Smart Meter - worth changing to?

Raymond Lin · 1 Jun 2018 at 17:29

I actually have it booked in next week to install....might cancel it now!

Kenai · 1 Jun 2018 at 17:50

If people just want the fancy display, you can get those yourself without having to change the meter, for electric anyway.

FoxEye · 1 Jun 2018 at 19:33

Don't bother until the new universal ones hit the market. Atm they are locked to a specific supplier.

British Gas phoned us last week to offer us a BG-locked smart meter. We said thanks but no thanks. Looks like there's a big push to get rid of old stock or something atm.

bloodiedathame · 1 Jun 2018 at 19:42

No, wait until v2 at least.

itchy · 1 Jun 2018 at 19:43

The is nothing smart about them.

Oh hay love turn the kettle off as we are using x amount of KW. Stupid idea for stupid people.

You use what you need end of, use anymore then so what if you pay your bill.

stopper · 1 Jun 2018 at 22:48

Robzere31 said:
I won't be changing to them until we are forced to. I see no benifit to the end user of "smart meters"

They have given up on forcing us, it's now optional.

vincent1989 · 1 Jun 2018 at 22:51

I've declined to have one thus far, one of my mates (the only one I have who's got one) ended up with it going faulty almost as soon as it was installed, ended up with a £300 bill for a month!

muon · 1 Jun 2018 at 22:51

I haven't had to give meter readings for well over 2 years. Don't see the negative. Otherwise it is exactly like a normal meter, so see no harm.

Minstadave · 1 Jun 2018 at 22:59

Couldn’t stay on economy 7 with first utility of we opted for a smart meter. No thanks!

Pawnless Endgame · 2 Jun 2018 at 00:31

One big advantage is that it doesn't just tell you your daily / weekly / monthly usage, but it also provides real-time usage in watts. So if you turn appliances on / off, the watt figure changes and then you can work out their differentials. I have cut my electricity usage by approx. 15% since having the smart meters installed in February. Next up is to analyse my gas usage, as I might be able to cut back on hot water timings to an amount where I still get enough hot water but cut back on the gas.

Angilion · 2 Jun 2018 at 02:03

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...ectricity-meters-dangerously-insecure-hackers

Etc. It's not smart to make devices remotely accessible for little reason and with little security. I would hope that it's not possible to start a fire or explosion purely from software, but given the utter mess routinely made of "smart" devices I wouldn't rule it out.

ristac · 2 Jun 2018 at 07:00

tres said:
I personally like my smart meter. It makes me more energy conscious and gives me the perfect excuse to tell the missus to turn the heating down

This +1 cost us nothing, saves me having to give manual readings, took about an hour to install.

Fusion · 2 Jun 2018 at 07:13

There are obvious benefits to having real time usage montoring and breakdown. Having said that, I’ve not bothered. SSE must have sent reminders through the post about 5 times, they are pushing them very heavily. My guess is that it will save them money on people going round in vans readings meters, and allow them to cost cut. No other reason why they’d push them so heavily.

Malevolence · 2 Jun 2018 at 07:15

Kenai said:
Don't do it, they're still not standardised and so as soon as you switch supplier it'll stop working anyway.

This. And not to mention the fact that when my parents were offered one by their energy company they refused to install it unless they could rip out the fitted cupboard where the current meter is located.

FISHGUTS · 2 Jun 2018 at 08:35

When everyone is onto smart meters, they will be used to price out peak demand.

neil_g · 2 Jun 2018 at 10:13

Had one fitted for about 3 years (?) now and had no bother with it. It's dual fuel so handy for keeping an eye on gas use in the winter.

Took about 20 mins to install so swapping provider really shouldn't be any hassle.

mmj_uk · 2 Jun 2018 at 10:15

It's pretty deceptive how they're pushing for people to upgrade, the letter they send out makes it sounds like you have no choice in the matter and the only option you have is the day of installation which needs to be confirmed, but actually ringing them to confirm the appointment is basically agreeing to have one installed as they're not mandatory and you can't be forced (yet). So you think you're just confirming an appointment that you have no choice in but really what you are doing is consenting to have one installed.

Monkeynut · 2 Jun 2018 at 13:31

I was told by Economy Energy that there is a "waiting list".

Ninco! · 2 Jun 2018 at 19:04

My neighbour had one installed, the digital meter display which sits on the kitchen worktop; well, what a let down.

Based on the advertising, I was expecting a swanky all singing dashboard, it is literally a cheapo LCD from the eighties.

It just creates paranoia (ignorance is bliss). I like my tea and watching the thing go into melt down every time I boil a kettle... bah.

Arthur Hucksake · 2 Jun 2018 at 19:07

Wait for SMETS2.

I work in the industry, specifically involved with the newer smart meter technology. Being able to switch providers on the fly is going to really shake things up.