Bought a house, I'm wanting a smart meter.
Discussion
Hi, As the title really I've bought a house and stripped it fairly bare (Only plumbing and electrics left) and wanting to change my supplier and change to a smart meter whilst everything is out and open to access.
Currently with scottish power in the house but the previous owner installed a pre-pay meter (Purple key card type) but scottish power want £160 to remove this and fit a normal meter.
can anybody recommend a supplier that installs smart meters and would change from a pre-pay?
I'm new to all this, first house and not a clue!
thanks
Currently with scottish power in the house but the previous owner installed a pre-pay meter (Purple key card type) but scottish power want £160 to remove this and fit a normal meter.
can anybody recommend a supplier that installs smart meters and would change from a pre-pay?
I'm new to all this, first house and not a clue!
thanks
Agreed, avoid having a smart meter for as long as possible, they are for the electric companies benefit not the consumer.
If you want to monitor electric usage invest in a smart plug that will show you the usage of indidvudal sockets. Lots of options for this, if you are looking at automating the socket as well I like the smartthings plug, as it'll also give you the power draw of whatever is plugged in the socket:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/smartthings/sensors-plug...
If you want to monitor electric usage invest in a smart plug that will show you the usage of indidvudal sockets. Lots of options for this, if you are looking at automating the socket as well I like the smartthings plug, as it'll also give you the power draw of whatever is plugged in the socket:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/smartthings/sensors-plug...
herewego said:
Evanivitch said:
I would strongly advise against a smart meter. There is currently little to no benefit to the consumer, infact unless you are willing to modify your habits it can increase your bills.
How so?herewego said:
How so?
Electricity is cheapest at night, but how many of us use electricity at night?It means changing your habits to ensure things like dishwasher, washing machine, the electric car, storage heaters, the chest freezer, storage heaters are all being used when the price is cheapest.
Except when everyone starts doing that, it won't be so cheap. So then the smart meter becomes more than just an Economy 7 meter and uses real time market prices to adjust the price of what you are paying per unit.
So at peak times, like the advert break on a major television show, everyone is suddenly paying more to boil a kettle.
The issue isn't so much it's a bad idea, but no one has yet proved how it improves things for the consumer, except for maybe heavy EV users.
Evanivitch said:
I would strongly advise against a smart meter. There is currently little to no benefit to the consumer, infact unless you are willing to modify your habits it can increase your bills.
How can a smart meter increase your bills?Not seen any increase here, infact the opposite as we are on a tariff with free electric on Sundays. What that now means is the immersion is programmed to come on all day on a Sunday heating 300L of water(the gas is now programmed NOT to heat water on Saturday night or Sunday at all) and all our washing/drying gets done on Sundays too. Sure this is nothing but a trial to see if people change their habits but I've got no problem with that. The fact is during peak times many things can be done at other times, people are just lazy. They won't be going away any time soon so of course you can bury your head in the sand hoping it all goes away but it won't. Of course the PH crew will flame the s
t out of me but tell me this, how many of you now ask for a carrier bag at the supermarket now you get charged for them? People only change habits when they are forced to and that is what this is all about. (IMO of course). OP I'm sure many suppliers will swap it out for you FOC as you are a new customer. Try BG, they won't have the best tariff but they seem to be the biggest at this roll out.Dave_ST220 said:
Evanivitch said:
I would strongly advise against a smart meter. There is currently little to no benefit to the consumer, infact unless you are willing to modify your habits it can increase your bills.
How can a smart meter increase your bills?Not seen any increase here, infact the opposite as we are on a tariff with free electric on Sundays. What that now means is the immersion is programmed to come on all day on a Sunday heating 300L of water(the gas is now programmed NOT to heat water on Saturday night or Sunday at all) and all our washing/drying gets done on Sundays too. Sure this is nothing but a trial to see if people change their habits but I've got no problem with that. The fact is during peak times many things can be done at other times, people are just lazy. They won't be going away any time soon so of course you can bury your head in the sand hoping it all goes away but it won't. Of course the PH crew will flame the s
t out of me but tell me this, how many of you now ask for a carrier bag at the supermarket now you get charged for them? People only change habits when they are forced to and that is what this is all about. (IMO of course). OP I'm sure many suppliers will swap it out for you FOC as you are a new customer. Try BG, they won't have the best tariff but they seem to be the biggest at this roll out.Dave_ST220 said:
How can a smart meter increase your bills?
