Smart meters. Wish you hadn't?

[monthou]

Hondashark said:

So you're one of those that needs too as you don't know what consumes power.

"Hmm I've used £2.50 of electric today, I know I've cooked tea and had the tumble dryer running but it might be the mrs watering the plants that's used it"

So literally...

monthou said:

Hondashark said:

I have one, it doesn't tell me anything that I didn't already know.

It does. Whether you take notice - or care - is something else.

[Hondashark]

monthou said:

Hondashark said:

So you're one of those that needs too as you don't know what consumes power.

"Hmm I've used £2.50 of electric today, I know I've cooked tea and had the tumble dryer running but it might be the mrs watering the plants that's used it"

So literally...

monthou said:

Hondashark said:

I have one, it doesn't tell me anything that I didn't already know.

It does. Whether you take notice - or care - is something else.

You also missed where I said roughly.

Take your days usage, divide by 24 hours and bias it towards the hours when you were using the electricity. Its not hard.

Tell me you didn't look at the live readings and ran round the house wondering where all the watts were coming from

That's exactly what those displays were for, stupid people having no clue about their usage.

[JagYouAre]

defblade said:

You missed "Have a smart meter but couldn't give a monkey's either way"

Would have got my vote too.

[Merry]

Hondashark said:

I didnt say I didn't benefit, I got one as I couldn't be arsed to send meter readings and I'm not stupid enough to think that the "government" will turn my power off if I have one fitted.

I have now also benefitted by much cheaper rates as that was already in place.

The display adds nothing that you couldn't work out before unless you're a moron that can't make the connection between their power usage and the bill at the end of the month.

Probably not, but it may help some people, even if you define them as morons.

Either way is a daft battlefield to be fighting on.

[wyson]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Which ones?

Dishwasher, dryer?

I was amazed by my Samsung TV’s and Monitors on standy. I was under the impression they cost pennies a week, not pennies an hour. Switching them off the wall saw the draw drop by 3p an hour. That is 0.03 * 24 * 365 = £262.80 a year. That is a serious chunk of change for them to be sitting there doing nothing. I was shocked. They get switched off at the wall now when not in use, which is most of the day. The monitors are used 9-5 and the tv’s might be used a couple of hours in the evening.

Edited by wyson on Sunday 15th October 19:13

[sam.rog]

If I didn’t have one I would be paying over 3x what I am now to charge my car.
Currently 7.5p instead of 30p. Also have the appliances on during the cheap rate.
Probably saving £200 a month with having it.

Edited by sam.rog on Sunday 15th October 19:02

[Hondashark]

Merry said:

Probably not, but it may help some people, even if you define them as morons.

Either way is a daft battlefield to be fighting on.

Indeed, I'll leave it there

[monthou]

Hondashark said:

You also missed where I said roughly.

Take your days usage, divide by 24 hours and bias it towards the hours when you were using the electricity. Its not hard.

Tell me you didn't look at the live readings and ran round the house wondering where all the watts were coming from

That's exactly what those displays were for, stupid people having no clue about their usage.

You don't see a difference between knowing your energy usage per day and knowing your real-time power usage. And you're calling other people stupid.
Let's just leave it there.

[Actual]

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.

[BobSaunders]

Thank goodness, i had wondered where the regular monthly smart meter thread was this month.

[21TonyK]

FMOB said:

Even with a smart meter you will still need to give manual readings from the meter for the solar panels.

Thanks, this is the bit that I care about.

(No I don't have a smart meter either)

[xx99xx]

wyson said:

I was amazed by my Samsung TV’s and Monitors on standy. I was under the impression they cost pennies a week, not pennies an hour. Switching them off the wall saw the draw drop by 3p an hour. That is 0.03 * 24 * 365 = £262.80 a year. That is a serious chunk of change for them to be sitting there doing nothing. I was shocked. They get switched off at the wall now when not in use, which is most of the day. The monitors are used 9-5 and the tv’s might be used a couple of hours in the evening.

Edited by wyson on Sunday 15th October 19:13

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?

[tr7v8]

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 was the option I was looking for. Completely pointless

[Evanivitch]

21TonyK said:

FMOB said:

Even with a smart meter you will still need to give manual readings from the meter for the solar panels.

Thanks, this is the bit that I care about.

(No I don't have a smart meter either)

You don't have to if you switch to actual export and not the deemed export your FiT panels are on, request with your FiT provider. It's irrelevant of you're on SEG, as that requires a smart meter.

[FMOB]

Road2Ruin said:

FMOB said:

The Feed In Tariff system has a separate meter that is completely independent of a smart meter, a smart meter is about the energy you consume and records the power into the property. It does not go backwards when you are putting excess power into the grid or subtract one for the other.

Even with a smart meter you will still need to give manual readings from the meter for the solar panels.

Edited by FMOB on Sunday 15th October 16:21

We don't. Our smart meter also reports export.

So how does it record generation which makes up the biggest part of the feed-in tariff? Any energy exported is paid at a pittance so is wasted as far as the FIT owner is concerned, much better to use it and save the unit cost.

I have a solar diverter which dumps excess energy into the immersion to minimise any exported energy.

[wyson]

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.

[FMOB]

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.

Indeed, I turn off the microwave because the clock draws way more power than you would think necessary. As much as the EU managed to reduce standby power of home electrical items, they still draw power when plugged in and idle. I use the power timer plugs that cut the power after a set time, also good for not over charging battery devices which degrades the battery.

[wyson]

That’s a great idea. I put most of my stuff on switchable multigang surge protectors so a single switch can kill power to a lot of devices, and the kitchen appliances are all switched from the same wall panel so it takes a minute or two at most.

I noticed switching stuff on and off ‘at the wall’, you become more conscious of how much you use things. The bedroom tv and sound bar were used maybe once a week for a movie. Such a waste to have those use standby power for doing nothing almost all the time.

Edited by wyson on Monday 16th October 09:20

[PF62]

Hondashark said:

I'm on Octopus Tracker which requires the smart meter.

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' gas meter that works fine with Tracker.

I have a smart electricity meter, because there is a point to that with their EV tariffs, but for gas - nope.

[monthou]

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?