Smart meters. Wish you hadn't?

[K50 DEL]

defblade said:

You missed "Have a smart meter but couldn't give a monkey's either way". I certainly don't "regret" it, but can't think of any reason I could say I "prefer" it.

This is me - I have one, but it sits in the kitchen and I can't say I ever look at it and it certainly hasn't made any difference to the energy I use.

[PF62]

monthou said:

PF62 said:

Octopus Tracker only requires a smart meter because Octopus realised it was a way to push smart meters when Tracker became popular.

I joined Tracker long before that requirement and still have a 'dumb' meter that works fine with Tracker.

How does that work when you get a different price each day?

They split the usage between the meter reading dates based on industry usage data - i.e. they attribute more to cold days than warm days - and realistically that is how people use their heating.

Sure there is a theoretical possibility that I might be away from home for the one day it spikes to something silly in price, and then I have the house turned up to sauna for the rest of the time when the UK is in a heatwave, but really it averages out correctly.

And similarly when I signed up there was no requirement for an electricity smart meter, because the same applies, and with Tracker the daily price doesn't vary up and down as it does with Agile hour by hour.

K50 DEL said:

I have one, but it sits in the kitchen and I can't say I ever look at it

The only time I look at mine is to make sure the EV has started charging.

Edited by PF62 on Sunday 15th October 21:23

[monthou]

PF62 said:

And similarly when I signed up there was no requirement for an electricity smart meter, because the same applies, andwith Tracker the daily price doesn't vary up and down as it does with Agile hour by hour.

Tracker price changes every day. Are you maybe thinking of Flexible?
I can't see how Tracker would work with a dumb meter, but ...

Edited by monthou on Sunday 15th October 21:28

[PF62]

monthou said:

Tracker price changes every day. Are you maybe thinking of Flexible?
I can't see how Tracker would work with a dumb meter, but ...

It doesn't vary up and done as much as Agile does, perhaps 0.5p a day.

And Tracker works fine with a dumb meter - or it has for me for the last 18 months.

[Gareth79]

wyson said:

xx99xx said:

Your calculated saving implies you never use them. If that's the case then yes, switching off at the wall is smart. What's the actual saving for turning off when not in use?

Yes I get that, but seeing that collectively, they are unused most of the time, it was a no brainer to me to just switch them off at the wall when not in use. Switching off kitchen gadgets off at the wall added another 1p or 2p per hour. Read those fluorescent displays on ovens and whatnot can draw 5w each. I guess the disadvantage of that is, the microwave and oven never tell the right time anymore lol.

Oh heck, you just reminded me about my oven, it has a fluorescent clock display. I already measured my microwave as being about 3 watts which means it uses far more total energy showing 0:00 than actually cooking, so I turned it off. My (gas) oven is hard-wired so it will be a hassle to measure, I think I'll just assume the worst throw the switch when I'm not using it...

[monthou]

PF62 said:

monthou said:

Tracker price changes every day. Are you maybe thinking of Flexible?
I can't see how Tracker would work with a dumb meter, but ...

It doesn't vary up and done as much as Agile does, perhaps 0.5p a day.

And it Tracker works fine with a dumb meter - or it has for me for the last 18 months.

Fair enough. I guess they've made it a requirement because they need to push smart meters for their targets.

[richhead]

if you meed a meter to tell you that you are using to much electric i pity you, how do you manage to not over spend in a supermarket?
the rule in life is that if something is free then you are the customer rings true with this, i dont have one, have no need for one, i do things like turn tv off at the plug at night etc, its not hard to figure it uses less if it cant get any. I wouldnt mind one but they cant fit one here, but it wouldnt tell me anything a sane person wouldnt know already, i dont have an ev so no real benifit to me, im not fussed either way, yet again its a gov plan for net zero like trying to get us in ev, ill thought out and badly implimented.

[monthou]

richhead said:

if you meed a meter to tell you that you are using to much electric i pity you.

Who's said that?

[okgo]

I’ve got one. I pay an unhealthy amount of attention to it given the relative unimportance of bills vs other outgoings.

But still like to have it than not.

Edited by okgo on Sunday 15th October 23:03

[richhead]

monthou said:

richhead said:

if you meed a meter to tell you that you are using to much electric i pity you.

Who's said that?

um i did

[monthou]

richhead said:

monthou said:

richhead said:

if you meed a meter to tell you that you are using to much electric i pity you.

Who's said that?

um i did

Ah, ok. Hypothetical pity. Gotcha.

[Super Sonic]

When I had my annual gas check last year there was a potential problem with the meter, so both meters were changed.
Since then my gas bills have gone down ( I got a new fixed monthly tarrid before the prices went stupid) and although I still have to read it myself, it's a lot easier than the old one.
The electric is still on prepay, but I no longer have to go to the shop to top up, I can do it online from the comfort of my sofe. Happy days

[PBCD]

Alickadoo said:

I do enjoy a good conspiracy theory.

