Smart meters. Wish you hadn't?

[Chris Type R]

Road2Ruin said:

The Octopus one is simple and easy. The main screen cycles through current, daily, weekly monthly and yearly usage. Press the menu button and meter, then it shows the meter readings. Not sure how much easier they could make it.

I believe that octopus have 3 different displays.

I think that the meter reading should be on the meters themselves, and easy to access and to read. You shouldn't have to rely on an external screen to see something which is the fundamental purpose of the meter to record.

Instead the meters are covered with compliance and conformance information, made in China labels, don't interfere labels. The buttons are ambiguously labelled. Very poor UI compared to the old spiny wheel/analogue UI.

At our other house the electrical meter has a display. The new gas meter can apparently not talk to the old electrician meter.

It all seems like a disjointed mess. Then there's also the issue of the finite battery life on gas meters.... Which are apparently changed when the battery runs flat, rather than having serviceable batteries.

I know you can look in the cloud for info, and why the meters have to be digital. I just think the analogue meters had the edge in terms of presenting the fundamental information as well as having better longevity.

I have a similar gripe about our FIT solar meter... No backlight, small text, located in a dark spot in the garage. Inevitably when you photograph the reading the flash goes off rendering the photo unusable.

[Road2Ruin]

Chris Type R said:

Road2Ruin said:

The Octopus one is simple and easy. The main screen cycles through current, daily, weekly monthly and yearly usage. Press the menu button and meter, then it shows the meter readings. Not sure how much easier they could make it.

I believe that octopus have 3 different displays.

I think that the meter reading should be on the meters themselves, and easy to access and to read. You shouldn't have to rely on an external screen to see something which is the fundamental purpose of the meter to record.

They do. Or at least mine does. It's a back lit display that show the reading permanently. You obviously need to go to the cabinet to read it though. But then if you have a dumb meter you would be doing that too.
The difference is, I just don't need to bother.
I am pretty sure some people are trying to create a problem with smart meters that doesn't exist or is often over inflated by the media on slow news days.

[Spitfire2]

My last supplier tried to force my hand to take a smart meter. As I had already fallen out with them in a big way (long story involving compensation of £250 so not entirely fruitless) I and the Ombudsman told them to beat it.

Current supplier has similarly insisted that they must change us to Smart Meters due to leccy meter being over 20 years old - which I know not to be legally.required due to previous Ombudsman case.

I don't care what kind of meter I have - genuinely. So told them they are very welcome to fit them but that I won't be spending an entire day in the house for them to show (they mainly offer 8am-6pm slots).

Invites them to contact me to agree a 2 hour arrival window - which could mean 4 hours as they say it may take 2 hours for the install.

They simply cannot cope with that reasonable request and have decided they don't actually have to install them after all.

Not really a pro/con post but beats me why these companies are still workingninnthe dark ages and unable to do better than say the engineer will arrive sometime between 8am and 6pm

[SunsetZed]

Spitfire2 said:

My last supplier tried to force my hand to take a smart meter. As I had already fallen out with them in a big way (long story involving compensation of £250 so not entirely fruitless) I and the Ombudsman told them to beat it.

Current supplier has similarly insisted that they must change us to Smart Meters due to leccy meter being over 20 years old - which I know not to be legally.required due to previous Ombudsman case.

I don't care what kind of meter I have - genuinely. So told them they are very welcome to fit them but that I won't be spending an entire day in the house for them to show (they mainly offer 8am-6pm slots).

Invites them to contact me to agree a 2 hour arrival window - which could mean 4 hours as they say it may take 2 hours for the install.

They simply cannot cope with that reasonable request and have decided they don't actually have to install them after all.

Not really a pro/con post but beats me why these companies are still workingninnthe dark ages and unable to do better than say the engineer will arrive sometime between 8am and 6pm

This is why I haven't got one. My wife and I work from home and cannot 3 weeks in advance provide a day where I can tell them they could have the electricity off for an hour (which could be at any point between 8-6). If they were more flexible on the installation I'd have one fitted.

[borcy]

SunsetZed said:

Spitfire2 said:

My last supplier tried to force my hand to take a smart meter. As I had already fallen out with them in a big way (long story involving compensation of £250 so not entirely fruitless) I and the Ombudsman told them to beat it.

Current supplier has similarly insisted that they must change us to Smart Meters due to leccy meter being over 20 years old - which I know not to be legally.required due to previous Ombudsman case.

I don't care what kind of meter I have - genuinely. So told them they are very welcome to fit them but that I won't be spending an entire day in the house for them to show (they mainly offer 8am-6pm slots).

Invites them to contact me to agree a 2 hour arrival window - which could mean 4 hours as they say it may take 2 hours for the install.

They simply cannot cope with that reasonable request and have decided they don't actually have to install them after all.

Not really a pro/con post but beats me why these companies are still workingninnthe dark ages and unable to do better than say the engineer will arrive sometime between 8am and 6pm

This is why I haven't got one. My wife and I work from home and cannot 3 weeks in advance provide a day where I can tell them they could have the electricity off for an hour (which could be at any point between 8-6). If they were more flexible on the installation I'd have one fitted.

You can't have the electricity off for an hour, don't you take a break during the working day?

