What are you all up to
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Arrived home at the weekend from our holiday in Peak District. Enjoyed the break not much sunshine but not that much rain either it was misty and foggy at times. Met up with youngest son and his girlfriend and visited Bakewell Christmas Market which was busy. The rivers in the area were still very high and fast flowing, one of the walks we like was still flooded.😯
I am now suffering with a cold, sore throat and cough so feeling a bit down 😢 Caravan is filthy and still needs emptying and cleaning inside but don't feel up to it at the moment.
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Tsk........you can go off folks you know M. Not that we are jealous or anything...........😂
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We had a power cut at 5pm tonight just as we were starting to cook tea. Ingredients all chopped up ready to go in the frying pan.🙁 Next doors house alarm was blaring, so I managed to find some candles in the dark. Power now back on, tea cooked and the house smells lovely as the candles are all different flavours!
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Finally tracked down an acceptable shade of blue of paint at Homebase on the south side of the city, so have been over there to collect and have now applied the first coat. Unfortunately it will require a second coat. ☹️
New sink ordered and will arrive tomorrow, but no timed delivery slot offered, so it seems people are expected to be available all day to wait for the delivery. Do these companies not realise that their customers do have jobs to go to?!
We can be there from about 09:30, but it may well come before that. DD is hoping to arrange with her neighbour to accept the delivery if we are not there.
So tomorrow I will be painting yet again, hopefully we can start installing the cupboards on Thursday.
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We have a delivery on Friday, if we wanted a timed slot we had to pay an extra £10 on top of the £15 optional delivery so I declined. If I hadn't paid the delivery costs I'd be getting a free delivery after Dec 17th...I've paid up for the early delivery just in case the item is damaged and we have to wait again for a replacement. Things are getting too complicated!
Hope you get your job finished soon KJ.
TG. We came back to a solid area of leaves and cooking apples, can't see the grass and it's very wet.
Helen, hope you feel better soon.
Moulesy, send some sun over our way please!
ADD46, glad you got the tea cooked.
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You can keep the rain down there, M, we've had enough of it!! We all could well have a good weekend by the look of the forecast. Enjoy your stay in Cornwall.
Sorry to hear about your cold, Helen. You shouldn't go paddling at this time you the year you know!
Glad that you had a good time in the Peak District. Where were you staying?After all this work, Kjell, you'll have to get away in the van for a rest.
The engineer came to fit the smart meters today. It took him from before 11:00 till nearly 4:00 to complete the work, and I'm not sure that they are working full yet. Will have to have a word with Shell tomorrow to confirm or not as they should be able to tell by then themselves, else we'll have to fix another day for a follow-up visit. The problem is that we are in such a poor area for reception of wireless, phone and WiFi signals.
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Hoping phase 1 of the project will be mainly finished by Christmas, but there will still be the floor to do after that time, followed by skirtings, and the tiling is well in the future!
Worktops are the next thing to order, they will be Iroko, much nicer to work with than laminate/chipboard, but longer preparation due to extensive oiling before installation.
No caravan holidays possible until nearly Easter Nellie, as we look after little Callum 2-3 days per week, but we will have a few "days off" over Christmas and New Year.
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After lots of pestering, we agreed to let our energy supplier come and fit a Smart meter. Someone eventually turned up, looked aghast at our 160 year old property (we have up to date meters, all safe) and there was lots of muttering about “not straightforward” and we haven’t seen or heard from them since. Not asbestos related by the way. Just “not straightforward”😂😂😂 It’ll get done eventually.
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We had a bit of that this morning ( it was the 3rd time that one of the engineers have come out to us), but it now looks fine. I just need a new consumer unit with RCD now, as ours is about 50 yrs old. Guess it's more expense sometime.
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I’ve changed suppliers 3 times these last few years & the original smart is owned by BG. Neither co-op nor Shell have any option but to accept my meter readings online 👍🏻😊. I’m very happy the the way it is as I now know exactly how much I’m owing them before they tell me.
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Same here Rocky. Aparantly when we switched supplier they couldnt use the smart meter put in by our previous supplier so we just submit our meter readings online. Suits us fine 👍
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Our smart meter, which we have had for years, is due to be changed for a super smart one 😂 on Friday. Apparently it will work even if you change supplier. I am quite happy with the current one, although they have been bombarding us with letters and emails for the last two years, saying we need to change, as it will stop working. The cheaper tariff I signed up to specifies we must have one of these meters, so I finally replied and booked an appointment.😀
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We've had a Smart meter for a few years now and it seems to work well. We could, however do with a modern equivalent to a fuse box, as ours came with the house 41 years ago. I have to admit, I've been putting this off, not just because of the experience of the unit and the fitting, but for what else might come with it. They say the are much more sensitive - I wouldn't mind betting that the 'tut-tut brigade' start arguing for rewiring.
