Smart meters - good choice?

[aveatry]

I agree with your sentiments but it is the government forcing the suppliers to fit them or they will be penalised.

Strange that this policy has transversed conservative and now labour -- its like they are not the ones behind it

 

[SMG]

I have smart meters, the main reason is, once I get down to read it, I cant get up again! I don't have electric storage heaters but I'm still on the Economy 7 tariff. Cheap juice at night, also, cheapo juice on Sunday afternoon, when I use the washer & Dryer.

 

[aveatry]

I have smart meters, the main reason is, once I get down to read it, I cant get up again! I don't have electric storage heaters but I'm still on the Economy 7 tariff. Cheap juice at night, also, cheapo juice on Sunday afternoon, when I use the washer & Dryer.

I was on the economy 7 but I can not remember exactly but the con is that your standing charge cost more ( or was it that the standard rate was more ) either way for me it felt like a con. I went back to normal day and night and my bills were cheaper.
Mybe because I do not have storage heaters or a clothes dryer

 

[SMG]

I was on the economy 7 but I can not remember exactly but the con is that your standing charge cost more ( or was it that the standard rate was more ) either way for me it felt like a con. I went back to normal day and night and my bills were cheaper.
Mybe because I do not have storage heaters or a clothes dryer

Yes M8, I`m in that process at the moment, but with my use, I'm just ahead, Just going to wait a little before deciding.

 

[aveatry]

Yes M8, I`m in that process at the moment, but with my use, I'm just ahead, Just going to wait a little before deciding.

It also did not suit my life style timings with showers and electric oven.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Mybe because I do not have storage heaters or a clothes dryer

You don't need either, to be able to take advantage of some cheaper rates, with a smart meter. I don't have storage heaters, or use a dryer, or heat water with an immersion.

 

[SUNRAY]

So, your electric meter is providing regular readings, but not your gas meter? That suggests a communication issue, of your gas meter. The gas meters data, is relayed to the electric meter, the electric meter then relays it's readings, plus the gas readings back to base.

I'd not written it properly and fitted in an edit while you were writing

We keep getting emails asking us to read the gas meter as it has only managed 5 times in the 4 months since installation, the electric meter seems to be communicating often enough to keep the supplier happy, the last time we spoke it had been over 2 days and the operator couldn't force a reading at the time. Our monitor seems to be reading ok.

 

[ericmark]

Clearly it does not relay my gas meter readings, I don't have gas, but the Openreach mast is in sight of house, maybe 200 yards, and when meter first installed, the phone app was around a week behind. Improved now, only a day behind, but it means the IHD is only real time way I can look at what it says I am using, always a little less to what the solar software says, but nearly the same.

Economy 7 and 10 use UTC, where most other split tariffs use the Government time for the country, BST in summer and UTC (was called GMT) in winter, as the RTS meter it seems could not work the time change.

The rates seem to change with Post Codes, so hard to find Economy 7 rates to compare with, so I am looking at Octopus Go for calculations, so I use on average 11 kWh per day, forgetting about standing charge as not that much difference (67.83p go, 68.17p fixed 12M), if I use even power through the day cost would be £2.82, against £2.62 if I use fixed rate all day, so to be worth while use needs to be weighted to the off-peak hours.

The four items we can in most homes run over night, immersion heater, tumble dryer, washing machine and dish washer, may be enough to tip the balance, but unless we have storage be it batteries or hot bricks made mainly of iron, the gain from using off-peak is not really worth the hassle of setting timers.

And it does not matter how many times I tell my wife to have a shower between 00:30 and 05:30 she will not, so without the 6.4 kWh battery off-peak would not be worth it.

To compare storage heaters, gas heating, heat pumps, simple panel heaters etc. They need to be on an even footing, and I have seen storage heater rooms in council houses with a hot air system to deliver the heat when required, and the central heating bricks would stay warm for a week, but in the main storage heating is not central heating, it is a load of little heaters dotted around the home.

So we are not comparing like for like, and there seems to be two completely different ways to heat the home. One is a single temperature 24/7 in all rooms, (often found with UFH and heat pumps) and the other is to only heat a room when required to temperature required at that time of day, my 10 programmable TRV heads means that I am close to that method, however the storage heater was renowned for heating the home when not required, and running out of energy as critical times.

