB meters and because they face fines they are ramping up the pressure with this dodgy practice of deemed appointments.

Its a good excuse to get people on the phone also if these appointments are missed is there any penalty fee? It is not good customer practice and it underlines energy suppliers own self interests.

It is not surprising OFGEMs standing on this,decisions by these bodies tend to side with companies only giving consumers some small room for manoeuvre.The benefits of these non interoperable meters is overstated and adverts for these devices don't carry any information about possible switching issues,how another supplier will carry out repairs to another companies leased meter or how long before these meters are presumably tunneled onto the DCC network at some later point.

I wonder if one of you lovely Smart meter experts would be kind enough to tell me which energy suppliers will fit a decent Smart meter - expressly NOT the useless Secure Liberty rubbish just installed by my current supplier to replace the admittedly faulty but far superior smart meters previously provided by EDF.

My next switch, which will happen as soon as this one has finally been concluded (it's taken 4 months and counting), will be dependent upon the new supplier fitting equipment that I can actually read. EDF's in-home monitor was excellent, and I could pull the meter readings with a press of a button, meaning I didn't have to struggle with my awkwardly sited meter cupboards. (Interestingly, the Secure installer was very keen to take the EDF in-home unit off my hands - he disappeared it so quickly, I can only assume that it might actually have had some value. Kicking myself that I didn't insist that he leave it with me.)

Anyway, all water under the bridge now. I just want to get a DECENT, readable set of meters installed, so if anyone can shed light on the best providers to do that, I'd be extremely grateful. (Oh, how I wish I'd never embarked on the whole Smart meter farrago - I'd gladly go back to properly dumb dial models if only they'd let me.)

mbmonty wrote: »

I wonder if we should be asking the more informed members if this forum who is the best energy company to switch to for the best Smart Meter?

savik2 wrote: »

I wonder if one of you lovely Smart meter experts would be kind enough to tell me which energy suppliers will fit a decent Smart meter - expressly NOT the useless Secure Liberty rubbish just installed by my current supplier to replace the admittedly faulty but far superior smart meters previously provided by EDF.

My next switch, which will happen as soon as this one has finally been concluded (it's taken 4 months and counting), will be dependent upon the new supplier fitting equipment that I can actually read. EDF's in-home monitor was excellent, and I could pull the meter readings with a press of a button, meaning I didn't have to struggle with my awkwardly sited meter cupboards. (Interestingly, the Secure installer was very keen to take the EDF in-home unit off my hands - he disappeared it so quickly, I can only assume that it might actually have had some value. Kicking myself that I didn't insist that he leave it with me.)

Anyway, all water under the bridge now. I just want to get a DECENT, readable set of meters installed, so if anyone can shed light on the best providers to do that, I'd be extremely grateful. (Oh, how I wish I'd never embarked on the whole Smart meter farrago - I'd gladly go back to properly dumb dial models if only they'd let me.)

Ha Ha

That is exactly what I predicted above.

However, my understanding is that once you have a smart meter installed you are stuck with it, if it is SMET1 it is not going to work with other energy companies kit until at least end of 2019. As I said earlier this will not be a priority for them.

I am not recommending it, but if you did change to the best supplier for IHD and then applied a high voltage short to it (using kit freely available on ebay) you could then complain about it being unsafe! The new company would have a duty to replace it.