Smart meters. Wish you hadn't?

[Evanivitch]

Chris Type R said:

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.

They were supposed to be updated when a generation source was added. They are exceptionally old meters.

[Evanivitch]

TonyRPH said:

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.

How do you heat your hot water?

[Chumley.mouse]

Actual said:

Smart Water Meter?

I wish I could have a smart water meter. When I moved in Thames Water wanted to charge £700 that the previous owner had underpaid. Now I send a water meter reading every month and the bill is about £25 a month. To get a water meter reading I have to crawl under a hedge so a smart water meter would be very nice. Thames Water does supply smart water meters but not to me.

Not many people consider the potential financial risk of a water leak that goes undetected for an extended period possibly for years. At least I check my water meter every month and I will notice if I have used more that 6m3.

Ive just had a smart water meter fitted this morning A simple swap with the old one and also dont have to have the black plastic thing on the wall outside anymore . Apparently they are only semi- smart and a man only needs to come to the top of the road now and can read the whole street from a laptop. We will see.

You can still read the dials yourself too.

[eldar]

I've an EV and solar panels. It's nice getting paid by octopus. Over the year, my electricity bill, including charging the car will be between £250 and -£200. Can't do that with the ludditeometer.

[TonyRPH]

Evanivitch said:

TonyRPH said:

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.

How do you heat your hot water?

Hot water is heated on Economy 7 overnight.

[geeks]

I love the smart meter threads on PH, they bring out the absolute wackos in their numbers

We have one, had one in our previous house and the one before that. I really don't see what the big deal is, I don't have to read my meter, I don't use more or less electricity and it changes precisely 4/5 of fk all for me and just about everyone else who has one

[turbobloke]

geeks said:

I love the smart meter threads on PH, they bring out the absolute wackos in their numbers

We have one, had one in our previous house and the one before that. I really don't see what the big deal is, I don't have to read my meter, I don't use more or less electricity and it changes precisely 4/5 of fk all for me and just about everyone else who has one

Fair enough, they're not without problems though. Without a smart meter there's no possibility of communication or other 'smart' errors and faults cutting off energy supplies. Also, if the supplier is changed, does an existing smart meter remain fully smart with the new supplier - apparently not, half the time. Each to their own as they say.

Smart Meter 'Nightmare'
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1702718/sma...
Smart Meter Cuts Off Customer 3 Times, Ends Up in Hospital
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/20262785/disabled-w...
Households Without Gas After Smart Meter Glitch
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/18228716/gas-cut-of...
Hundreds of Customers Hit by Power Cut-off due to Smart Meters
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people...
Alarming Rise in Homes with Smart Meters Being Cut-off Remotely
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/smart-meter-cut-off-prep...
Half of Smart Meters Stop Working When You Switch Energy Firm
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/half-of-smart...

[Evanivitch]

TonyRPH said:

Hot water is heated on Economy 7 overnight.

And what rates are you getting? I've seen some poor Eco7 tariffs around.

[TonyRPH]

Evanivitch said:

TonyRPH said:

Hot water is heated on Economy 7 overnight.

And what rates are you getting? I've seen some poor Eco7 tariffs around.

Currently 14.70 p/kWh

[mcdjl]

Old meter, look at it read numbers, submit to company, start to finish 10s.
Smart meters, not compatible with supplier, press button to wake it up. Wait 30s for it to wake up, realise phone has gone to sleep, wake phoned up, wake smart meter up, submit reading, start to finish 2 minutes. Except that the smart meter has packed in and won't give a reading and hasn't got 3 months as they don't have any to replace it with.

[Actual]

Chumley.mouse said:

Actual said:

Smart Water Meter?

I wish I could have a smart water meter. When I moved in Thames Water wanted to charge £700 that the previous owner had underpaid. Now I send a water meter reading every month and the bill is about £25 a month. To get a water meter reading I have to crawl under a hedge so a smart water meter would be very nice. Thames Water does supply smart water meters but not to me.

Not many people consider the potential financial risk of a water leak that goes undetected for an extended period possibly for years. At least I check my water meter every month and I will notice if I have used more that 6m3.