David
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ditto, some 9 years now, we also have solar panels which for us are great, they generate £500 - £600 p.a. from the feed in tarriff and obviously contribute in keeping our lecce bills down, the only down side is that the nice little gadget that comes with the smart meter gets confused with the power being generated by the solar panels so that is less than useless, but we are with SSE and they have a reasonable web site you can go to to check your usage, not in real time, but it gives by the 1/2hr, hour , day, month in real time cost . I always take out a 3 year fixed deal for gas & lecce, i guess changing suppliers is ok, but you hear so many horror stories of these cheap companies going bust, so for me not worth the aggro
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Our supplier keeps trying to get us to have a smart meter but i have told them we will have one when they give us in writing conformation that if i switch to any other supplier it will still work ok
in the words of a mr atlee? in 1939 "i have not recieved that letter"
and we send our readings in monthly (if home) and we have just been advised to reduce our duel fuel DD to £25 a month (from £33)
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I have been bombarded regarding the installation of a 'Smart Meter', and asked if it will be the older SMETS1 or the newer, switchable supplier and more secure SMETS2. I was told whatever the engineer had in his van as there is a glut of the first generation Smart meters to be got rid of despite Ofgems ruling.
I requested they come and install when they can guarantee a SMETS2 is available to me.
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We haven't got a Smart meter, we use a little Onzo unit to keep an eye on electricity usage and costs. It's quite handy for checking when the EV has charged up etc. But we did do have up to date "fuse boxes" as we had to add another when we did some renovation work, I was glad to say goodbye to the old system.
We change fuel suppliers frequently, the latest one upgraded their computer system and I can't feed in meter readings at present so we're running on estimates that are nearly ok!
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Other than the ability for the meter to send readings, I can't see the point of these "smart" meters. It's easy enough to read an old one and I have a pretty good idea of how much leccy I'm using. I just need some sun to get my panels working. They didn't even manage a single KW yesterday.
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I would assume eventually it will save on meter readers. Our current old smart meter only gets checked every two years. I think mainly to see if there are any signs of by-passing it. Although the engineer always says it's a safety check. I believe these new ones can tell what you are using the power for, so would allow for differential charging depending on use.
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Mum has just had a letter informing that she is paying too much so her monthly payments will go down. Caused much hilarity as all that’s different is we have unplugged little Smart meter that tells you how you are doing!😂😂
There’s only one way to keep outgoings down, and that’s to set up your house not to be wasteful. Draughtproof, insulated, decent glazing, set to come on and off when you need it, don’t heat areas little used beyond keeping off chill. If you can add in solar panels that’s great. We have a relatively large old Victorian house, and it’s taken some time, effort and cash to make it efficient. Our one regret is not having solar panels, but they weren’t around when we bought it, and we didn’t think we would still be here, so didn’t invest 10-15 years ago, to make them economically viable. A move is still possible, downsizing, so it will get done then on whatever we buy. Stove has been a good investment, but only because we have regular access to good burning wood. If stove is lit, we only have heating on an hour in morning, and an hour before going to bed. But we are fit, out a good part of day, not having to think about children or elderly relatives. Both brought up in houses without central heating as well, so we are hardy little types😁
Be brilliant if I could attach OH and his bikes up in attic to a dynamo.....
🤔🤣🤣🤣
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Not sure we were given any choice as to whether we had Smart Meters or not, they just sent us a letter saying they were going to be changed. As I understand it you don't own the meter so Utility companies are within their right to update their own equipment? I suppose you could deny access or make it difficult for them! Mind you given the time some of you spend away from home it could take years for them to find a suitable time slot
I find the little gizmo that gives you an as it happens read out quite interesting. It does identify those appliances which use a lot of power. Take a dishwasher, there is quite a difference in power consumption between a short wash and a full high temperature wash so it does make you think what setting is really necessary. As I understand it is the meter that send the readings not the gizmo so if you don't like it you can unplug it.Re consumer units, if people still have the old fused type they should seriously consider changing to a more up to date one with circuit breakers. We had ours done a few years ago and it was fascinating to watch, so many wires coming from all directions! From memory it cost us about £300. You do need it to be done by someone who is registered to give you an electrical certificate once the job is done.
