Smart Meter

AI has made many lives better, I'm all for improvements in general. I'm not sure about Hive in the home which is why I'm not taking it up. 

I’m a fan of smart controls like Hive for heating systems. Nothing better than firing up the heating system and hot water on the way home from a trip so everything is all nice & warm by the time you reach home. 

Brue

Can I ask what you are unsure of with regard to Hive? It seems that most of us with it almost  equate it to the best thing since sliced bread Since we had it, its been a revelation. Particularly useful for those of use that nip off for a few days as Hive allows us to control our heating remotely. I must admit I have not gone beyond the central heating but Hive does have a wider use if you wish to expand the system into lights and cameras.

David

Alexa is excellent for notifications, alarms finding/playing music & radio stns👍🏻
AI will continue to dominate our lives. Talking to a chatbot is soul destroying mind, you get on a loop that never goes anywhere, 3 from 10 must try harder☹️

The best thing since sliced bread for me is a camera door bell. Alerted whenever the bell rings and you can see and chat to whoever it is from the comfort of your sun bed in Spain or wherever! Image and sound quality is remarkably good.

To me, many of these 'gadgets' seem to be a very expensive way of flicking a switch. Taking Hive as an example, how long does it actually take to get a bit of warmth in the house if one has been away for a few days and come home and switch the CH on? Not long at all in reality. We leave our CH set at about 10º if we go away. This prevents any risk of frost damage but it very rarely switches on. Similarly with the hot water. Within a very short period it is back up to full temperature once switched on again. The house is well insulated so doesn't cool off to any major degree. During the summer months when most of us have our trips away the CH is probably fully switched off in any case.

I'm not a Luddite by any means, but I do consider carefully the benefits of buying any technology before I jump in. For many people, unfortunately, it is a case of The Emperor's New Clothes, believing anything that they are told.  Oh, the power of advertising.

My niece and her mother are gadget mad but the number of times she tells us "Oh I don't use that any more" when I ask about gadgets they have bought.

Cars are the same. I bet there is no-one on here that uses all the in-built gadgets and systems that modern vehicles offer - but we've paid for them.

It's really personal choice David and not feeling pressured into something I don't need or want. We could go down the Hive route by other means but it doesn't interest me. 

There are all sorts of things out there which we can choose to organise our lives if needed. Hive is just an example not a necessity.

Nothing to do with advertising, but experience. Arriving home at 1am in winter when the heating has been on frost mode for several weeks isn’t pleasant compared to the alternative. If the technology is there and it can improve the quality of your life, why reject it? Hive is expensive, but there are cheaper options just as good. Tend to agree about cars though, but couldn’t live without my auto windscreen wipers.😉

We had our Linky meter fitted last year all done in 10 minutes you can read on the meter yourself or by an app which OH does and no issues, nearly everybody here has one if you do not want one as OH says carrot and stick is that you will not be able to get special rates etc, we were in our friends village last year and they pointed out one old house where the meter box is on the one side and it was covered in chains and locks with notices saying do not want one as the Linky meter will give off radiation, I thought I had taken a photo but could not find it so will check with our friends to see if they have one, there have been a few cases of folk padlocking their meter.

OH does not like hive and he says re the 2 factor authorisation is usually a security feature to stop anybody getting at your ie. heating system etc and turning on when you do not want it on,  As you know he is a gadget man ex IT and Electronics.

My biggest concern with smart-meters is the possible inaccuracy of them. I'm doing a daily check at the moment reading the gas cost and actual kWh and the same with the electric. If I then look at the weekly cumulative costs and usage they bear no resemblance to the figures if I add up the daily figures myself. Which is correct, the daily figures or the weekly ones? I suspect it is the daily figures but it would be nice if it was the weekly figures that are correct as they are much, much lower. What have the electric / gas company been billing me against?