smart meter installation being hassled

I just can't see the sole reason being to save us money. The only thing that makes sense to me is so they can charge more at peak times, to A, make more money and B, encourage people to spread energy use as with power demand on the rise it's cheaper than building new power stations.
So far that reason I'm out, holding on to my analogue meters as long as possible. My guess is they will have cheaper tarrifs to start with for people on smart meters to push us all to change.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Or more likely, add a charge for those not on a smart meter.
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I doubt it, that way it's as if they are punishing those people.
Where as cheaper tarrifs for smart meters is justification for the whole smart meter thing.
I'm sure there is already a company that you can only have their cheap tarrif if you agree to a smart meter being fitted.
 
I work for a energy suppler although not in any type of customer contact role, just tell them no and to mark your account so you don't continue to get asked. I wouldn't exactly call the current generation of smart meter smart. I'll be holding off as long as possible
 
robj20 said:
I doubt it, that way it's as if they are punishing those people.
Where as cheaper tarrifs for smart meters is justification for the whole smart meter thing.
I'm sure there is already a company that you can only have their cheap tarrif if you agree to a smart meter being fitted.
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It'll be exactly like not paying by direct debit where they charge for using other methods. As soon as the majority of people are on smart meters, you'll get charged for not moving over.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
It'll be exactly like not paying by direct debit where they charge for using other methods. As soon as the majority of people are on smart meters, you'll get charged for not moving over.
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Yep, absolutely this. I also suspect the charge will come before that point under the guise of reducing pollution / energy use (even though it doesn't appear to reduce it at all).
 
the TV adverts aee the most annoying. The tag line see how much you could save, iirc. I would save nothing with a smart neter because they do nothing smart. they do no regulate anything,they do not control consumption, all they do is tell you what you have used ~nothing Smart about that
 
Only thing smart meters reduce is the amount of effort needed to collect the meter readings. Which in the old days was some employee of the company reading meters. These days the utility companies expect us to do it for them, or just estimate it using their random number generators.

Efour said:
Tin Foil hat crowd...
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Cobblers.

Offer us a smart meters that will work with a new supplier, allowing consumers to stay smart and take advantage of the best tariffs, and I'll happily have one.
Offer me one that means I have to take a day off work while they fit it (because they don't work weekends or evenings to fit them!) and turns into a dumb meter when I dump my current provider? No chance.
 
The previous owner of my house had the epic brainwave of having the electricity meter in a part of the room where they then placed cupboards, the worktop, washing machine and tumble dryer. There is a small window to view the reading but I'm stuffed if it ever breaks. My old electricity supplier kept bombarding me with letters to get a smart meter and then turned up on my door asking why I had ignored them. I invited him in, pointed to the meter and asked whether they would be repairing the room to the current standard after installing the meter. He immediately left and all the letters stopped.
 
God i do forget how utterly backwards the UK is sometimes.

If they dont work between supplies then ok im sorry but tbh that didn't even cross my mind as a thing they wouldn;t.
 
I've paid the same amount for the last 5 yrs ..£20 a week .. same with my gas £25
how the hell will a smart meter do anything different ? it just wont
 
flea.rider said:
I've paid the same amount for the last 5 yrs ..£20 a week .. same with my gas £25
how the hell will a smart meter do anything different ? it just wont
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Technically if you don't change your habit, a smart meter will cost more as you are paying to power the screen. Fair enough you can not use that as I wouldn't.
I would still record my monthly readings myself so it doesn't benefit me at all.

I pay £50 a month and have done for ages still rack up a credit.
 
Literally the only thing good about smart meters is not having to submit meter readings. Everything else it does is worse than a dumb meter. There's about 10 reasons not to do it, and 1 reason to do it.
 
robj20 said:
Your insane if you think they won't use it as a way to make money.
Countries that have them already charge extra at peak times. Why wouldn't the UK.

https://www.theenergytimes.com/policy-and-regulation/smart-meter-ramp

Going even further, having talked at length with our engineers here is quite easy to also record what you're using energy on and when. So energy companies would know if your watching TV or boiling the kettle.
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I find this hard ? unless they have sensors in every socket they could not .. they could have an algorithm that would suggest what is being used but that's about it
 
flea.rider said:
I find this hard ? unless they have sensors in every socket they could not .. they could have an algorithm that would suggest what is being used but that's about it
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Different items use power in a very different way, kettle for instance is full power for a brief period.
Oven is full power then cycling lower power.
Washing machine has it's own pattern as well.
Yes it's not 100% accurate but it's enough to see trends.

With the looming issue of everyone coming home from work and charging their electric car something has to be done and that's changing usage habits.
Easy to do automatically with some stuff like the washer and dryer delay start so it runs overnight.
 
VincentHanna said:
When they standardise them so you can change providers and not change smart meter, it might be worth having.

Until then, it's pointless IMO
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Pretty much what I told the guy who called from Morrison utilities on behalf of Eon.

Waste of energy and peoples time to swap a meter that if I change in 10 months time will not be smart any more.

The next gen ones are supposed to be standard I believe.
 
Shocky-FM said:
Curious, why are you refusing the install? surely it saves you having to enter meter readings every month.
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Two reasons for me. 1.) They said that they'd have to rip out one of my cupboards in the front room to install it and 2.) they aren't standardised, so if you switch provider there's a good chance the meter won't work correctly.
 
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