EDF Smart Meter Accuracy

Adrian2017 · 19 September 2019 at 7:43PM

Hello All
I have been an EDF customer for around 8 years, and I am pleased with their pricing and my gas and electricity bills are generally low. I have old meters and I wonder if this is why my bills are not high (me and the wife are out at work in the day).

I am constantly nagged by emails to get a free smart meter for both my Gas and Electricity. So my question is:
Has anyone had higher bills since switching to a smart meter? I worry that my bills might be more 'accurate' and therefore push up my bills if I have a smart meter fitted.

Thanks in advance, and I would appreciate your comments or thoughts.

Cheers :beer:

AndyPK · 19 September 2019 at 8:12PM

It is a possibility I have heard before.
No rush to get a SM at the moment

Highland76 · 20 September 2019 at 8:18AM

Why would smart meters not display the correct energy readings if they have been calibrated properly? Btw contrary to popular opinion, smart meter customers still get occasional visits from meter readers, not just to take readings but also to check the meters haven't been tampered with.

nick74 · 20 September 2019 at 10:10AM

The accuracy of smart meters is no different to any other sort of meter.

However, mechanical meters generally can tend to get less accurate as they age. The gas meter at my mother's house for example was a quite old and I'm convinced that latterly it was partially sticking and massively under-reading her gas usage. For example to heat her 3 bed detached 1970s bungalow to 21C, 18 hours a day right through winter was costing her about £10 a month! (based on actual readings).

She had smart meters fitted and her gas consumption then 'increased' to about £70 per month, which is very likely what she should have been paying all along. Of course, if her old meter had been replaced with a new 'non-smart' meter the result would have been exactly the same.

Jakubk · 20 September 2019 at 10:33AM

This has been covered on BBC Local Radio on consumer shows, there were a plethora of reports of people experiencing higher readings with no change in usage. Some of this was put down to the smart meters having trouble with LED light bulbs.

In two other cases there were more smart meter concerns, one was with electical interferance with TV's and radio, while the other had someone experiencing profound tinnitus. For the first consumer the energy company tried different smart meters but they all had the same problem, eventually they put in a standard meter and the problem went away.

For the person with tinnitus they were advised to build some sort of cage around it.

There are loads of videos on this on YouTube but you are up against a powerful industry that wants to steal £13bn from consumers via standing charges or refusing to give discount rates unless you comply.

Even pre-paid meters are now smart meters, I do not know why they insist on calling these smart meters, they still put in the old version, some are not even retail user smart meter but a bunch of cheap Indian devices intended for commercial premises.

The whole smart meter project is a RIP OFF, you will hear the EU blamed by Germany put it off.

As a project is is a total clusterfluck, the network is not in place and is so poorly implemented it is a joke.

The_Fat_Controller · 20 September 2019 at 12:05PM

I have had EDF Smart Meters for a year, which replaced a 28 year old gas meter and a 7 year old electricity meter.

They record the usage exactly as the old ones.

I am now on monthly direct debit whole amount, so they interrogate the meters monthly and bill me in arrears, which means I pay for exactly what I use.

The meter sends readings over the mobile network and as it is in a box on an outside wall, there is less radiation in my home than from the mobile sitting on the chair next to me.

The meters and In Home Display connect to each other by WiFi and that signal is roughly the same strength in my living room as the Wifi signal from my TalkTalk router.

I don't believe in all the scaremongering about mobile and WiFi signals affecting the health of a individual, none of it has been conclusively proven.

Jakubk · 20 September 2019 at 1:26PM

I referred to BBC Local Radio, they only hold the links for 28 days so sorry, but you can use Google if you want.

What I remember was they had been using an App to record their usage so had clear evidence of their usage.

The person on the BBC programme proved it was the smart meter, they had some sensitivity and lots of other listeners called in with similar experiences.

They did have sensitivity to some wifi routers and some mobile phones, they had members of their own family who were sceptical until they proved it.

I do know what I am talking about, sorry I did not mean a consumer unit (i.e. fuse box) I mean a retail user smart meter.

Jakubk · 20 September 2019 at 1:31PM

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

I have had EDF Smart Meters for a year, which replaced a 28 year old gas meter and a 7 year old electricity meter.

They record the usage exactly as the old ones.

I am now on monthly direct debit whole amount, so they interrogate the meters monthly and bill me in arrears, which means I pay for exactly what I use.

The meter sends readings over the mobile network and as it is in a box on an outside wall, there is less radiation in my home than from the mobile sitting on the chair next to me.

The meters and In Home Display connect to each other by WiFi and that signal is roughly the same strength in my living room as the Wifi signal from my TalkTalk router.

I don't believe in all the scaremongering about mobile and WiFi signals affecting the health of a individual, none of it has been conclusively proven.

I do not see how they could be exactly the same unless you had both fitted concurrently.

There are people on YouTube who have electronic equipement to detect it, the industry of course tries to discredit anyone standing up.

The case on the BBC where they tried several different smart meters and could not stop the interference and so put back the old meter was very interesting you could hear the interference because they recorded it each time.

I think it was Scottish Power if that helps.

Takmon · 20 September 2019 at 2:48PM

Jakubk wrote: »

I referred to BBC Local Radio, they only hold the links for 28 days so sorry, but you can use Google if you want.

What I remember was they had been using an App to record their usage so had clear evidence of their usage.

How would using an app show what their usage was?

They would need to have at least two meters connected up in series to show a discrepancy in the smart meter readings against the other meter.

Jakubk wrote: »

The person on the BBC programme proved it was the smart meter, they had some sensitivity and lots of other listeners called in with similar experiences.

They did have sensitivity to some wifi routers and some mobile phones, they had members of their own family who were sceptical until they proved it.

All Wi-Fi routers use the same frequencies and all mobile phones use the same frequencies to connect to the mobile network (i.e. either 2g, 3g, 4g or 5g)

These waves on specific frequencies are the only things emitted at any range from these devices. So either the person is sensitive to all Wi-Fi routers and all mobile phones and can't be near any of these devices or it's something else unrelated causing them issues which means it's nothing to do with the smart meter either.

Are you sure the guy on the radio wasn't Chuck McGill :rotfl:

Jakubk wrote: »

I do know what I am talking about, sorry I did not mean a consumer unit (i.e. fuse box) I mean a retail user smart meter.

The overall point i'm trying to make is that their is a lot of criticism about different problems with smart meters but most of it is just people opinions of problems without any proof of the issues being caused. The issues you highlighted could easily be proved or disproved by them carrying out simple tests using logic but they the fact they haven't done this says a lot.

AndyPK · 20 September 2019 at 4:43PM

The story goes, that to ensure customers were not over charged old meters were calibrated in favour of the customer.

With more accurate digital meters, you get a more honest/accurate reading.

I think there were reports of people having SM fitted and their usage/bills going up!

Adrian2017 · 20 September 2019 at 5:43PM

All,

Many thanks indeed for your great comments. Having read all of the comments I think I will err on the side of caution and carry on with my old meters.... As the saying goes "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

EDF Smart Meter Accuracy

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