What is the point of the smart meter monitor?

[ericmark]

Had to get a smart meter installed to get payment for export, and when installed given a little monitor, it shows most of the time, from when sun comes up, until battery is discharged except for when having a shower, or battery is full, with the latter it does show export, but little I can do with the info, and shortly after battery is fully discharged we go to bed, so the meter shows our power use for around 10-20% of the time in Winter, once summer is here, it will only show export, which is more down to sun shine than any appliance used.

And in the evening we are hardly using much extra power which we could turn off, leaving lights on will not show up, plug in monitors may show how much the tumble drier is using and I can see looking at the solar panel monitor my wife selected a day with loads of solar power to do the washing. But that's using the solar panel software, nothing to do with smart meter or the smart meter monitor, we see all the adds, and as said before clapping hands will not turn lights on/off, need to say hey google turn the lights on/off to do that, the meter clearly has a use, it allows payment for export and multi tariffs, but the monitor, no wifi so will not connect to PC or phone, and it can hardly train people how to reduce energy use when for 90% of the time it is not showing any power use, or we are in bed sleeping.

Yes it shows me when the battery has fully discharged, but that is hardly going to change what I do, now a monitor on the TV stand which says when battery is 80% charged, yes that would help, but the monitor may help if we had mains gas, but with just electric does next to nothing it seems.

 

[Murdochcat]

There is no real point of these displays ….. especially for people without PV and batteries

 

[RandomGrinch]

There is no real point of these displays ….. especially for people without PV and batteries

One 'use' that I've seen - as a passive aggressive reminder of how much energy you are using in a holiday let.
When you're holidaying in off-season, and have used most of the days allowance by 10am, it doesn't take long to ignore it!

 

[Mister Banks]

My IHD shows my gas and electric meter readings, my tariff, how much energy I am using in real time, how much energy I have used by day, week, month and year. I can also set daily, weekly, monthly or year budgets and the IHD will show progress against budget.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

will show progress against budget.

I've never seen the point of that budget. If I reach it, am I suppose to turn off the CU master switch? What a horrifying concept!

 

[Murdochcat]

I've never seen the point of that budget. If I reach it, am I suppose to turn off the CU master switch? What a horrifying concept!

Hit, nail and head spring to mind.

If it’s cold, the heating will be put on

Problem is that far too many numpties have no idea about their usage or the state of their firm account so there’s no hope for them. Talk about fuel ignorance

 

[Mister Banks]

I've never seen the point of that budget. If I reach it, am I suppose to turn off the CU master switch? What a horrifying concept!

If you reach it you can do whatever you want. I ignore it as I haven’t bothered to set it up since since I first got the IHD. I can see how some people might find it useful.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes it shows me when the battery has fully discharged, but that is hardly going to change what I do, now a monitor on the TV stand which says when battery is 80% charged, yes that would help, but the monitor may help if we had mains gas, but with just electric does next to nothing it seems.

You do not have to use the IHD, you can buy a gadget now, which feeds the live data direct to your PC in real time. Octopus are offering one free, to their customers.

My IHD shows my gas and electric meter readings, my tariff, how much energy I am using in real time, how much energy I have used by day, week, month and year. I can also set daily, weekly, monthly or year budgets and the IHD will show progress against budget.

Likewise, but I have never used it - my suppliers website shows what I've used per 30 mins, daily, weekly, etc..

I've never seen the point of that budget. If I reach it, am I suppose to turn off the CU master switch? What a horrifying concept!

Some people do need to watch their spend. They might find it very useful.

 

[brig001]

Found ours to be useful for checking base load, but that’s about it. Got a new TV and found it didn’t go to standby properly and was using 30W instead of 0.5W on standby. Changed the settings and fixed it

Brian

 

[ericmark]

I some how thought it would be viewable on the PC or tablet, but since I have the solar software it does not matter, it seems the PC can connect to some versions of the monitor I have. No instructions came with it, but found them on line, and found where one is suppost to set it to connect to wifi but the options are missing. The bit circled just does not exist.

For me as said it does not matter, I have loads of other ways to monitor what items use, I do feel my back ground usage is high, but I knew that without the smart meter monitor.

I have a couple of clamp on meters, a couple of plug in energy monitors plus one not connected to PC, and the solar software.

However I would be rather disappointed if I didn't have all the other option.

 

[ebee]

Well I always calls them dumb meters not smart meters. Might be good if they want to calculate your bills without send a bloke out so it saves them money and they might or not pass it onto you. It helps them disconnect you more easily. and the the folk that really do not care or think about saving electric or gas to save them money, then I am struggling to see why the would consult the smart meter anyway. So not much point in my opinion. Anyway Eric I think you rely more on your trusty clamp meters anyway, so good for you, not all users are as intelligent as you though.

 

[ericmark]

Anyway Eric I think you rely more on your trusty clamp meters anyway, so good for you, not all users are as intelligent as you though.

This is my point, I have a smart meter as the supplier will not use the export meter, I can see why, the export meter is mine, it does not belong to them, so they are not responsible to calibrate it. And I see the point of an automatic meter reading (AMR) meter, as to an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) not so sure. The difference between the to is the latter enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier. So they can turn off the supply, and also send messages to the meter. Those massages come up on the display unit.

The example in the instructions, not had it on mine, so seems I was not Welcome! I did look but no

maybe because I don't have mains gas? It took me ages the find the instructions and seems most are for pay as you go customers.

There is no real point of these displays ….. especially for people without PV and batteries

I would say those without PV and batteries would gain a little more from the display, it is because of the PV and batteries that from sun up to around 6 hours after sun down the smart meter shows nothing. Which is most of the hours when one is likely to see the display.

There is a battery case on the display, and I thought it would be good to be portable, however tried using it with batteries, and it didn't power up. So it is stuck in one location.

 

[Mister Banks]

Well I always calls them dumb meters not smart meters. Might be good if they want to calculate your bills without send a bloke out so it saves them money and they might or not pass it onto you. It helps them disconnect you more easily. and the the folk that really do not care or think about saving electric or gas to save them money, then I am struggling to see why the would consult the smart meter anyway. So not much point in my opinion. Anyway Eric I think you rely more on your trusty clamp meters anyway, so good for you, not all users are as intelligent as you though.

If someone told you that you can save £100’s every year on energy but you have to have a smart meter then would you say no?

 

[Murdochcat]

If someone told you that you can save £100’s every year on energy but you have to have a smart meter then would you say no?

A smart meter won’t save us much, if anything

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If someone told you that you can save £100’s every year on energy but you have to have a smart meter then would you say no?

Present SVT is 27.39p and 7.35p. We are paying 14.83p (-47%) and 3.44p (-53%), today's rate. That alone is a good enough reason to have smart meters. They are saving me £100's, almost cut the bills by half, what more incentive do you need? That's without making any special arrangements to minimise consumption between certain times.