Smart Meters.
We are British Gas customers for last 30 years or so, with no problems or complaints so far.
Recent pressure has been put on us to get a smart meter fitted, with calls emails and doorstep pressure. We were never interested in getting one and certainly wont be having anything installed after the latest push. We know they can be beneficial to many people, but to us its a waste of time and money. We submit our gas and electricity readings online at the end of each month and receive an up to date email showing our usage and current expenditure...no probs with that. We have our meters read at least once a year by a meter reader who calls at the door at anytime day or night.....no probs there. However, we are not convinced by the sales push that a smart meter can save you money! Our only way of saving money on our energy bills is by turning off appliances.
We have no intention of coming home at night and turn on some lights, bump up the heating a bit, switch on the cooker and kettle, and then have to turn everything off because the smart meter tells us we are currently using £xxxx of energy. We dont wish to sit in a cold, poorly lit house and eat a half cooked meal just because a meter has told us the cost of it.
Recent pressure has been put on us to get a smart meter fitted, with calls emails and doorstep pressure. We were never interested in getting one and certainly wont be having anything installed after the latest push. We know they can be beneficial to many people, but to us its a waste of time and money. We submit our gas and electricity readings online at the end of each month and receive an up to date email showing our usage and current expenditure...no probs with that. We have our meters read at least once a year by a meter reader who calls at the door at anytime day or night.....no probs there. However, we are not convinced by the sales push that a smart meter can save you money! Our only way of saving money on our energy bills is by turning off appliances.
We have no intention of coming home at night and turn on some lights, bump up the heating a bit, switch on the cooker and kettle, and then have to turn everything off because the smart meter tells us we are currently using £xxxx of energy. We dont wish to sit in a cold, poorly lit house and eat a half cooked meal just because a meter has told us the cost of it.
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Simply do what I did and most others who have had a smart meter fitted. Don t plug the free In House Display monitor in..Bin it, or let it rot in a cupboard gathering dust, and carry on doing as you always did and completely ignore the meter.We are British Gas customers for last 30 years or so, with no problems or complaints so far.
Recent pressure has been put on us to get a smart meter fitted, with calls emails and doorstep pressure. We were never interested in getting one and certainly wont be having anything installed after the latest push. We know they can be beneficial to many people, but to us its a waste of time and money. We submit our gas and electricity readings online at the end of each month and receive an up to date email showing our usage and current expenditure...no probs with that. We have our meters read at least once a year by a meter reader who calls at the door at anytime day or night.....no probs there. However, we are not convinced by the sales push that a smart meter can save you money! Our only way of saving money on our energy bills is by turning off appliances.
We have no intention of coming home at night and turn on some lights, bump up the heating a bit, switch on the cooker and kettle, and then have to turn everything off because the smart meter tells us we are currently using £xxxx of energy. We dont wish to sit in a cold, poorly lit house and eat a half cooked meal just because a meter has told us the cost of it.
Smart meters can possibly save the users who have no idea about which appliances cost the most to run, otherwise the only people who save money , eventually , are the suppliers. Which is a good thing for us all. The more efficiently they run the business then they can pass these savings on.
Smart prepayment meters will also be a big money saver for all suppliers battling with the extra costs of running meters from the last century in use.
. These new meters are so cost effective to run they do not need subsidies or Government caps, they should naturally attract the cheapest tariffs given time when suppliers start to trust them.0 -
Smart Energy GB state: Smart meters are not compulsory; it's entirely your choice. The government requires energy suppliers to offer smart meters to all homes and small businesses across Great Britain by 2020, but whether you accept them is completely up to you.We are British Gas customers for last 30 years or so.
Recent pressure has been put on us to get a smart meter fitted, with calls emails and doorstep pressure. We were never interested in getting one and certainly wont be having anything installed after the latest push. We know they can be beneficial to many people, but to us its a waste of time and money.We are not convinced by the sales push that a smart meter can save you money! Our only way of saving money on our energy bills is by turning off appliances.
This post links to an article regarding the British parliamentary group findings that smart meters cost the consumers more rather than saving money.Smart meters do not result in cheaper bills for consumers.
It is the exact opposite. The British Infrastructure Group of Parliamentarians reported on the smart meters programme in July 2018, and stated that the consumers have been and will continue to pay higher bills to fund the entire 11 billion pound smart meters programme, with no guarantee of seeing any savings in the future.
There is more public awareness of the real costs and issues with smart meters, so the energy companies are having to resort to dirty tricks to force consumers to take smart meters.0 -
I would have a look at your readings and any inflated costs the last 20 months or so. The cost of the install is masked as free but you are/would be paying for it eventually.
Sure costs have risen but not like they all make out when looking at most suppliers.
I was with Npower massive increases around £350 p/a came in long to short term contracts. Also had three appointments of an install date by letter and phone we didnt make to install smart meters, one being between Christmas and New Year just gone. Other providers were much dearer based on actual usage.
