It is not a lie - they do only install Smart Meters, but they treat them as though dumb meters - they don't read them remotely.
Faulty Electricity Meter?
- Thread starter Deryck Tintagel
- Start date
It is not a lie - they do only install Smart Meters, but they treat them as though dumb meters - they don't read them remotely.
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The original supplier seemed OK with having a dumb meter installed - though probably not the old dial type. The new supplier customer services didn't really seem to know what they were talking about when I mentioned a faulty meter - I said it was under-reading so they asked me to turn everything off and check the meter!! Not quite sure what they expected. Based on that interaction I didn't feel the enthusiasm to discuss dumb meters.
To be honest I am not overly worried about smart metering. The IHD is a novelty but will probably end up in a drawer within a month or two. I have changed the metering interval to daily and may change to monthly - the only bit of paranoia is them knowing how much I use at particular times of the day
Yes, the companies could introduce flexible tariffs depending on the time of day but who is to say that the opposite to cheap deals for smart meters becomes the norm? (Dumb meter = high tariff) or compulsory smart meters?
Smart meters are being introduced because of Government instruction; not the electricity suppliers.
Absolutely - I would not have bothered and declined one when offered a couple of years ago, but sometimes it is not worth the effort objecting.
I cannot see how smart metering will help me as we do not do anything that could be overly wasteful - SWMBO likes the LED lights in the kitchen plinths over winter but that is about it. Light go on and off as we move around and no more. Still not sure why we need smart metering - if the bill is high either pay it or look to see why and reduce usage. Not too difficult
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There is/was not the same pressure to install the SM's on the smaller energy suppliers, as the larger ones. Whilst they cannot force you to have one, they can bribe you to have one via cheaper tariffs. Many people just opt for the cheapest tariff, without reading the small print, then get a shock when they have agreed to SM's.
The IHD is a novelty but will probably end up in a drawer within a month or two. I have changed the metering interval to daily and may change to monthly - the only bit of paranoia is them knowing how much I use at particular times of the day
The consumption data is batch uploaded either once per month, per week, or daily dependent on what you ask them to do and what the supplier offers in resolution. The daily is uploaded as a single batch of data, after midnight and for the previous day, as recorded at 30 minute intervals - but I am not even sure any suppliers still offer this, or the monthly resolution any longer. Likewise the monthly and weekly, uploaded as a single batch.
When I had my first pair of SM's installed and a little curious about my consumption, I opted for 30 minute data records, which appeared on neat graphs on my suppliers website for me to view.
That scuppers me then! I was expecting a single data point. I could ask what resolution they use, but it is what it is and have not seen anything in my account settings.
When I first had SM's installed, I opted for 30 minute data which showed on their website what was in use when. The indoor display sort of showed it, but very crudely. I then went looking for some way to get the data automatically in my spreadsheet, either from the display, or downloaded from the website, but could not find any easy way. So for now, I make do with a manually updated each week spreadsheet of consumption.
BG took over my supply in February, after my supplier failed. I have been chasing each supplier since my SM's went dumb a few years ago. Recently, BG managed to get my gas meter working smart, though not the electric meter. Pestering BG they say that installation of the later SMETS 2 meters are more or less on hold, because of issues sourcing IC's/chips.
Consumer law states they cannot ask for any back payments without proof , which they don’t have , so carry on regardless.
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