I’ve just had a call from my energy supplier, Shell, offering me an appointment for a smart meter. I said “No thanks”. “Why not” he asked, it’s free.
I said I have followed the chaotic roll out for years, including the risk of their going dumb if you change suppliers, the control it gives them to alter tariffs at different times not necessarily to my benefit, and I was about to go on about the potential ability it gives them to restrict my supply at peak times when he hung up.
It got me thinking however. Reading the current meters is not a heavy chore for me and unless and until I get an EV or a heat pump I don’t see any benefit to me of differential rates. So why would I want a smart meter.
Am I missing something?
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>> Am I missing something?
Yeah, none of that happens, you have fallen for the scare stories.
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People do like a good conspiracy theory. Garbage you heart about smart meters is much the same the garbage you hear about electric vehicles or the garbage you hear about contactless payments. They’re out to get you.
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>> They’re out to get you.
In the case of electric vehicles, as long as you are not too far away.
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Talking of not too far away and electric vehicles, I've found the opposite! :-)
An ICE vehicle that you have to park away from buildings in case it self-ignites!!!
www.bbc.com/news/business-66402202
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 10 Aug 23 at 20:49
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Ovo (who've just taken over SSE) are also pushing for us to have one as well.
Told them that they're welcome to try and fit one again, and then find they can't get a signal for it to work, and then will have to put the old meter back again. Their engineer took over 3 hours last time installing and uninstalling it, but if they want to waste their time again, then they are welcome to try, but this time they will have to pay me for wasted time as well.
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I've had one in a previous house, saves you from reading the meter. Although that particular one i think was faulty as the bills shot up after fitting.
I didn't see any advantage in having one, it wasn't a faff beyond the billing issue. Not much of an advantage in having one from my perspective.
They don't work on the properties round here, perhaps they'll work at some point in the future.
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Maybe there isn't much benefit to you right now but I guess at some point you will have to have one, like it or not.
But aside from any benefit to you, they are quite an important tool in the climate change battle. Time of use tariffs will allow consumers and electricity companies to smooth electricity use which reduces peaks and troughs.
As a supplier Octopus already do it, probably the best example being Intelligent Octopus, which gives you 6 cheap hours overnight to do what you want, and with a compatible car (or charger -and the list of growing) it can charge your car at times when it's best for the grid (and for you). You just tell it how much you want it charged and when by.
They have a tariff, which i was on for quite a while, called Agile, where the rate changes every half hour. With the help of home automation I had devices going on and off according to the prevailing cost. The tariff even sometimes went negative (i.e. they paid me) for certain half hours when the right conditions were met. I remember them paying me about £5 one day for my electricity use, where I managed to charge the car and do a whole host of other stuff.
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>> Maybe there isn't much benefit to you right now but I guess at some point
>> you will have to have one, like it or not.
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I don't think they are compulsory or any plans to make them so?
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I assumed that's what they were heading towards. Maybe not.
This just plopped into my inbox
"Octopus Power-ups
Power up for free on spare green electricity
With renewable energy, we need to make hay while the sun shines.
That’s why we’re calling on homes and businesses in areas with lots of green generation to use up that spare solar and wind when it's most plentiful...
In Power-ups, your electricity is free at specific, super-green times.
Power-ups is only open to customers with connected smart meters in certain areas in East England for now, because we're launching this cutting-edge project directly with the local network operator there, UK Power Networks."
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Thanks, I didn't realise that.
I seer they suggest that "Some energy suppliers might offer their customers smart meter-only tariffs. Each supplier will have their own terms and conditions for these tariffs." and "Different energy suppliers may have different ways to encourage their customers to accept a smart meter.".
So I guess the time may come (and to some degree I think it already has) where cheaper tariffs are only available on smart meters.
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>> So I guess the time may come (and to some degree I think it already
>> has) where cheaper tariffs are only available on smart meters.
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I wonder how many people that have a smart meter are on a 'smart' tariff?
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That's great info Smokie, about the power ups.
Not sure if my postcode is on the list, as it's a 900 page pdf and I have no means of searching it on this phone. I'll check later on my pc.
But I signed up anyway, and it didn't immediately chuck me out, so maybe.
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It wouldn’t be so bad if the thing worked properly!
Ours rarely connects to the in home device (the screen that shows current usage) and there hasn’t been a gas reading for almost 3 months now!
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committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/197947/delayed-smart-meter-programme-fails-to-hit-targets-and-secure-public-support/
Something about smart meters popped up in the news, rather than go by the headlines i found this.
I hadn't realised so many (7 million) were on 2/3g networks, which are in the process of being switched off.
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... by 2033 if it goes to plan
So rather more longevity than many household goods maybe :-)
But yes, it's a big number
Last edited by: smokie on Wed 1 Nov 23 at 12:01
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I think 2033 is the last date given by the government, however the mobile companies have gone much earlier. Some are being switched off this year, the rest by 2025.
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I haven't an in home device - one was sent to our temporary rental and I left it there, not realising that it had been sent by the supplier for our self-build.
I have just the one meter, for electric. I recommend the Loop Energy phone app. It downloads half-hourly usage from the central database.
It worked perfectly for 18 months then in Sept stopped updating. I contacted 'support' who did something and it came up to date, then stopped. I reported it again, and yesterday it updated. It has done so again this morning so it looks as if it might be working properly again.
I'm pretty sure it was a meter/database problem as my September bill was estimated by the supplier, the first time this has happened. October was also based on my reading, not the smart meter reading, so we'll see what happens.
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Smart meter push - Zero