The trouble is that the quality of conspiracy theories has dropped right off since Brexit and Covid.

I am not quite sure who to blame.

Any ideas?

Bill Gates?

[caduceus]

Good morning on this chilly Monday. Thank you for the replies and votes gentlemen. Seems like an almost spilt between those having one and liking it and those not and not wanting one.

The Gas distribution company are coming today at some point and I won't be in as I'm working, so I may run the risk of missing the new plastic pipe being run to my property and a nasty white box on the wall outside. I walked around the neighbors properties yesterday and saw some that had been put in...they are pretty unsightly.
I don't know why they can't put the link inside the old metal gas pipe as the new plastic ones are smaller by the look of it, and I keep my existing meter indoors. Less work for them putting one outside but I don't want it outside and neither does my nearest neighbor.

I think I'll be phoning the customer service number of the company this morning and getting some light shed on the visit last week.

[No ideas for a name]

caduceus said:

Good morning on this chilly Monday. Thank you for the replies and votes gentlemen. Seems like an almost spilt between those having one and liking it and those not and not wanting one.

The Gas distribution company are coming today at some point and I won't be in as I'm working, so I may run the risk of missing the new plastic pipe being run to my property and a nasty white box on the wall outside. I walked around the neighbors properties yesterday and saw some that had been put in...they are pretty unsightly.
I don't know why they can't put the link inside the old metal gas pipe as the new plastic ones are smaller by the look of it, and I keep my existing meter indoors. Less work for them putting one outside but I don't want it outside and neither does my nearest neighbor.

I think I'll be phoning the customer service number of the company this morning and getting some light shed on the visit last week.

The underground supply *should* be pushed up your existing metal pipe - that is what they did for us. Just some digging in the road to join to the main.
For us, they did say we may need to change where the meter was - but a quick chat and they were happy to leave it where it was.
You should get a choice of an on-wall, in-wall or in-ground meter box.
In-wall, you will probably have to arrange the fitting of the box yourself.

By default they will do the easiest for them - as you might expect.

[Chris Type R]

Evanivitch said:

Earlier FiT installations used a generation meter to measure generation. 50% of that was assumed to be exported because dumb meters only went forward, not backwards.

Older, dumber meters did indeed go backwards - like having a 100% efficient, infinite capacity battery.

[TonyRPH]

I live in an apartment block and all of our meters (water and electricity - no gas here) are housed some distance away in a basement garage.

The smart meter IHD doesn't work that far away (that rules out all 16 apartments here).

Additionally, I have monitored and graphed my energy usage for at least 5 years now, so I have a firm understanding of how much energy I use.

I also have timed remote switches that switch off unused items between certain hours of the day / night.

There are simply no further savings to be had.

As our home is electrically heated, I also fear that should we fit a smart meter, we'd be penalised for high usage in the late afternoon when our heating starts up, and then push us into fuel poverty and not be able to heat our home at that important time of day.

So a smart meter is a no from me.

[Countdown]

TonyRPH said:

As our home is electrically heated, I also fear that should we fit a smart meter, we'd be penalised for high usage in the late afternoon when our heating starts up, and then push us into fuel poverty and not be able to heat our home at that important time of day.

So a smart meter is a no from me.

I assume you're referring to the Electricty Co. using different rates for different times (to encourage people to use off-peak electricity)?

if that's the case I imagine they'll increase your £/KwH so that the average is the same as somebody with a meter, or they'll charge Non-smart meter owners a higher rate to incentivise them getting one.

[PF62]

Countdown said:

or they'll charge Non-smart meter owners a higher rate to incentivise them getting one.

They already are.

Now the government energy support has gone (as that threw a spanner in the works of smart meter tariffs) the smart meter tariffs that offer cheap overnight electricity have returned to a daytime pricing that is the same as the standard dumb meter tariffs, which means that over a 24 hour period smart meter users are paying a lower rate than dumb meter users.

[caduceus]

No ideas for a name said:

The underground supply *should* be pushed up your existing metal pipe - that is what they did for us. Just some digging in the road to join to the main.
For us, they did say we may need to change where the meter was - but a quick chat and they were happy to leave it where it was.
You should get a choice of an on-wall, in-wall or in-ground meter box.
In-wall, you will probably have to arrange the fitting of the box yourself.

By default they will do the easiest for them - as you might expect.

This was my thought too when they first demanded that the box had to go outside, but i wasn't sure. I'll have a chat with them as my neighbor feels the same way. I'm on hold to OFGEM at the moment getting some legal advice in case the company insist the meters have to go outside and we have no choice to comply of the gas won't be connected (this is what they told me on Friday).