Not seen any increase here, infact the opposite as we are on a tariff with free electric on Sundays. What that now means is the immersion is programmed to come on all day on a Sunday heating 300L of water(the gas is now programmed NOT to heat water on Saturday night or Sunday at all) and all our washing/drying gets done on Sundays too.
Free electricity on Sundays so make the most of it. Did you need a smart meter to work that out?Not seen any increase here, infact the opposite as we are on a tariff with free electric on Sundays. What that now means is the immersion is programmed to come on all day on a Sunday heating 300L of water(the gas is now programmed NOT to heat water on Saturday night or Sunday at all) and all our washing/drying gets done on Sundays too.
Evanivitch said:
So now you're a slave to your electric meter, devoting your Sunday to doing all your laundry. Well done, you're a martyr.
haha, not quite. It's all programmed. Really quite simple. The electric at all other times costs exactly the same as it did prior to having the smart meter so nothing lost if we are out and only 1 load gets done.Mr GrimNasty said:
Dave_ST220 said:
Not seen any increase here, infact the opposite as we are on a tariff with free electric on Sundays.
You really think it is free? And even that the 'free' period will last.It's just a temporary offer to persuade the gullible into accepting a smart meter.
Another AVOID SMART METERS. You have nothing much to gain, and a lot to lose.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39169313
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39169313
With the incendiary tumble dryers, lithium batteries and chargers I'd not want stuff like that on when I'm asleep in bed or out for the evening. Especially if programmed so that I'm not aware it is on.
Even apart from that, so called 'smart meters' as deployed at the moment aren't able to do smart stuff unless you've got multiple circuits for stuff so that fridges and freezers can stay on but some other appliances can be switched off at various times by the electricity company. For their benefit.
Even apart from that, so called 'smart meters' as deployed at the moment aren't able to do smart stuff unless you've got multiple circuits for stuff so that fridges and freezers can stay on but some other appliances can be switched off at various times by the electricity company. For their benefit.
karma mechanic said:
Even apart from that, so called 'smart meters' as deployed at the moment aren't able to do smart stuff unless you've got multiple circuits for stuff so that fridges and freezers can stay on but some other appliances can be switched off at various times by the electricity company. For their benefit.
Well, every house has multiple circuits that's for sure 
Please explain why the electric company (& gas for that matter) would want to switch off random appliances?! Remind me, how do they make money again?!R8Steve said:
Don't get one, they'll listen to your conversations and let criminals know when you're not in the house. Apparently.
Nope. That's your TV & smart phone https://www.sammobile.com/2017/03/08/cia-can-appar...
Dave_ST220 said:
Well, every house has multiple circuits that's for sure Please explain why the electric company (& gas for that matter) would want to switch off random appliances?! Remind me, how do they make money again?!
That's what smart meters are for, in the original sense. Please explain why the electric company (& gas for that matter) would want to switch off random appliances?! Remind me, how do they make money again?!You have circuits that stay on all the time, and you have circuits that are for high consumption appliances or specific stuff like EV car chargers. You agree that the electricity company can switch off some circuits when it suits them (when it is costing them a lot) in exchange for a cheaper rate on those circuits when it is costing them less. If they are actual 'smart appliances' then you don't need different circuits but the infrastructure for that is more complicated and subject to horrendous security concerns.
This model isn't what is being rolled out in the UK, instead we get half-assed meters whose only 'smart' feature is that they can communicate the consumption to the company to make billing easier. This also allows them to have real-time charging so that putting the kettle on at the end of Eastenders is more expensive for the consumer. As it happens the electricity companies don't seem to be using this model much either because as soon as one company uses real-time pricing to discourage peak use it will effect the wholesale price of electricity at those times (since there is less of a peak), and the other electricity companies will then pay less for their power at those times but charge the same. Probably a chaotic system.
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