Smart meters, Pros & Cons?

[Cinimod]

I've been ignoring the letters telling me about fitting one for ages. I personally don't trust the big brother intrusion and the nail in the coffin was when the data lady came round to our school to check on our wireless metre readings manually every six weeks (oh the irony =D> =D> ), she said she would be the last person to have one fitted.

Enough for me not to have one and I think I did hear that other countries that have used them have found a trail of issues and problems that they have been shelved. Bring on the revolution ........dom

 

[skipdiver]

I'm not getting one until they force me, probably at gunpoint before i yield. Big brother and all that. I have just switched to one of the small energy companies and hope they are not so keen on this. They are certainly cheaper than npower, who were terrible all round.

 

[geoffshep]

We have them, and they are convenient for meter readings but that's about it and far as we are concerned. They are the original design/spec, as supplied free by British Gas. They make meter reading really easy (ie no meter reading required) and you can therefore get a very accurate up to date usage on your online account. That doesn't help greatly if the company still only raises bills quarterly though.

We don't use the (now obsolete) first generation 'smart' display - for a number of reasons. It needs to be plugged in so takes up another socket, it has an extremely bright green light which tells you your usage is 'in the green' (apart from the unnecessary power required to light the green searchlight) and it is so bright it illuminates an entire room. And anyway, it doesn't matter if the thing tells you your usage has just shot up when you switch the kettle on - you are still going to make that cup of tea. So it lives in the cupboard.

The problem as yet, is that they probably won't work with a different supplier. They were fine with British Gas (obviously) but no use when we went to EON. In fact because we were noted as having smart meters, the system couldn't send us quarterly meter reading email reminders (work that one out!) so unless we remembered to send them in we had to have the meter reader come round in person. When we switched back to BG, they were picked up straight away and worked fine - which is more than can be said for BG! We are in the process of switching to EDF so will see whether they are of any use with them.

 

[finneyb]

I'm not getting one until they force me, probably at gunpoint before i yield. Big brother and all that. I have just switched to one of the small energy companies and hope they are not so keen on this. They are certainly cheaper than npower, who were terrible all round.

I'm with Flow ( I assume a small energy co) they have not offered a smart meter AND they email every month for me to put in the readings, if I want to - sometimes I enter the readings others times I don't, depends what I'm doing.

Brian

 

[skipdiver]

I'm not getting one until they force me, probably at gunpoint before i yield. Big brother and all that. I have just switched to one of the small energy companies and hope they are not so keen on this. They are certainly cheaper than npower, who were terrible all round.

I'm with Flow ( I assume a small energy co) they have not offered a smart meter AND they email every month for me to put in the readings, if I want to - sometimes I enter the readings others times I don't, depends what I'm doing.

Brian

I switched to Avro last month. Early days yet, so don't know what to expect.

 

[Matt@]

we've had one installed, its saved us money as I quickly realised how much the GCH cost to run so down went the wall stat

 

[stuartpaul]

we've had one installed, its saved us money as I quickly realised how much the GCH cost to run so down went the wall stat

Which is really the object of the exercise! (same here by the way).

I do struggle to understand some of the paranoia that appears on this forum whenever smart meters are mentioned.

 

[Rorschach]

You could have worked that out for yourself using the old dumb meter. Also I never understand this thing of people saying it saves them money. If you are running gas or electricity unnecessarily then yes it might help but it if you are being sensible about what items you are using then a smart meter is not going to save you any money. No-one in their right mind is going to sit in the living room with lights and tv running, look at the meter and say "lok how much this is costing us, better turn it off and sit in the dark!"

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Look at your usage over several hours without central heating on then look at it after the same time with it on. You don't need a smart meter to tell you the difference.

 

[transatlantic]

Of course you don't need a smart meter for monitoring things, but it makes it easier and people are more likely to take notice.

 

[RogerS]

,,,,
I do struggle to understand some of the paranoia that appears on this forum whenever smart meters are mentioned.

It's not paranoia but sheer pragmatism and experience born of reality.

Since they can cut you off remotely and computers/companies/humans never, ever make mistakes (as if) then it's commonsense not to give them the opportunity.

 

[stuartpaul]

,,,,
I do struggle to understand some of the paranoia that appears on this forum whenever smart meters are mentioned.

It's not paranoia but sheer pragmatism and experience born of reality.

Since they can cut you off remotely and computers/companies/humans never, ever make mistakes (as if) then it's commonsense not to give them the opportunity.

Then on that basis Roger we'd better halt all technology immediately as something could go wrong! I know that's not what you mean but it is a somewhat logical extension of that particular argument is it not?

I might well get 'caught out' at some point in time but in the grand scheme of life, the universe and everything I'll take that punt for now.

We'll be changing supplier next year (from BG) so we'll see how that goes!

 

[RogerS]

I take your point and perhaps I'm more cynical than you. I just don't want the potential hassle and for what I see as little benefit. Bit like why I keep a dedicated bank account for PayPal. I just don't want the hassle of them riding roughshod over my main bank account and the hassle in trying to resolve mistakes. Ditto direct debits...try and avoid them as much as possible.

OK...I'm a control freak !

 

[Rorschach]

I'm also rather worried about the fact that the installers are poorly trained and meters are catching fire.

 

[MJP]

The intended use of smart meters is to flatten out demand by differential pricing - if you look at the UK demand plot http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ you will see the regular drop in demand at nighttime and the morning and evening peaks.
Smart metering will enable the supply companies to charge different rates depending upon when you use the electricity - very expensive at peak demand times, not so expensive during the night.
This has been made necessary by the closure of many of our power stations, to the extent that we now have very little spare capacity to see us through a cold spell in mid winter, for example.
All the nonsense about saving the consumer money is just so much hot air.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

So they could have put everyone on Economy 7.

 

[RogerS]

So they could have put everyone on Economy 7.

ROTFLMAO

=D>

 

[No skills]

I'm starting to think that with IQ's apparently dropping like a stone smart meters are essential...

 

[Rorschach]

I'm starting to think that with IQ's apparently dropping like a stone smart meters are essential...

Like a stone? I wouldn't call a single point drop that serious, at least not yet.

 

[No skills]

Don't believe the hype - 1 point seems to have made a hell of a difference