Ive just had a smart water meter fitted this morning A simple swap with the old one and also dont have to have the black plastic thing on the wall outside anymore . Apparently they are only semi- smart and a man only needs to come to the top of the road now and can read the whole street from a laptop. We will see.

You can still read the dials yourself too.

Oh no that limited smart function won't be good enough to detect a leak if the water meter readings are taken infrequently. I will still have to crawl under my hedge once a month.

[Evanivitch]

TonyRPH said:

Evanivitch said:

TonyRPH said:

Hot water is heated on Economy 7 overnight.

And what rates are you getting? I've seen some poor Eco7 tariffs around.

Currently 14.70 p/kWh

And the day is 40?

[TonyRPH]

Evanivitch said:

And the day is 40?

Standing charge is 49.87 p/day

Day rate is 34.34p/kWh

[the tribester]

Rough101 said:

21TonyK said:

Do smart meters work if you have solar feeding back as well?

You would be daft to have PV without a smart meter!

Unless it makes the old meter run backwards.

[Chumley.mouse]

Actual said:

Oh no that limited smart function won't be good enough to detect a leak if the water meter readings are taken infrequently. I will still have to crawl under my hedge once a month.

Ah ours is inside so if there was a leak after the meter we’d know .

Before the meter, its not paid for 🙂

You can get them moved , inside out and visa versa but it will cost you.

[Road2Ruin]

turbobloke said:

Fair enough, they're not without problems though. Without a smart meter there's no possibility of communication or other 'smart' errors and faults cutting off energy supplies. Also, if the supplier is changed, does an existing smart meter remain fully smart with the new supplier - apparently not, half the time. Each to their own as they say.

Smart Meter 'Nightmare'
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1702718/sma...
Smart Meter Cuts Off Customer 3 Times, Ends Up in Hospital
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/20262785/disabled-w...
Households Without Gas After Smart Meter Glitch
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/18228716/gas-cut-of...
Hundreds of Customers Hit by Power Cut-off due to Smart Meters
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people...
Alarming Rise in Homes with Smart Meters Being Cut-off Remotely
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/smart-meter-cut-off-prep...
Half of Smart Meters Stop Working When You Switch Energy Firm
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/half-of-smart...

Did you actually bother to read any of those articles. Most of them are clickbait and the actual truth is far from the headline. There is even one article from 2019 that refers to the older smets1 meters that are no longer fitted and haven't been for a number of years.

[Spoke]

Perhaps the fuel suppliers should be putting pressure on the mobile network providers to actually get us a mobile signal to facilitate a smart meter. Would be a nice side-benefit but unlikely to happen being so remote and far from civilisation here in Gloucestershire about 7 miles from Cheltenham - no signal from any network and been like that for the 25 years I've lived here.

[KTMsm]

geeks said:

I love the smart meter threads on PH, they bring out the absolute wackos in their numbers

We have one, had one in our previous house and the one before that. I really don't see what the big deal is, I don't have to read my meter, I don't use more or less electricity and it changes precisely 4/5 of fk all for me and just about everyone else who has one

But can it report a higher figure to the supplier when prices are due to rise or a lower reading when prices are due to fall ?

As you say, it changes nothing else so why have one ?

[Road2Ruin]

KTMsm said:

But can it report a higher figure to the supplier when prices are due to rise or a lower reading when prices are due to fall ?

As you say, it changes nothing else so why have one ?

It can't report a higher or lower reading. And he doesn't have to read his effing meter, so a bonus. An old meter though, if not read often, can lead to under or over payments as rates change. Hth.

[KTMsm]

Road2Ruin said:

KTMsm said:

But can it report a higher figure to the supplier when prices are due to rise or a lower reading when prices are due to fall ?

As you say, it changes nothing else so why have one ?

It can't report a higher or lower reading. And he doesn't have to read his effing meter, so a bonus. An old meter though, if not read often, can lead to under or over payments as rates change. Hth.

WHOOSH

You can report the incorrect figures saving money compared to a smart meter