Smart meters

IanH

The government are requiring that millions of pounds are to be wasted on installing smart meters, so that meter readings for gas and electric consumption can be submitted automatically to the utility suppliers.

This has come about because, in tbe wonderful world of 'free enterprise' the companies don't bother to spend money on regular meter readings any more.

These meters are quickly gaining a reputation for being unreliable.

But with our supplier (First Utility) we submit a reading on the 28th of every month anyway, so have no need for a smart meter. Don't all suppliers offer this facility???

if not......why on earth not?

brue

I think they give out info in real time so that you can see the costs and adjust usage accordingly. You will be paying through your bills for manual meter readings. Where are the details about smart meters being unreliable?

Vicmallows

These meters are quickly gaining a reputation for being unreliable.

 

Source of this information please?

IanH

In many newspaper and consumer TV programmes......people getting erroneous bills and finding it very difficult to argue against them.

brue

But people sometimes get erroneous bills whether on smart meters or not.

You will be paying the wages of a manual reader in the costs somewhere along the line, they're not free...not that I want to see anyone losing a job.

IanH

I simply look at the cost per Kw/h for each type of energy, together with the standing charges, and chose the cheapest.

So not sure how we are 'paying for' manual readings?

IanH

Then those people can simply challenge their bill by pointing out that the cost per Kw/h x the number of kW/h used isn't correct.

 

brue

I would guess that electronic transmission is fairly accurate and could be checked against previous usage.

HelenandTrevor

We have had a smart meter for a while now, no problems with it,  and it's been interesting to see which appliances use the most electricity. Have not had any problems with bills.

neveramsure

One of the reasons the suppliers are giving for installing the smart meters is that the old ones are not always accurate. I also read my own meters every month but still the suppliers have to do a check at least once every two years, for safety reasons.
I would not have a problem with them installing new meters as long as they are not actually unreliable as you are stating.

IanH

There seems to be a great amount of mistique surrounding utility bills.

When I buy 6 tins of beans, I expect to pay the cost per tin x 6.

When I buy 40 litres of diesel I expect to pay 40 x £1.09 (or whatever it says on the sign this week).

Why do people buying gas and electric see it any different?

I know that the utility providers try to surround it all with smoke and mirrors, but basically it's as simple as that.

HelenandTrevor

I would guess that electronic transmission is fairly accurate and could be checked against previous usage.

We have found the meters to be accurate so far, and you can check usage on the statement/bill.

Tammygirl

We submit a reading every 3 months to our energy supplier but the meter is read every 2 years by the company that owns the meter (differant to energy supplier).  My sister did the same but earlier this year she was told she was to have here meter changed
to a Smart one, she told them she didn't want one, seems she didn't have an option as you don't own the meter her meter was changed a few
weeks later. We still have the same one

brue

I've read that the cost of installation isn't bringing a huge benefit to consumers but there are some savings involved.

Rubytuesday

So are they dropping or axeing the quarterly standing charge 

HelenandTrevor

Our meter allows you to see cost, co2, and kwh used, and % of daily allowance, along amount used per hour. Pretty clever really. 

IanH

I've read that the cost of installation isn't bringing a huge benefit to consumers but there are some savings involved.

Where are the savings in having a piece of extra equipment installed?

IanH

I have no reason to believe that a smart meter is any less accurate in recording usage than a standard meter (they use the same ways to measure it, after all).

The problems being reported are in the computer technology (wouldn't you believe it!) and with glitches in transmission of the data to the various supply companies.

huskydog

Had one fitted in my shop over a year ago ,and no problems with being over charged or under charged ,they bill me for what I use every month 

IanH

Our meter allows you to see cost, co2, and kwh used, and % of daily allowance, along amount used per hour. Pretty clever really. 

So does ours.......when we apply a calculator or drop the usage onto our spreadsheet.

As said, we don't feel the need for a piece of machinery to constantly monitor any other spending that we do, so why would we need it for a simple energy supply?

IanH

Had one fitted in my shop over a year ago ,and no problems with being over charged or under charged ,they bill me for what I use every month 

So does our supplier.......without the extra cost of another meter.

brue

The savings in having an extra, more reliable and accurate piece of equipment have already been made public. But the savings aren't huge, maybe they would improve if everyone had the same equipment?

IanH

Existing meters are perfectly reliable and accurate......a smart meter uses the same method to measure usage.

HelenandTrevor

Our meter allows you to see cost, co2, and kwh used, and % of daily allowance, along amount used per hour. Pretty clever really. 

So does ours.......when we apply a calculator or drop the usage onto our spreadsheet.

As said, we don't feel the need for a piece of machinery to constantly monitor any other spending that we do, so why would we need it for a simple energy supply?

I don't have a spreadsheet, the meter does it for me. 

brue

We have had to have meters replaced on a couple of occasions, both faulty and not giving accurate readings. 

huskydog

Had one fitted in my shop over a year ago ,and no problems with being over charged or under charged ,they bill me for what I use every month 

So does our supplier.......without the extra cost of another meter.

but I don't have to remember to submit meter readings every month.....

HelenandTrevor

Had one fitted in my shop over a year ago ,and no problems with being over charged or under charged ,they bill me for what I use every month 

So does our supplier.......without the extra cost of another meter.

but I don't have to remember to submit meter readings every month.....

Precisely,  good isn't it!  saves me having to do it too.

IanH

Let me explain why smart meters are being introduced.

At one time, your meter was read regularly and your bill represented your usage. These days, meters are only read about once every two years and estimated readings are used instead. This is because it saves the utility companies a lot of money to do it this way. More bonus for the directors!

This has meant that a lot of people get very inaccurate bills. Often, people either pay far too much (which the company likes) or they pay far too little and then get a huge bill that they can't afford to pay.

Neither of these situations is ideal. So the government could have made the utility companies read the meter more often......or they could tell the utility companies to install smart meters and put the cost onto their customers.

Guess which they did?

Of course, there is another perceived advantage - that people can see that putting their heater on or using their cooker uses energy. Like they didn't already know! 

brue

I frequently adjust our bill Ian, I could go online every day with a meter reading but I'd be quite happy for this to be done automatically. We possibly waste a lot of energy throughout the country and any way that reduces consumption would be good, would
it not? 

neveramsure

Just doing a bit of research, it looks like there were quite a few problems with the earlier smart meters. Some of them caused problems if you switched users, I would hope that they have now unified all meters so that all suppliers can read the data.

I agree with Ian that choosing a supplier should be as easy as picking the one that charges the least per unit or Kwh.

Another reason for installing them could be that in extreme circumstances they could cut off your supply without entering your house.

Tammygirl

The other reason could be that the old meters go backwards if you have solar panels on your roof (they do honest) on sunny days double whammy