Carry on submitting your meter readings.
Beauty is theres reputable energy suppliers (non mainstream/wholesalers) that dont require smart meters. You just submit as have been doing monthly and the costs generally for us are at least £350 p/a cheaper than those that 'trick' you in to smart meters.0 -
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Hope I can ask a question here while everyone is discussing smart meters. We have a shop and are looking for a business electricity provider who will install a smart meter for us, as the current meter is in a place we don’t have much access to. I wanted to make sure that we have a second- generation meter SMET2, but the company I spoke to, OPUS, tell me that those metres are only available to residential customers, not business and that business users other meters (he seemed to imply a completely different, simpler type for businesses) Is this true? And if so what happens if you want to switch supplier? Will the smart meter work?0
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Hope I can ask a question here while everyone is discussing smart meters. We have a shop and are looking for a business electricity provider who will install a smart meter for us, as the current meter is in a place we don’t have much access to. I wanted to make sure that we have a second- generation meter SMET2, but the company I spoke to, OPUS, tell me that those metres are only available to residential customers, not business and that business users other meters (he seemed to imply a completely different, simpler type for businesses) Is this true? And if so what happens if you want to switch supplier? Will the smart meter work?
I could be wrong but I'll chime in..
Some provider should offer you SMETS2, I THINK the current deadline for SMETS1 is the 5th of December 2018. So anything after that date (Unless it's extended again) should be SMETS2 only.
SMETS1 units installed after that date will not count and Capita can put a huge penalty on a company who is not installing smart meters, as such no one will want to install SMETS1 then.
Try a provider other than OPUS, I don't keep up with the news on it all, but I am fairly sure the early SMETS2 units were non-residential installs.
Be aware that the SMETS1 problem of communications might turn out to be a early problem for SMETS2 as well. So if your meter is in a hard to reach place, it might also be in a spot with bad cell coverage. That means they will look to install external aerials to try and get it working. I know someone who had a SMETS1 installed early in the summer (I suggested he wait), and his is still not working after several visits.
Only a few thousand SMETS2 units have been installed across the country. So your best bet is probably to wait until the 6th of December.0 -
Hope I can ask a question here while everyone is discussing smart meters. We have a shop and are looking for a business electricity provider who will install a smart meter for us, ................................
I manage the utilities for two commercial premises both which have Smart (actually Automatic Meter Reading) meters for gas and electric. The gas do not take their supply from the electric but have have a remote battery pack / transmitter several meters away from the meter itself.
The original meters were installed by Gazprom several years ago and when we switched to Total Gas and Power 3 years ago I expected to have to do manual reads. However within a couple of the months I started to receive automatic reads.Never pay on an estimated bill0 -
We had a Smart Meter fitted several years ago as I wasn't bothered by any Big Brother scare stories. Problem was that only after it was fitted did the installer discover that we have no mobile phone signal so it's actually a Dumb Meter ...never mind at least he got paid for installing it. Subsequently there has been sporadic e mailing concerning fitting an antenna to enhance the signal strength. On the most recent occasion we had a phone call from a man who wanted to arrange an appointment to install the antenna but in order to do this he had to speak to me, not my wife, and as I wasn't there he said that he'd call back later. He never did. Meanwhile I send in a reading every few months and our electricity consumption continues at a very consistent 3800kWh per annum (1100 solar plus 2700 from the Grid) whilst we sneer at the TV ads concerning all the savings which a SM will yield. A parable of our times .... rather like the pro diesel because it's cleaner campaign of yesteryear.0
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Simple answer to the OP
You do not have to have a smart meter fitted.
Simply tell BG or any other supplier NO
You're absolutely right,smart meters don't save money.
The whole business case for the "savings" has been shown to be wildly inacurate and overstated.
Npower kept making appointments which I didn't confirm, bloke turned up, said i didn't want one, wouldn't have one and I was deleted from the list.
Cue Grange Hill song "Just say no"0 -
Hope I can ask a question here while everyone is discussing smart meters. We have a shop and are looking for a business electricity provider who will install a smart meter for us, as the current meter is in a place we don’t have much access to. I wanted to make sure that we have a second- generation meter SMET2, but the company I spoke to, OPUS, tell me that those metres are only available to residential customers, not business and that business users other meters (he seemed to imply a completely different, simpler type for businesses) Is this true? And if so what happens if you want to switch supplier? Will the smart meter work?
I'll also chime in: SMETS2 becomes outdated if it has not already done so because SMETS1 meters will have their software updated over the air which enables them to connect with the new DCC. So that means that all smart meters will connect with the central database instead of connecting with the supplier which fitted the smart meter. So therefore it doesn't really mater if you have SMETS1, SMETS2 or indeed SMETS59.5 because eventually they will all work the same.
https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/about/0
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