Smart Meters - Current Thoughts?

Zoophonic said:
Ok so its a subject probably discussed before but cant find one.

Ive held out getting one installed for years as was put off by the issues of reliability.

EON have said my current meter is out if date and needs to be replaced. I presume by a SMART meter although they don't say it. Whats the thinking. Bite the bullet or hold off?
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Also, if your meter is EoL you cant refuse a smart meter install. You can ask if they will give you one, they can say no. Most trad meters aren't even being built anymore, so not only are you just delaying the inevitable, reducing your access to more data and cheaper prices, you're just kicking the can down the road even if they do give you that option.

There aren't really any pros to keeping a traditional smart meter. if you aren't interested in seeing the live/daily/weekly/monthly data easily to keep an eye on bills at a time when they are stupidly high, then just don't look at it.

Millbrook said:
The small display unit has never worked since I got it and has now died completely.
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To be honest they usually arent great. You can use a third party service like Bright to get the data via the DCC into their app and its easier to see on your phone. If you are with octopus they have an API and you can use all manner of third party apps to see your data and compare to other tariffs. Most suppliers just have their own app.
 
Had a British Gas one a few years ago now. It stopped working on the display gadget when I moved suppliers, it must still send to the supplier as they bill me accurately. Never found much point in the display, after a few days manically switching everything off you just get on with using everything as you always have.
 
Muttley said:
Had a British Gas one a few years ago now. It stopped working on the display gadget when I moved suppliers, it must still send to the supplier as they bill me accurately. Never found much point in the display, after a few days manically switching everything off you just get on with using everything as you always have.
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the display is just useful for looking at your meter readings easily as well as, if it is working correctly, checking your MTD spend on each fuel. If you're on a budget, you can usually set a target use amount so that you can keep an eye on how much you have spent and it will tell you if you're going over your budget. they are also useful for seeing if something has been left on.

Many, many, many people make posts online about massive bills and it turns out they've left the immersion heater on for months on end. With a smart meter, you see stuff like that via the display so you know right away something is up. you don't have to micromanage everything though, it's just there - not everyone knows how much electricity an old plasma TV uses or those plug in radiators or electric fires under media walls, so its useful to see in a pence per hour cost how much your live usage actually costs.
 
Zoophonic said:
Ok so its a subject probably discussed before but cant find one.

Ive held out getting one installed for years as was put off by the issues of reliability.

EON have said my current meter is out if date and needs to be replaced. I presume by a SMART meter although they don't say it. Whats the thinking. Bite the bullet or hold off?
Click to expand...

It was always the right wing reform types I would see online complaining about smart meters. As such I never took any notice. We have had one years and never had any problems.
 
Been on a smart meter a few years now,, fitted when I was on Eon, been on 3 other suppliers since, now on octopus. She’ll was the best online app but Octopi’s is ok…
The small digital display is disconnected and not used as it only provides a visual of how much you are using… some people (my parents) think it’s the actual smart meter lol

I’ve never had an issue with bills or readings…

My parents did when their was installed…. The engineer entered the wrong start reading and the got charged about 20 years of electricity… even with me ringing up they still demanded we went through various tests to prove it wasn’t actual use. 🤦🏼
 
Had our meters changed gas and leccy 6 weeks ago and the digital display in the house. .
Engineer told us how to use it but I don't want to be looking at it all the time. If it's cold the heating is on. If it's dark the lights are on.
Unplugged it and put it in a drawer and it's not made a difference to us. Looked at my bill online and it's sending them info. Just means I don't have to go outside and read them once a month.
 
Brian Marwood said:
The government used them to see if people were breaking lockdown rules during Covid. The very epitome of Big Brother.
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The energy companies can also switch you over to a prepayment tariff automatically. They got stopped from breaking into people's homes illegally to switch their meters, this is the crafty way they'll be doing it from now on to the vulnerable. I've told them many times that once they can fit one that they promise will work (perverse incentives in the first round of changes is the reason so many of them are now "dumb") and also provide guarantees they won't use the tariff changing technology without my permission they can fit one. They've never got back to me yet...
Citizens Advice
"If you have a smart meter, your supplier can switch your meter from paying by credit to prepayment remotely"
 
I've had three iterations of smart meters so far. The first only worked with Scottish Power, so didn't work when I switched supplier.