They relied on well insulated homes, but were often installed in homes which were far from that ideal. So for years we have read how people have found simple panel heaters which allow when required and how much to be set with ease, working out cheaper, this was mainly due to a change in the Economy 7 tariff, where the off-peak over the years has crept towards the peak price. The old Economy 7 was more like the EV charging rates offered today, but with EV rates being for only 5 hours, it will not really work for storage heaters unless like that council house.

For storage heaters likely best option is Economy 7 in winter and standard in summer, with a battery there is a gain as charging at 8.5p and when sun is out exporting at 15p so that compensates for the odd time peak power used.

 

[flameport]

, forgetting about standing charge as not that much difference (67.83p go, 68.17p fixed 12M), i

On those figures the difference is insignificant, however Octopus standing charge on the variable tariffs is currently 44p, or about £87 per year less than the fixed 68p.
Those who fixed at 68p are now paying rather more than those who did not.
The opposite can also apply where people fixed at a low rate and it subsequently went up.

 

[ericmark]

On those figures the difference is insignificant, however Octopus standing charge on the variable tariffs is currently 44p, or about £87 per year less than the fixed 68p.

The problem is, to get prices, one has to enter ones post code, so you may pay more or less than I do. And this is a major problem when we talk about smart meters, the North/South divide roughly Liverpool to Hull, means we have two very different smart meters, and although we declare where we live, many don't, so as far as Smart meters go, its hard to compare.

I had a problem with British Gas, with a £75 leaving fee if I left before the contract ended, and by time I had given up trying to get payment for export, there was not that long to run, and in Winter not much export anyway, but until we sign up it is a leap of faith, we have no idea which providers will be helpful and which will put every obstacle in ones way. So even if I find a provider who will give me a better deal, I am unlikely to go for it.

With British Gas my app was showing nearly £1000 in credit, so I tried to get the direct debit reduced, only to be told sorry we have not taken what you have used from the account statement, so we were only a few £100 in credit, I see Octopus say I am £164 in credit, wonder if that's true? Seems May £73.50 estimated export and £26.34 estimated import, I thought the whole idea of a Smart meter was no estimated readings?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

With British Gas my app was showing nearly £1000 in credit, so I tried to get the direct debit reduced, only to be told sorry we have not taken what you have used from the account statement, so we were only a few £100 in credit, I see Octopus say I am £164 in credit, wonder if that's true?

I had lots account problems with BG, absolutely none at all with Octopus. Octopus do the calculation once per month, then take the correct, perfectly accurate, amount of money from my account with them. I don't need to, because they never have an issue getting my automated meter readings, but once per month, I submit a set of manual readings. The manual reading submission, generates a fresh bill, next day, and an extra payment from my account, to settle the bill. I habitually record my consumption weekly, data which I then feed into a spreadsheet - and so the manual readings are no extra effort.

 

[Noidea88]

Thank you everyone for your experiences and thoughts

 

[Mister Banks]

My experiences have been discussed before but in summary having a smart meter has enabled me to be on the Octopus tracker tariff which last year saved me a ton of cash in energy costs compared to the previous year when I was on the standard capped tariff.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My experiences have been discussed before but in summary having a smart meter has enabled me to be on the Octopus tracker tariff which last year saved me a ton of cash in energy costs compared to the previous year when I was on the standard capped tariff.

I was wary of Octopus's Tracker tariff at first, not knowing ahead of time, what the unit cost would be, and not really understanding it, but I soon realised how it worked and swapped over to it, and saved quite a lot doing nothing special. It's just most of the time, quite considerably cheaper than the Fix or the Cap, but sometimes it can briefly rise higher. You can check the rate for the entire day, and later in the day they announce the next days rate. The cost will often dive drastically on a Sunday. You can save even more, by adjusting when you do the washing, and drying, to the days which are cheapest. I've found them a good, responsive company to deal with, though not the cheapest.

Here is a link, if you fancy a move to Octopus. Using it, you get £50 off your first bill, and I get the same off my bill....
https://share.octopus.energy/jade-light-417

 

[morqthana]

Next will come that I am not allowed to travel without one -- sound familiar

Only within the echo chambers of the terminally deranged conspiracy fantasists.