Smart Meters mandatory on new fixed term deals

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    edited 16 February 2019 at 5:41PM
    Cardew wrote: »
    ;)With my present meters I can easily by-pass them to grow a little weed;) - for personal use of course; the local dealers are ripping us off.:rotfl:


    Smart meters make such enterprising practices easier for the authorities to detect.:T


    Edit ;):rotfl:added just in case the irony wasn't appreciated.
    Yes, you re correct a smart meter would alert the suppliers but only if the supplier was taking any notice of a sudden drop off in sending half hourly readings or of any of the "error codes " received indicating removal of the two covers on the meter.
    Personally having seen how three major suppliers Eon, EDF, and Scottish Power dealt with my reports to them over the years of bypassed meters I think most of the suppliers will just sit back and do nothing when a smart meter suddenly stops working or it flags up an error code. .
    The small suppliers were always hopeless at taking action over energy theft but you would expect three of the big 6 to take action..even if it is "eventually "
    BG are the only supplier to be really interested and run a large and effective Revenue Protection Unit.
  • Biggus_Dickus
    Biggus_Dickus Posts: 1,636 Forumite
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    Houbara wrote: »
    Yes, you re correct a smart meter would alert the suppliers but only if the supplier was taking any notice of a sudden drop off in sending half hourly readings or of any of the "error codes " received indicating removal of the two covers on the meter.
    Personally having seen how three major suppliers Eon, EDF, and Scottish Power dealt with my reports to them over the years of bypassed meters I think most of the suppliers will just sit back and do nothing.
    The small suppliers were always hopeless at taking action over energy theft but you would expect three of the big 6 to take action..even if it is "eventually "
    BG are the only supplier to be really interested and run a large and effective Revenue Protection Unit.
    Phew, what a relief!,..that’s great news,... very encouraging for all us cannabis-farming leccy thieves! :j
  • redux
    redux Posts: 22,976 Forumite
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    Despite this house having been with the same supplier for 12 or 15 years, I've waited for it to become clear that the supplier is only fitting the later meters that support switching supplier, and that there aren't appreciable other technical problems such as the meter ceasing after 2 or 3 months to be as smart as it was meant to be.

    According to customer discussions I can read on the supplier's own website, it was still fitting smets1 meters 10 and 7 months ago, rumours of all smets2 after October (but no later confirmation).

    So the moment may (or may not) at last have arrived, but I see no reason to hurry to try to find out, as some people found customer service didn't understand the question.

    The current tariff runs until May, still cheaper than all comparisons now, so that gives me 3 months to look into this compulsory smart meter question, whether this supplier also mandates it.
  • Biggus_Dickus
    Biggus_Dickus Posts: 1,636 Forumite
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    Cardew wrote: »
    ;)With my present meters I can easily by-pass them to grow a little weed;) - for personal use of course; the local dealers are ripping us off.:rotfl:


    Smart meters make such enterprising practices easier for the authorities to detect.:T


    Edit ;):rotfl:added just in case the irony wasn't appreciated.
    “...methinks he doth protest too much”

    Too late to back-track now Cardew,...the cat’s out of the bag,...if I were you I’d be making my escape over the back fence before the Rozzers come knocking. :eek:
  • GazLecky
    GazLecky Posts: 3 Newbie
    My 75 year old mum was adamant she wasn’t going to have one so my dad arranges it without her knowing. It’s been installed a couple of months and she thinks it’s great. She can see how much electricity they have used each day and it makes her think about switching thing off.

    Personally I use it to monitor my energy use day to day and set myself daily, weekly and monthly targets. I don’t compromise on being warm but it does make you think about putting a jumper on rather than turning up the thermostat.

    There is a school of thought that unauthorised access to your readings would allow someone to know when you are at home or away, but I think that’s a bit of scaremongering.

    I do wonder if in a few years whether energy will be more expensive at peak times seeing as meter readings are taken half hourly with smart meters and sent to the data collector.
  • phillw
    phillw Posts: 5,594 Forumite
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    edited 18 February 2019 at 12:48PM
    Gaikokujin wrote: »
    But in my own case I genuinely don’t see that I would get a benefit, and I resent the fact that by exercising my right to opt out of having one installed I am being penalised and my market choice is being restricted by certain firms forcing a 'one size fits all' solution onto everyone.

    But your provider would get a benefit from you having a smart meter.

    They are exercising their right to offer you a cheaper tariff if you agree to have a smart meter installed.

    You're not being penalised, you're just turning down their offer.

    I'm undecided, smart meters will allow energy prices to be charged at different times of the day & allow repeated non payers to be cut off without sending someone to dig up the road. How you feel about that will depend on whether it benefits you or not. I've not been with one of the big 6 for a few years as they are too expensive.
    Houbara wrote: »
    Yes, you re correct a smart meter would alert the suppliers but only if the supplier was taking any notice of a sudden drop off in sending half hourly readings or of any of the "error codes " received indicating removal of the two covers on the meter.

    Won't people just figure out how to bypass the meter only for the illicit electricity use?
    hareng wrote: »
    No its a serious inconvenience and loss of earnings of about 1 months salary.
    Some people work from home and use that space which must be gutted to enable fitment ie 1 month.

    Who has quoted you a month to fit a smart meter?

    One thing I'm worried about is that once we're past the 2020 deadline for rollout, whether they'll stop doing it for free and still offer better tariffs to those who have one.

    It looks like from March you can expect to get a SMET2 meter.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/15/smart-meter-roll-set-severe-delays-energy-firms-told-slow-installations/

    But of course there is a shortage.
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
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    phillw wrote: »
    Who has quoted you a month to fit a smart meter?


    I think he is saying the current meter is in a place no longer accessible that he will have to remove stuff from.


    This is already not allowed and the meter will need to be changed anyway


    Of course will suppliers not making money in the domestic market they really will not go to the effort of doing anything that costs and sending a meter change guy out occasionally and reporting blocked meter and sending the customer a letter telling them to remove it and contact them fills their obligations for now.


    Personally I hope for anyone who has a blocked meter that the tails fall out and burn the house down before they can get to it, showing why access is required at all times. (No not really, just an illustration).
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Rampant Recycler
    GazLecky wrote: »
    I do wonder if in a few years whether energy will be more expensive at peak times seeing as meter readings are taken half hourly with smart meters and sent to the data collector.


    A major reason for the introduction of smart meters is to allow 'time of use' tariffs.


    https://www.gocompare.com/gas-and-electricity/time-of-use-tariffs/
  • batg
    batg Posts: 295 Forumite
    re these Smart Meters that are seemingly becoming obligatory these days reminds me of the fiasco of energy saving light bulbs that we all were told would last 10 years or something and it was almost impossible to find what I called real bulbs....that all went Pete Tong when it was realised they were full of mercury...
  • Lagamorph
    Lagamorph Posts: 44 Forumite
    My issue with Smart Meters and reason for not having one so far isn't the meters themselves, it's the fitters.

    I've seen and read far too many stories of poorly trained fitters rushing the job of fitting Smart Meters leading to gas leaks, electricity cuts and surges causing damage to electrical equipment that the suppliers then deny any liability for.

    I'd happily have a Smart Meter, but not until I can have complete confidence that it is going to be fitted correctly by someone with the proper training.
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