[Road2Ruin]

When I had mine done, I requested the first appointment of the day, 08.00. They were there, did it and gone in less than an hour.

[NDA]

Road2Ruin said:

The main screen cycles through current, daily, weekly monthly and yearly usage. Press the menu button and meter, then it shows the meter readings. Not sure how much easier they could make it.

I just look at a number on my non 'smart' meter. Pretty easy. No screens.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

borcy said:

You can't have the electricity off for an hour, don't you take a break during the working day?

Some people’s working from home isn’t simply doing office work where you can choose to down-tools whenever you feel like it.

Take Mrs Oxgreen, for example. She does online tutoring. That means booking slots with clients weeks or months in advance, and doing Zoom calls with them at precise times. It simply wouldn’t do to have an engineer turn up on the day and lose power for an hour or more at a time that can’t be pinned down in advance. She wouldn’t therefore know which clients to cancel, and would have no option but to cancel the whole day losing hundreds of pounds.

[borcy]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

borcy said:

You can't have the electricity off for an hour, don't you take a break during the working day?

Some people’s working from home isn’t simply doing office work where you can choose to down-tools whenever you feel like it.

Take Mrs Oxgreen, for example. She does online tutoring. That means booking slots with clients weeks or months in advance, and doing Zoom calls with them at precise times. It simply wouldn’t do to have an engineer turn up on the day and lose power for an hour or more at a time that can’t be pinned down in advance. She wouldn’t therefore know which clients to cancel, and would have no option but to cancel the whole day losing hundreds of pounds.

Fair enough.

[Road2Ruin]

NDA said:

Road2Ruin said:

The main screen cycles through current, daily, weekly monthly and yearly usage. Press the menu button and meter, then it shows the meter readings. Not sure how much easier they could make it.

I just look at a number on my non 'smart' meter. Pretty easy. No screens.

My smart meter does that too. But I don't even 'have' to do it. I don't see your point. Other than you saying 'I am doing more work' for the same result.

[8.4L 154]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

borcy said:

You can't have the electricity off for an hour, don't you take a break during the working day?

Some people’s working from home isn’t simply doing office work where you can choose to down-tools whenever you feel like it.

Take Mrs Oxgreen, for example. She does online tutoring. That means booking slots with clients weeks or months in advance, and doing Zoom calls with them at precise times. It simply wouldn’t do to have an engineer turn up on the day and lose power for an hour or more at a time that can’t be pinned down in advance. She wouldn’t therefore know which clients to cancel, and would have no option but to cancel the whole day losing hundreds of pounds.

I think if I ran a business like that I'd have a laptop with a battery that lasted longer than an hour and a phone data plan capable of running a decent hotspot for the inevitable broadband outage.

[silentbrown]

OutInTheShed said:

I would think duff smart meters create plenty of work for meter readers.

Not sure how you work that one out. A "duff" smart meter just needs reading like a traditional meter, and even with the shocking number of 'duff' ones, over 50% of UK meters are now operating in 'smart' mode.

[silentbrown]

8.4L 154 said:

I think if I ran a business like that I'd have a laptop with a battery that lasted longer than an hour and a phone data plan capable of running a decent hotspot for the inevitable broadband outage.

Quite. It's a nonsense argument. If you can't even cope with planned downtime, how the hell are you going to manage any unplanned downtime?

[OutInTheShed]

8.4L 154 said:

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

borcy said:

You can't have the electricity off for an hour, don't you take a break during the working day?

Some people’s working from home isn’t simply doing office work where you can choose to down-tools whenever you feel like it.

Take Mrs Oxgreen, for example. She does online tutoring. That means booking slots with clients weeks or months in advance, and doing Zoom calls with them at precise times. It simply wouldn’t do to have an engineer turn up on the day and lose power for an hour or more at a time that can’t be pinned down in advance. She wouldn’t therefore know which clients to cancel, and would have no option but to cancel the whole day losing hundreds of pounds.

I think if I ran a business like that I'd have a laptop with a battery that lasted longer than an hour and a phone data plan capable of running a decent hotspot for the inevitable broadband outage.

If you want a business service level, then maybe your electricity contract should be at business rates?

[dickymint]

OutInTheShed said:

8.4L 154 said:

A man who's job depends on people not having smart meters won't get a smart meter and a company which never read a meter goes bust. Hmmm

I would think duff smart meters create plenty of work for meter readers.
I'm with Octopus and haven't seen a meter reader since covid, they can't read the meter without me knowing.

For clarity he only reads the gas meter, the leccy meter hasn't been 'read' in about 4/5 years

I did ring SWALEC (my original supplier before I switched to Bulb) to let them know it's about to reach 99999 and was reassured "it'll go back to zero it's bullet proof" and of course it did. Here it is..............

[The Three D Mucketeer]

Pleased you removed the large magnet before you took the photo

[dickymint]

The Three D Mucketeer said:

Pleased you removed the large magnet before you took the photo

Super strong Neodymium magnets are small enough to keep on my house keys

[Chris Type R]

dickymint said:

The Three D Mucketeer said:

Pleased you removed the large magnet before you took the photo

Super strong Neodymium magnets are small enough to keep on my house keys

I reckon that'd spin backwards if you connected up a solar array.