Any downsides to a smart meter?

Minstadave

Minstadave

Minstadave

Caporegime
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Rutland
Currently on Octopus Economy 7 with a conventional meter. Have been thinking about a smart meter to allow access to EV tariffs.

Any downsides these days to a Smart Meter?
 
1 - It needs electricity to run....which you have to pay for, I know it's low but it is not free energy.
2 - The old ones, becomes useless when you switch supplier
3 - They can report mistakes and suddenly you end up with a bill in the 5 figures (see plenty of news on this....unlikely but does happen).
4 - It's a good idea to check the meter box now and again, to spot any potential issues in that area.
5 - Don't really want the companies to monitor my daily usage or habit/patterns, more data = easier to target and move peak / off-peak.

I might be getting too cynical and tin foil on the last one but the apart from convenience, I don't see why I need them.
 
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Similar to above. I’m on Octopus Agile with rates that vary half-hourly. In combination with batteries, this reduced my average cost per kWh in January to 14.2p. Today my overnight cost was around 2p and my day cost around 15p with a peak from 4-7pm at around 32p.

Comparing this to MSE, the cheapest night rate on Eco7 is 12.3p but balanced with an extortionate day rate of 38.7p. Average around 15p overnight and 35p during the day.

Overall, I think a smart meter opens you up to lower electricity costs if you’re willing to shift your usage slightly so you don’t put all your load at peak times (washing, dryer, car etc. - accepting the oven is non-negotiable).

Edit - it also helps the UKs understanding of how we use electricity and what this means for transitioning to net zero - https://www.nesta.org.uk/project/using-smart-meters-to-identify-energy-use-profiles/
 
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Some can be a pain to get up and running, especially if you live in an old house with poor mobile coverage. Ideally your meters should be reasonably close without solid walls between them.

The IHDs don't have the best of ranges, especially if there are solid walls between the IHD and the electric meter, where the IHD gets the signal from.
 
If they stop working (A lot have, including mine 18 months ago) It's a pain to get them replaced, especially if you have switched supplier. I've had to change back to British Gas to get mine replaced and I've been promised April. That has been postponed Three times now. 1st they turned up when I was at work and they put a card through the door instead of phoning me which made me cross. 2nd time they couldn't replace because I was with a different supplier, said supplier refused to send an engineer so they got kicked to the kerb. 3rd time was just before Xmas I got a text to say they couldn't send anyone on the booked day. I have no faith in BG to send anyone out to fit new ones, They are giving me the runaround.
The ombudsman wont help unless I have evidence to support this, I dont as I get cross, when I see red I delete said evidence even though I shouldn't, but that's me, I dont help myself in that regard.
 
Grimley said:
If they stop working (A lot have, including mine 18 months ago) It's a pain to get them replaced, especially if you have switched supplier. I've had to change back to British Gas to get mine replaced and I've been promised April. That has been postponed Three times now. 1st they turned up when I was at work and they put a card through the door instead of phoning me which made me cross. 2nd time they couldn't replace because I was with a different supplier, said supplier refused to send an engineer so they got kicked to the kerb. 3rd time was just before Xmas I got a text to say they couldn't send anyone on the booked day. I have no faith in BG to send anyone out to fit new ones, They are giving me the runaround.
The ombudsman wont help unless I have evidence to support this, I dont as I get cross, when I see red I delete said evidence even though I shouldn't, but that's me, I dont help myself in that regard.
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British Gas seem to have a poor reputation when it comes to smart meters https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/dec/06/why-cant-british-gas-install-a-smart-meter-that-works and I know others that have had issues with BG as well.
We've had EDF one for years in our previous property and requested one when we moved and never had any issues with them at all.
 
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The tin foil hat brigade will have you believing all sorts of nonsense.

For a normal person they're great with no down sides, the benefit of being able to take part in energy saving session and on demand pricing are pretty compelling.

Then there's the free display thingy that shows real time energy usage which can be really helpful in saving money if as its a really good reminding if you've left something on somewhere.
 
robj20 said:
Do you plan on going into debt with them?
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They like you in a bit of debt because you have to clear it before you switch.

I always prefer to be a little in the negative than positive, you don't get interest off them having more of your money than they're owed.

That said we recently accumulated an uncomfortable level of credit that thankfully the winter months has been reducing. :)

As for smart meters in general, they're good when they work but I don't believe any of the nonsense about saving money. I never plug in the reader and only check usage when the bill comes.

If I need it it's on, if it's not I turn it off.
 
adidan said:
They like you in a bit of debt because you have to clear it before you switch.

I always prefer to be a little in the negative than positive, you don't get interest off them having more of your money than they're owed.

That said we recently accumulated an uncomfortable level of credit that thankfully the winter months has been reducing. :)

As for smart meters in general, they're good when they work but I don't believe any of the nonsense about saving money. I never plug in the reader and only check usage when the bill comes.

If I need it it's on, if it's not I turn it off.
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My account stays at £0.
 
valve90210 said:
These flexible tariffs, how helpful are they if you work from home and can't do a huge amount to vary when you're using energy?
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If you work from home, that’s perfect. Laundry & dishwasher on overnight/in the morning and avoid the 4-7pm peak rates. Your laptop and monitors don’t use huge amounts of energy.
 
Hmmmm I might have to look into this. Sadly not using a laptop which would be less energy, as I'm extensively using Photoshop and InDesign. Also tend to have a TV on playing youtube as I work... lol
 
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