David
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Utility companies will tell you that it’s a Govt requirement to have a smart meter. It is not. The only requirement from Govt is that the companies must make smart meters available. You do not have to have them and I’m proof of that as we have just had ours changed and refused a smart meter due to comms difficulties in the area.
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We had a smart meter installed about a year ago only because the readings would be sent direct. However when installing the 'team' insisted on checking the boiler and then proclaimed it to be dangerous due to some black marks around a seal and started giving us details of a new boiler!
Even though we showed the the report from the annual safety report a few weeks earlier. They said we could not legally use it. We then rang British Gas who we have a service agreement with they came out and said the boiler was fine. A complaint to the company achieved nothing.
On the plus side either the readings we sent in were incorrect or the old/new meter was/is faulty but we are getting £340 back on Friday as well as a new monthly figures as we been paying too much! And no we have not changed the way we use gas or electric and the little meter they gave us to see our daily/monthly/yearly usage was only switched for one day, and that the day they gave it to us.
Post edit: daughter got them last week or so but no checking of boiler and these can be used with any supplier.
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I think smart meters could be incredibly useful,
e.g.
i can access the SSE website and see how much energy i am using gas & electricity, by the 1/2 hour, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, by using these bar charts i can see whether my monthly payments are going to keep pace with usage without waiting until the bill arrives, which if i have forgotten to send in a meter reading would only be an estimate anyway.
i know some people have concerns re the "big brother" aspect, but if the information received via smart meters is used correctly it can predict much more accurately when the demand for power is at it greatest, i believe also that this info could be used to give individuals better rates during all hours of the day e.g. i would like a cheaper rate between 1000 hrs - 1400 hrs, maybe not every day, but on the days when i do most washing for e.g..
we live in a technolgy world, we should not have to rely on a person visiting us to read our meter, if you have ever lived in a country that has "brown outs" and i believe some states in the USA still have them, you would realise just how important it could be going forward to be able to predict energy patterns.
I have had a smart meter since they were first introduced and have had no problems and i believe the meter together with my solar panels have saved me money and importantly made me aware of just how much power i use and when.
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I changed electricity supplier about 4 months ago. A couple of suppliers included fitment of a smart meter as an essential part of the deal and were discounted straight away. I have zero interest in knowing what my consumption is at any point in time.
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We have had a tariff requiring a smart meter for several years - at present we don't have smart meters 😉. We were booked in to have them fitted last month, nothing to do with tariffs but meter reader misread the dial electric meter by over a thousand in June. When I rang to advise the correct reading it all kicked off 😀.
Agreed date to have them fitted, fitter arrived and had 'that presence' about him on arrival. He wanted the drive which at that moment had the guys unloading the new conservatory roof which couldn't be fitted the day before due to rain. Guys happy to move within moments.
Fitter checked our boiler, serviced about 6 weeks before, noted a lead pipe leading to meter. Wanted to know if I knew where it went! Our house built in 1936 so no idea myself! Had to make a call, told he could use brass and do the job. Asked about gas fires said yes we had one. Checked it out, it had been serviced but couldn't be repaired so gas turned off whilst we contemplated a new one. More sucking in of breath and a phone call, couldn't do them 😤😤. I'm sure if the boiler hadn't been serviced so recently he'd have worked on that! Guy who fitted our fire said the smart meter fitters can be a nightmare. Makes you feel you're in safe hands!
Since I'd had to empty 2 tardis understairs cupboards I wasn't best pleased, especially as we had the conservatory furniture in the house too. NO he couldn't do just the electric and return to do gas one - not allowed.......
Letters and emails arriving frequently about fitting smart meters, but new gas fire only fitted this last week. I will ensure that we DO NOT have the same fitter, when I agree to a new date in due course.
Personally I can't see it being of any use in saving money, if I want to use something I will and turn it off when I've finished as I do now 😀
WET here again today! Although brighter skies than weve had for ages!
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We have also resisted having smart meters fitted. With only two of us in the house, we use gas and electric sparingly, turn appliances off when not using them. I'm not sure we'd save much although it might be interesting to see which appliances use most energy. We recently had a new boiler installed by British Gas - the surveyor who came round to advise us (a former student of mine) implied that there was little reason for us to have them fitted.
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