Mole Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 They tried to put a smart meter in here when I put new supply in etc, although I did not want one.. lots of arguing etc etc.. then when they did the survey they couldnt get a mobile signal!!! I agree with Scott that it can enlighten you to see what energy is being used however we all know that leaving things in stand by users energy.. Personally I believe there is something around the corner where our supply will be controlled when the shortage arrives or as has been suggested we will be priced more at certain times... (same for water meter!! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIY-Si Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 1 hour ago, Mole said: I agree with Scott that it can enlighten you to see what energy is being used however we all know that leaving things in stand by users energy.. Personally I believe there is something around the corner where our supply will be controlled when the shortage arrives or as has been suggested we will be priced more at certain times As someone who used to fit them, and I still work for one of the big 6, pretty much every person I ever gave a demo of the monitor to was surprised at just how much certain appliances use. Its the difference between being aware of things being on, and knowing exactly how much they're costing you. Every tariff other than the standard single rate is already a time sensitive tariff. Anyone with storage heaters will be aware of the various economy7/10/15/ Redring systems out there, and they're all different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsechris Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Had a couple of Smart Meters. First one was a SMETS1 unit and worked flawlessly while I was with a variety of suppliers, never any hassle changing suppliers, never any errors or problems. Switched to Octopus to take advantage of their ‘Go’ tariff. Main reason being I have solar PV and a Tesla Powerwall so my plan was to charge the PW on cheap overnight rates when the solar wasn’t up to supplying the need, typically winter months of course…. Long story short, had ongoing issues with the billing, had a new SMETS2 meter put in, still getting issues and got very frustrated…..but ultimately, Octopus CTO got involved and resolved the problem. The billing was a mess for a while as a consequence but it got sorted out. In principle, I'm happy with the smart meter. I’m not that paranoid that I'm bothered about ‘them’ cutting me off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 It's the potential for "accidental" disconnects that bothers me. One fat finger episode and lots of folks could be without power. For most of us it would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience but should it become more than that, experience teaches us that resolutions can be slow to arrive and rarely are they well thought through. And of course with the system being on-line the potential for it being attacked by a bad actor is hugely increased. I agree in principle that seeing usage would encourage one to maybe consider the effects of leaving a device in standby as opposed to "the old days" when a device was either on or OFF. Perhaps the manufacturers should be encouraged to think about that and how it might be improved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 20 hours ago, Richard (OldStager) said: Yeah ok, that would work, just need a lighter table now 😃 I'm sure there's loads of table lighters on eBay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 The tariffs I'm on both require smart meters but neither has insisted so I have stupid meters, and like others, I get a monthly email asking for a reading for each supplier. My electricity meter is in my garage (integral) and easy to read, and the gas meter in a box outside the front of the house and also easy to read. My TV is never on standby or 24hr running but numerous other things are: 2 x PVRs, CCTV system, 3 x interior cameras and a video doorbell, TP Link extenders and router, and probably other things I've overlooked. The background draw of my house is c.160w so about £6 per week. In the real world I cannot reduce that significantly as 'fridges and freezers plus my central heating pump all run constantly and account for most of it. I know, I know, the pump should run only on demand but the rat's nest of wiring in the house resulting from changes over the years before my ownership means that to have it rewired correctly would cost more than the savings for years to come. So I ignore it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 I've had one for years, and tbh requested one was fitted to the house when i bought it. When they fit ask them to put an isolator in between the meter and fuse box so if you do anything in the house you have an added layer of protection. personally I don't see the issue. they are free to fit in that we are all paying for them in our bills as this roll out costs must be being passed on some how so you might as well. I've never had the issue of disconnect or incorrect billing at all in the last 4 yrs. what I especially like is the app from octopus that updates the usage every 30 mins. It really shows you where you use power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhett Turner - Black Country AO Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 I reluctantly agreed a while ago and regret bothering, as I did not have a gas hob the chap said he could not do the gas so only the electric was swapped so I've still got to read a meter and supply a reading, and as I take a note of the reading quarterly anyway I still read the meter. It generally then told me what I knew, the electric shower was very costly to run and my son liked to stand under it. All the smart meter did was highlight this and make me more annoyed, it made no difference to son (going to uni and paying his own bills sorted that out). The smart meter bit was not very smart and kept changing to all sorts of random display screens, the supporting documentation was useless and finding the screen we wanted was a convoluted process. it ended up in a draw somewhere. When they link to a cloud service that we can link apps to from phone, Ipad, PC etc then I'd agree that they are smart. Worse point for me though, we've solar panels and with the old meter when it was sunny you could see the meter running backwards when we were generating more then we're using, I know it should not happen but it was great to watch especially when you knew you'd also got stuff switched on. The smart meter stopped that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsechris Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 If you want an app on phone or iPad that lets you look at consumption, try 'Bright'. If your meter is on their compatibility list, it's free to set up and use. The Octopus app gives much the same info though. The IHD on ours is somewhat random at times, at least in terms of the tariff rates it displays. That said, since Octopus resolved the comms issues, it seems to have been reliable. It's always been accurate for instantaneous power usage though, which is the display I tend to leave it on. I looked at our 'background' use and concluded there was almost nothing I could switch off. I think the phone/iPad/Kindle charger is the only thing that could be switched off when not in use. All the other stuff wold be a proper PITA. Got so much 'smart' stuff in the house, a standing load is unavoidable, plus the things like fridge, microwave, cooker, boiler, etc etc. It's about 150W or so. Given we use largely cheap rate power at 5ppu at the moment, that's not a huge deal. Paid just over £2 for electricity last month. Standing charge was over 3 times that. Beginning to think my decision to buy solar PV & Powerwall might actually have been good one. Gas though...that's another matter........kind of dreading next winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 22 hours ago, Mole said: Personally I believe there is something around the corner where our supply will be controlled when the shortage arrives or as has been suggested we will be priced more at certain times... Indeed there is a sinister motive, there have been trials for a few hundred households where the unit price changed hourly, the governments plan is to allow suppliers to be able to vary the unit price half hourly, not so bad if you're retired and can hover over the meter looking for the right time to put a clothes wash on..... but I think we all know that once we are in the grips of these gits the traditional peak and off peak times will just blur and we will all feel like dairy cows just lining up to be milked. Nem..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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