Soldato
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- 11 Sep 2013
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NVM
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Smart Meters
- Thread starter Raymond Lin
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Atm when people switch to pre-payment meters the meter is swapped out, that meter can cut u off. Normal meter can't.
Smart meter can be switched between either function, so has the ability to cut u off.
Should have said "mandatory variable tarriffs" I guess. If ur meter is dumb they can't force this on you.
The in-home energy monitor supplied with the Scottish Power ones looks rubbish, like something from 10 years ago. The SSE one at least has a colour display and some useful options for setting it up how you want.
I had several phone calls from Scottish power a few weeks ago, eventually bothered to answer one and was asked if I wanted a smart meter installed, then the guy said there are no installations dates available in my area. Why the hell call me then?!
I had several phone calls from Scottish power a few weeks ago, eventually bothered to answer one and was asked if I wanted a smart meter installed, then the guy said there are no installations dates available in my area. Why the hell call me then?!
It's going to be worse than that. They'll be doing surge pricing to try and shift people onto quieter times of the day. That way they don't have to invest in the infrastructure and deal with the new power plants that are not being built.
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2013
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NVM
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no, it's pence per kwh and doesn't matter what time of day you use it.
All depends on your tariff some charge high at peak times like 33p kW but are 6p a kW off peak which is ideal if your main usage is charging your car over night or other high consumers.
Other tariffs out there might be a flat 17p a kw or something all day.
Other tariffs out there might be a flat 17p a kw or something all day.
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Associate
It's my understanding that with a "normal" meter, to actually cut you off, electricity suppliers need a court order to enter your property and disconnect you (amusing the meter isn't outside), whereas for a smart meter it can be done purely remotely.
Which one do you think is more likely to happen by mistake?
Soldato
100% agree. People for some reason expect having saves money which it doesnt. Its down to the end using being aware of their usage using the smart meter and taking actions to reduce their usage.
Also those articles are tosh as they are talking about smets 1 and amr meters plus the whole dcc for allowing any supplier to obtain renote reads from any meter is still in its infancy
Soldato
Either as they still have to goto court to obtain the go ahead to cut you off. Besides not all smart meters out there have that capability anyway.
Associate
Well, the citizensadvice website seems to suggest that they don't need to involve the courts when smart meters are being used.
But even if they do, energy suppliers don't exactly have the best reputation competency wise. If they have the technical ability to cut you of remotely, it seems quite plausible it's going to happen from time to time by mistake.
Soldato
Thing is its not like its a button any old scrub can press to cut you off. If you are are getting cut off its fair to say you are firmly and extensively in the debt process with the supplier and had ample notice you were due to be cutoff. The only mistake i can really see is that you had debt and paid at the 11th hour and was cut off due to overlap between cutoff process and the payment processing.
Its not like someone goes to bill your account and accidentley cuts you off instead.
Edit: CAB does say they could remote disconnect but bot will,
Associate
I'm not suggesting they'll start cutting people off for one missed payment. More that they'll cut people off in error having notified the wrong person, or got addresses mixed up, or over some confusion with the previous occupant, or got meters mixed up, or any number of other ways. The current process seems to have significantly more chances to catch a screw up on their part.
I accept I may be being overly cautious though; but for now, I think I'm going to wait and see what happens, and how many people have issues before getting one voluntarily.
I accept I may be being overly cautious though; but for now, I think I'm going to wait and see what happens, and how many people have issues before getting one voluntarily.
Soldato
I don't see the point in them, yet. I use what I use and that's that.
The cynic in me thinks the governments smart energy use initiative is all a ruse to get hourly monitoring in place for future tariffs based on peak usage. It's never about the consumer, ever.
The cynic in me thinks the governments smart energy use initiative is all a ruse to get hourly monitoring in place for future tariffs based on peak usage. It's never about the consumer, ever.
Associate
Most of the major suppliers will have them removed for "health reasons" if you do not want one.
No they won't, once a smart meter is.installed it's staying unless it catches fire! The meter and obligations to that meter no longer belong to the supplier, once it's enabled on the smets2 network it belongs to th dcc.
As for health reasons what health issue can a mobile phone cause? 99% of the public have one stapled to their hands 24/7....
I work in the metering industry if you have any questions or fears then please ask me I can give you the honest truth! (Metering engineer for the last 10 years, currently only do major business but still have my hand in retail metering).
Soldato
They keep ringing me to install one. I keep telling them my apartment is three floors above the meter so the energy monitor can't get a signal. Round and round in circles it goes. I don't want one anyway.
Complete waste of time, money effort etc..
Usual pointless government big project. Would have better spent the money on one of those big tidal projects.
Whoever also decided to roll out the V1 meters in the format and functionality that they had was a complete idiot.
I’ll avoid it for as long as possible.
Usual pointless government big project. Would have better spent the money on one of those big tidal projects.
Whoever also decided to roll out the V1 meters in the format and functionality that they had was a complete idiot.
I’ll avoid it for as long as possible.
Soldato
Had one for ages but when I changed suppliers they can't use it so I'm back to just manual readings off it. Pointless.
You can't even sign up to some suppliers if you already have one.
You can't even sign up to some suppliers if you already have one.
Soldato
It's a mess but I'd question the competency of a supplier unable to handle a SMETS1 as a manual meter! Like I mentioned you should enter manual readings anyway just as a check against errors or worst cases 3rd party tampering.
I want a SMETS2 meter for the split tariff capability but having recently looked at several suppliers they usually just offset the savings by increasing the standing charge. One example has 4 tariffs per day but the standing charge went up 300% compared to my existing and so being a low usage case I was not able to benefit.