My old house the meter was ancient. I suspect newer ones yes they probably have built in obsolescence.
Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)
- Thread starter DXP55
- Start date
Permabanned
I know what I use I already have my own energy meter and have for a while. I won’t benefit in the slightest from one.
Soldato
Demand pricing is coming. Suspect it will end up like water, where unless your using obscene amounts your better off with a meter
Give it 10 years, set everyone who isnt on a smart meter to match all their consumption to peak pricing, should encourage the last few to get their meter fitted
Its is quite long, something like 40 years, but they are not certified beyond a certain point. Everything wears out.
There was someone on here whos consumption they claimed dropped dramatically when their meter was changed.
Soldato
I sold my business a few years ago, but still work for them - our electricity is just under £1 per unit (we don’t use enough to get a good rate).
We’ll be sending office staff to WFH as heating the warehouse isn’t economical, and basically only working daylight hours to cut back on use for lighting.
It’s going to be pretty grim
I'm guessing its the whole you are surrendering a level of control to your supplier.
They can also switch you to PAYG without your consent (debt issues)
Eventually they will be able to turn your supply off with SM's also (again debt issues)
And eventually they will be able to charge you more during peak times (I'm sure you have heard about this one already)
Similar pricing where I work as a chef. I think it's 93p/kwh atm for electric and about 30p for gas.
We have a gas grill, french top (single, high BTU burner with a heavy cast iron flat top) and a gas oven that doesn't get used much. Then we have an electric flattop (3kw), 2x 12l fryers (6kw), an induction hob (3.5kw) and an electric oven (7kw).
So a max draw of 19.5kw/h on the electric cooking equipment, probably closer to half that in general usage between 12-10. Plus fridges, freezers, lighting, speakers, fans, drinks fridges (horribly inefficent glass fronted ones), ice machines, cellar cooler etc.
Probably looking at an average power draw of 9-10kw/h. Or £1600 a week. That's £81,000 a year for a mid sized gastro pub.
Soldato
@mattyg How’re you looking so far with the business energy rates? Going to be okay?
Do they still need a court order?
Not without going through all the processes they have to with a traditional meter.
And/or charge you less at off-peak times.
Hasn't the remote switching off been debunked as a scare tactic.
They might be able to charge more during peak times, but you'd get the benefit of cheaper rates during off-peak. For non smart meter tariffs you're likely to just get charged a flat high rate at all times.
My dislike of them is that I simply don't need one... I can read the meters once per month, I keep my DD at the right amount.
It doesn't give me anything I need but it's more plastic and metal that'll be landfill when the next gen come out, coupled with install and maintenance issues I just don't see the point.
It doesn't give me anything I need but it's more plastic and metal that'll be landfill when the next gen come out, coupled with install and maintenance issues I just don't see the point.
No they don't need a court order to switch you to PAYG as its done remotely. Either customer requested or forced due to debt. Its something you agree to when you get a SM installed. You do have to go far down the debt/collections route before its done though.
Who knows how it will work if it ever happens?
Depends how they decide to implement it, most my energy usage is between 8PM and 12AM for 4 days a week.
I fully expect it to be a thing at some point tbh (but done for VERY good reasons)
I see the point of me not having to do it once a month. I'm also hoping that later down the line I'll get more tariffs opened up to me like lower rates at night for example
We seem to have a smart meter with Octopus even though we haven't got a physical one. We always had to send the reading off but sometime last year they said we had a smart meter and didn't need to do it so no idea what they have done, I'm sure someone on here will tell me.
Haven't bothered to ask how it came about but their readings are the same as the meter box so all seems well.
Soldato
It's 25% of my bill and therefore not a "tiny" amount as an overall cost on the bill.
You dismiss people's opinions so easily regarding this part of the bill yet get upset and call it out as unfair when someone proposes something that will affect you... Kinda rich:
As I've said before on these forums - the lack of some people's ability to see past their own circumstances is shocking at times - As long as they are ok then who cares... "The government should do as much as they can to help people but just make sure I am not impacted one little bit".
What if that household changes? New child for instance which would increase their previous annual usage significantly?
why they don't save money, you could have unplugged, switched stuff on and not had lights on in rooms you weren't using with an old fashioned meter.
Then there's a bunch of computer system etc for the "smart meters" somewhere so if anything they use more electric than dumb meters even if you don't see it on your bill.
Would you take one if they offered dynamic pricing? That's very likely the route that it'll take during the energy crisis.
Obviously if you're out of the house during peak hours then it's not likely to be too beneficial to you.
But if you're given the option of say paying 30p/kWh to use your electric between 9am and 11am, versus 75p/kWh between 5pm and 8pm.
So it seems as quite widely reported today Liz Truss is going to give us all a loan paid directly to the utility companies which we pay back through our bills over 10 years. Essentially the tories are putting us all into debt to pay the fuels companies' profits. Youn couldn't make it up
To be fair the profits they make have nothing to do with residential customers, we cost them money.
Might be time to swap your PC for a much lower powered Xbox 
I was reading the below article that stated that the sleep/instant on mode can cost almost a fiver at the new rates for a Series X.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21867253/twarren_200909_4177_0030.0.jpg)
www.theverge.com
This shows power usage of all the current Xbox consoles.
support.xbox.com
rp2000
I was reading the below article that stated that the sleep/instant on mode can cost almost a fiver at the new rates for a Series X.
Xbox energy saver modes could save you up to £5 per month in the UK
It’s time to switch off Instant On on Xbox consoles.
www.theverge.com
This shows power usage of all the current Xbox consoles.
Xbox Support
support.xbox.com
rp2000