Smart Meters

Goinker wrote: »

Around a year ago, I had my 'old' dial meters replaced for 'Smart' meters by British Gas. Not too long afterwards, I changed suppliers to 'Iresa', one of the 'smaller' companies, based in Nottingham. At the time, some 8 months ago, Iresa did not supply or auto read 'Smart' meters, so I received monthly reminder emails to supply meter readings, no big deal as it's easy enough. I have just received a letter from Iresa informing me that they now wish to fit me 'Smart' meters, to be done by a company by the name of 'SMS', which I assume will be Siemens Metering Services. I rang the number given and spoke to a lady, pointing out that I already had 'Smart' meters, fitted by British Gas, and was told that "They wanted to fit their meters rather than the BG ones". So,it would seem that if you change suppliers (and I've done this several times over the past few years, as I tend to go for the cheapest tariff whether big or small suppliers) then they will at some point be wanting to change your 'Smart' meters each time, to ones of their own choice. This just makes a mockery of the whole "Smart meters" campaign as it's not saving consumers money since we are paying for this as part of our tariff costs. The only ones who will be saving money when we all have these meters fitted will be the energy companies themselves, as they will then no longer need to employ meter reading staff, and we can rest assured that there will be no reduction in tariff costs to reflect this, just increased profits for the suppliers. I have no intention of going through a "change suppliers, change meters" scenario each time I move suppliers for the cheapest tariffs, so have declined the proposed meter swap, as this is nothing short of plain stupid.

Yes Robin Hood energy are a bit of a cheapskate supplier and they fit the awful Secure Liberty smart meters.Not fit for domestic smart meters IMO.
I would refuse them point blank .Going onto Secure meters will cause delays and expense to the next supplier you switch to because they most likely wont be able to use them at all and have to fit the very usable Landis and Gyr ( BG use them ) rather than the rubbish Secure meters which are only suitable for small business metering which is what their original design is based on..
Hengus, for some strange reason you believe that suppliers /government want to fit smart meters "to save money " for the customers.
Not true.. they are there to save money for suppliers.Absolutely no savings to be had for customers in the long run. It was purely an advertising gimmick to get the public to accept them.
A leaflet along with the billing pointing out how much an hour various appliances cost to run would achieve the same result.
The IHD wont last forever and suppliers will not replace them when they die a death.

I am looking at them from the point of view of the poor public who have to read these dreadful things stuck away in the lowest reaches of the pantry or under the stairs.

People who are elderly, poor of sight etc. I m a meter reader and all my colleagues , to a man, cannot believe what a lousy meter these are.
They are unbelievable. One press of a keyboard of 10 buttons ,button 9 ) sets the screen flashing through at a speedy rate of around 6 screens , each screen , which is hard to see, lasts a third of a second. The reading is on the 2nd screen but by then everyone has given up on trying to decipher all the other useless stuff it displays.

If they, that is Secure liberty meters , are placed in awkward positions, and they are most of the time WE (meter readers ) find them virtually unreadable with their 8 digits and tiny decimal point.

Secure Liberty meters are usually used for economic reasons by the smaller suppliers like Ovo, Utilita and Robin Hood Energy and do not remain smart for long and become dumb after a year. People switch away very often from smaller suppliers .

Personally I have never seen an IHD of a Secure meter . The public in the main do not possess one or they have binned them. Utterly dreadful meter in every way.

Eachpenny, I dont want people to refuse a smart meter, just the Liberty meters.Eon use both Landis and Gyr and Secure smart meters so if there is a choice refuse Liberty meters.

I would like you to stop repeating the lie you have mentioned on here a few times that I suspect that people contribute on this forum, who refuse smart meters to be energy thieves, or even the stronger criminal "cannabis farmers".

I can affirm that I do not suspect anyone on a civilised forum like this of being an energy thief.There is widespread energy theft in the UK and the last thing they do is come on an energy forum for advice.

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Thank you Eachpenny. I think I have indicated that its a matter of course for all active energy thieves to refuse a smart meter, definitely not sensible clued up forum posters who understand the SMETS1/2 who would like to hold on until they get the tech right.
The suppliers get round that one by installing a smart meter anyway and promising to keep it dumb by not activating the comms. I think many will not trust them to do that .
I am on the side of the consumer especially the vast majority who even struggle to read a good old analogue meter.You would be surprised at how widespread that is.
If they come across such a user unfriendly device such as Secure meters they will just forget it , and if its a dumb Secure meter, as most I see are, well here comes non stop estimates and we all know that suppliers are nt mind readers and it will lead to huge debts on the way.
How hard can it be to pick a smart electric meter which by default just displays the total kwhrs, without pressing a button from a pokey little keyboard..
These small suppliers who routinely select Secure meters have no regard for their customers, just their profit and loss sheet