Smart Meter

PS-I never accept them putting my payment up to what they want.

One advantage of the smart meter is that they also put it down. Sometimes I think too much, although you can override. At the moment we are in credit but that’s because we built up a reserve  by being away, shortly we will go into debt . As long as it doesn’t get over large, our payment will be left as it is and we will go back into credit when we go away again.

Just read an online piece about smart meters that it seems from 2023? Will as per government blessing   fuel companies will be able to alter the smart to reflect the price of fuel several times a day? to reflect prices at that time

Surely the two things come together. They are part and parcel of the same thing. They are not mutually exclusive. That was my experience anyway and this Which article seems to confirm it. 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/smart-meters/article/smart-meters-explained/what-is-a-smart-meter-artlW8n6atdo

They come as a pair.

I think smart-meters are great and I can't understand the resistance. I have been on a monthly billing cycle for both electric and gas since November 2010 and I used to have to up load the readings online. Now I don't have to worry about that as it all happens automatically. I had my smart-meters installed in January 2017 (for free) and I would not be without them.

The In-House-Display, which I keep on my kitchen unit, is really useful to see usage. I won't claim it has made a huge difference to my usage, but it definitely focuses the mind, especially in the case of electricity, when you turn the kettle on and you see the indicator move into the orange. If the tumble dryer, washing machine and oven are also on, you're far into the red! I certainly no longer overfill the kettle! 

There was a problem with smart meters when customers wanted to swap suppliers and their meters weren't "swappable" I presume this doesn't happen now?

I don't like the idea that there could be any possible remote control interference so at present a smart meter isn't for us.

With our supplier I can send in meter readings at any time and payments are immediately adjusted, up or down, if I agree.

As in my previous post - up to 48 times a day

We also are with Octopus. We had a smart meter installed so we could benefit from variable tariffs. The smart meter replaces your existing meter.  The display unit plugs in where ever you want it to. The mobile signal that is used is NOT the same as your mobile phone.  It is not in any way connected to your home internet.

We have a tariff called Go Faster which gives us cheap electricity (currently 5p a unit) for 4 hours (02.30 to 06.30 in our case)  During that time we use dishwasher & washing machine (using the time delay function on each machine) also water heating and car charging.

The rest of the time is 16p a unit.  Fortunately we changed tariff back in July last year before prices went crazy.  Obviously those prices are now all higher.

We get monthly electronic bills which actually show you how much electricity (we dont have gas) you are using each half hour - because the smart meter sends half hourly readings to Octopus.  So you can be as anal as you like in examining your electricity consumption.

To be honest, after the initial novelty, we tend not to take much notice of the display unit.  We have solar panels, and its quite good when it tells you that you are not consuming any electricity, but you know you are, but its coming from the solar.  Makes you feel good!

Personally I still record monthly readings, for my own records - sounds daft, but Octopus monthly reading is mid month, & I have taken end of month readings for years - so carry on doing so.  It is easier to read the meter via the display unit that the meter itself - but that it to do with the height of the meter up the wall.

We didnt bother until we decided to have a variable tariff.  We didnt see how it could reduce our consumption, and it hasnt.  It has reduced our cost - because of the tariff it facilitates.

Installation was straight forward.  They tell you it can take a couple of weeks before everything talks to each other.  I think it took about 6 weeks before everything including billing, settled down.  

We've been invited to take part in the new trial about surge pricing.  You would reduce your consumption during a particular 2 hour period (when general consumption is high) and get the rest of that 2 hour consumption for free.  I think that was the detail.  We are not taking that up because a) we have already moved some consumption to our cheap period and b) we cant see how we can easily reduce our day time consumption further.

Brue

I think there was a problem with the first generation meters but the second generation ones should be better. We started with Co-Operative Energy a few years ago now which was really run by Octopus. When Octopus took over the complete running from the Co-Op our gas meter wouldn't read automatically (electric was fine) It took several months for them to sort it out and even I had to resort to the manual monthly readings. 

David

It seems SB is confusing a display with a meter DK. He is posting about a display/usage gauge he has fitted by attaching it to the power line that then reads the pulses. It isn’t the meter that Hosta is requesting info about for sure👍🏻

Are caravanners more aware of power consumption than the general public due to them having to manage working with a 16 ampere (or less) supply on sites or whatever is in a battery if off grid?  Discuss.

I also ignore request to swap to a 'smart' meter. As others have said reading your own meter and submitting the figures takes but a moment. Smart meters do not 'reduce your bills'. Reducing your usage does. It is not, as they say, rocket science. I try to encourage OH to utilise the solar panels to advantage and turn the lights off!