The second one was dumb - made during Covid and didn't have comms chips fitted.

The third meter works fine. It transmits my energy use to the supplier ok. I had no end of trouble with the little display thing. It didn't work at all for 3 months, then for electricity only, and finally after a year it shows gas too. It shows how much the gas and electricity being used now, and last hour, and last day, week and month.

It doesn't give me unit readings though. Still have to trek outside on the first of the month to take readings for my spreadsheet.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
when they "break" they break the same way that trad meters break, the metering tech isn't really any different to a trad meter, it just has a comms hub attached to it that links to the supplier via an intermediary (called the DCC) to provide the data in both directions. A meter that loses connection still meters, and either gets connection restored or continues storing the information to be manually read.
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Some don’t allow gas through
 
I've had Scottish Power ringing me all last week - presumably about Smart Meters.

Each time I've answered I've had variations on the automated teller with one call going straight to some pretty annoying hold-music.

I then got a call from an unknown number with an Indian-sounding chap telling me I had to get one installed. I asked why and he said it was because my old meter was coming to end of life. I then asked what that actually meant and he told me I'd make savings by switching. I then asked if I could just keep the one I have and he asked me for a bunch of security information, which I refused to give as (a) he'd rung me and, (b) the number wasn't the usual Scottish Power one. It had all the hallmarks of a scam despite probably being legitimate.

I've nothing against getting a smart meter fitted but why the hard sell? If it's such a no-brainer why do I feel almost threatened into getting one?

ThatFragranceGuy said:
To be honest they usually arent great. You can use a third party service like Bright to get the data via the DCC into their app and its easier to see on your phone. If you are with octopus they have an API and you can use all manner of third party apps to see your data and compare to other tariffs. Most suppliers just have their own app.
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This isn't the flex you seem to think it is. If the technology doesn't work I don't want my elderly parents needing me to set up even more stuff on the 'smart' phones they currently have problems trying to bank with. I know plenty of IT illiterate youngsters that would struggle, too.
 
Scrote said:
I've had Scottish Power ringing me all last week - presumably about Smart Meters.

Each time I've answered I've had variations on the automated teller with one call going straight to some pretty annoying hold-music.

I then got a call from an unknown number with an Indian-sounding chap telling me I had to get one installed. I asked why and he said it was because my old meter was coming to end of life. I then asked what that actually meant and he told me I'd make savings by switching. I then asked if I could just keep the one I have and he asked me for a bunch of security information, which I refused to give as (a) he'd rung me and, (b) the number wasn't the usual Scottish Power one. It had all the hallmarks of a scam despite probably being legitimate.

I've nothing against getting a smart meter fitted but why the hard sell? If it's such a no-brainer why do I feel almost threatened into getting one?


This isn't the flex you seem to think it is. If the technology doesn't work I don't want my elderly parents needing me to set up even more stuff on the 'smart' phones they currently have problems trying to bank with. I know plenty of IT illiterate youngsters that would struggle, too.
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Not sure why you're trapping yourself in a dead end like this. if you don't want them to have all that then .... don't have all that,

No one is forcing you to live in a data rich environment, but you have options to do so if you can/want to.

Other side of the coin is, if you have elderly parents that are IT illiterate then they can easily become vulnerable, you can access all that stuff remotely on their behalf and ensure it's all running smoothly for them. When we looked after my grandmother, we used to age to go round her house all the time to make sure she was putting the heating on, pay her bills for her, give readings etc.

None of this is a 'flex', no-one is forced to be 'smart' in this way, but those who want to, can do, and plenty of elderly people are perfectly fine using smart meters to benefit them.

As for the hard sell, suppliers are forced to meet targets for smart meter installations and end of life meters are a situation where they can force an install as they aren't really making more of the old ones.
 
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