Smart Meters

A SMETS2 was installed in neaerby property nearby today,they were the lucky ones' and can switch suppliers tommorow,instead many have the bulky L&G E470s with added communication hubs',I'am sorry I allowed British Gas to install this,however when the gas meter battery inevitably fails in a year or two a SMETS2 gas meter will likely replace the existing one if they are backwards compatible,meanwhile.

Gas and electricity smart meter costs could rise even further, MPs told

Devices to cost at least £391 per household and could become 'potentially even greater', Citizens Advice says

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/gas-electricity-smart-meter-costs-rise-further-citizens-advice-a8719771.html

Weeg wrote: »

Hi , after having a conversation with someone from SP , They have told me that come 2020 all home MUST have a smart meter. I do not want one and fail to see why i should be Forced into having one. They said it was something to do with the government and I will have to have one installed whether I want it or not. Plz can anyone advise whether this is True or False? I find this rather unfair tbh .

Hi

I'd raise a formal complaint through their standard complaints procedure and demand clarification or apology.

Either there's a training issue that needs to be addressed by the company, or they are intentionally misleading the public with false information - either way they will be aware that continuing with this approach should be seen as a serious issue by the energy sector regulator through it having a potential impact on their supply licence conditions.

Scottish Power have an obligation to ensure that their existing customers are all offered Smart-Meters by a specific date, but there is no legislation or requirement in place either to force consumers to accept installation or to have any agreed installations to be completed by that date, however, as the installation and registration of meters is exceptionally profitable for the industry there's little expectation that they'd intentionally delay installs if not necessary. It's worthy to note that when looking at the rate of installation in conjunction with the time remaining the chances of meeting the 'deadline' are very, very low!


HTH
Z

brianposter wrote: »

Interesting development with our smart meters in Spain. They have apparently started to cut off the electricity supply if the contracted current is exceeded. They supply can be restored by switching the supply off and then on.
Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it certainly means that electricity companies will be taking more money from peoples pockets.

Hi

I know of areas of the world where smart-meter functionality is already used to restrict the performance of heat-pumps (our HP has this functionality) and others where punitive tariff periods cut in whenever a power supply threshold is passed but these are typically in areas where generation is limited, such as very remote rural or island communities, some of which have done so historically through mandatory max current supply breakers ... switching the supply off is the only realistic protective measure a supplier may have to ensure that the local grid isn't overloaded by 'greedy' consumers when there's not the ability to temporarily switch/control high loads remotely in load imbalance conditions, however, considering that there's no sales revenue whilst disconnected they'd not likely be doing so if not necessary ....

Unfortunately, smart-meters will provide a very 'big stick' for the industry to use to ensure that they control the customer/supplier relationship to their own advantage, allowing lower capital investment & higher supply margins at the same time! ... don't you just love the way that the industry has colluded with others to pull the wool over government, their agencies & the general public's eyes through being allowed to apply restricted supply practices to mainstream conditions!

HTH
Z

Having had this new Spanish smart meter current-limiting system in operation for two weeks it does create an interesting incentive - that is to change the house wiring so that the kettle, the oven, the water heater and the electric heating all go through the same circuit, and that the circuit has a controller which allocates current to only one of those 4 items at a time.
Anyone know if such a controller is readily available ?

Apologies if it's been mentioned above, but the whole campaign about cost benefits is a ruse - an appliance using X amount of KW for Y hours will use X*Y KWh regardless of how it is being metered. It's not difficult to work out the appliances that drink electricity are showers, cookers etc. The meter might make people more aware of when they are using more electricity, but what will they do? Turn off the washing machine mid cycle? Not make that cup of tea? The cost benefits to consumers are marginal at best. Why also, as a company, would you want your customers to buy less of the product you are selling, seriously?

The key reason suppliers are pushing these on us is it gives or will give them the ability to:
- Remotely cut people off who haven't paid their bill
- Alternatively, instantly switch people to a prepaid meter if they haven't paid
- Cut costs in not having to send people round to read the meter

The benefits are all for them, and ultimately these aren't particularly cheap devices. They will be paid for by our tariffs (anyone else noticed these jumping up well above inflation recently...!)