Smart meters, yes or no?.

[Keithmac]

Hello all, looking at changing gas and electricity suppliers and the Smart Meter issue has popped up.

Are they still the work of the devil?. Pros and Cons?.

Any comments appreciated.

Cheers, Keith

 

[EFLImpudence]

Do a search. There are lots of threads on various forums and articles.

The fact that the Government and suppliers are pushing them should be a clue.

 

[Notch7]

Im with So energy, they dont offer smart meters so no issue for me to consider.

I think they are a bad idea, so my vote would be NO

 

[Notch7]

The fact that the Government and suppliers are pushing them should be a clue

Yes, the cost is added to the energy tariff, so the end user is paying. No doubt somebody is being made rich off the back of smart meters.

The same thing has happened with renewables, lots of grants making some people very rich.

 

[noseall]

I think they are a bad idea

Why?

 

[transam]

i refused to have one

way i see it they have another way of spying on you ?? they know when u are at home , when u get up, when u come home , ect ect

burglars will hack into them find out when u are on holiday and burgle yer house

big brother state . soon every one will have to have a cctv camera trained on there house

 

[dreadnoughtheating]

And, as Transam will be aware, they are so bl00dy cleverley designed, that they forgot to put a standardised 'how much Gas is being used at any one moment' button on them for Gas Engineers to use when commissioning/testing Gas boilers etc.
Every type has a unique & particular multi button sequence to enter to get the info. Mind you Brexit will fix that, and we'll soon be going back to cubic feet meters.

 

[Ihavenojob]

Some industry spokesperson was on TV saying the new ones can be used on any suppliers tariff so the problem of them being of no use when switching wont exist anymore. On the CC someone said they can remotely switch off your gas, so in times of low supplies such as recently, they can turn off peoples gas to save running out.This I would think is a myth, as how could they safely switch it back on? They may help you to save money, but only by making you aware of your usage & making adjustments, the gas/leccy is no cheaper. I wouldn't have one, but that's a personal decision.

 

[EFLImpudence]

It's not a myth in as much as it will be possible.

I don't know the details about switching gas on again being a problem but it is certainly a possibility for electric (which could have disadvantages of machines suddenly bursting into life).

It would be possible in times of short supply (excess demand) to have timed cuts to different areas, and
they are, I believe, capable of half hourly variations in the cost with the liklihood of being very expensive if you are unreasonable enough to want to cook dinner at dinner time.
Plus, of course, the future and making charging your electric car very expensive - have to get the fuel duty somehow.

 

[flameport]

Are they still the work of the devil?. Pros and Cons?.

For the consumer, the only benefit is not having to send meter readings to your supplier, which might save a couple of minutes one a month or quarter.

For the supplier, they get usage data every 15 minutes. In the future, this will be used for time based billing, where the cost varies depending on the time of day, total demand, the weather and all kinds of other factors. This will be used to regulate demand by making it expensive when there is excessive demand, and perhaps slightly cheaper at other times. Eventually certain items in the home will be able to communicate with the meter to establish whether it is appropriate to use power at the particular moment. Electric cars being the first likely use - and this also allows the price to vary based on what you are using the electricity for, so the days of cheap electricity for your car will be over.

It's also entirely likely that they will be used in other ways - such as:
- electric heating being switched on and off at intervals in line with available capacity
- too much demand in the area, your electric car doesn't charge at all, or can only charge at a lower rate.
- severe lack of generating capacity, so not only will your car not charge, any charge in it could be shoved back into the grid, making your car a temporary storage device.

 

[Keithmac]

Cheers all, my wife has been on the case today while I was at work and managed to save us £300 a year hopefully!.

Think British Gas were the only one to stipulate on a smart meter and we haven't gone with them.

All food for thought and I'll keep researching!.

For sake of 5 mins once a month to take readings theirs no real benifit for us.

 

[Notch7]

Why?

Actually, Ive put that badly.

They arent a bad idea in theory.

In practice tjough, smart meters will be designed and operated for the benefit of business not the user -as other posts intimate.

Its another way of gleaning data about people, like facebook and google and use that data for profit rather than customer benefit.

No doubt somebody is on a nice earner with the rollmout of smart meters that the consumer is paying for.

I have heard of people on smart meters having their monthly direct debit increased due to incorrect data being fed back.

 

[noseall]

No doubt somebody is on a nice earner

This seems to be a problem for you.

Its another way of gleaning data

Is energy usage meant to be a best kept secret?

 

[Keithmac]

It was on Radio Two a few weeks ago and some companies were sending letters out saying customers were legally obliged to have them fitted.

Must be a financial inventive to have them blatantly lying to customers..

 

[Iamchamps]

I told my energy supplier I would be leaving them if they did not fit smart meters at my premise. They have done so I am very happy, makes my busy life that bit easier no con’s that I see just conspiracy.