Not so smart meter

[Lons]

I dread anyone wanting to change our meter as it's 1/3 a mile away, in a tatty box with no door and hanging off a stone wall. :shock:

Hope there are no gypos reading this Roger or they'll be hooked up to your supply in no time. #-o

 

[RogerS]

.....
Apart from the fact that if the suppier knew the box was insecure they'd cut off the supply anyway.

That's what I'm worried about !

 

[Sideways]

The industry has failed so spectacularly on this inititive that the only good advice is to stay away from it as long as possible. Government deadlines railroading the rollout of a technology before it was fit for purpose and no one seeming to have the spine to stand up and tell truth to power.

Back in 2016 GCHQ of all outfits had to intervene on the grounds of national security because the initial design had all smart meters using the same encryption key - crack one, crack all... This and the lack of an industry wide standard until late 2017 has delayed the program massively and cost a mint. Meanwhile, first generation meter rollout has continued driven by targets even while companies knew they were not fit for purpose.

To quote the National Audit Office earlier this year:
"The Smart Meters Programme has serious issues which the government needs to address if smart meters are going to succeed."
see
https://www.nao.org.uk/report/rolling-out-smart-meters/

The interesting number is the projection that about 14 million type 1 meters will have been rolled out by the time they're finally stopped. These will eventually have to be replaced by the type 2 meters. Guess who is going to be paying for that through our energy bills ...?

My approach: Just say no. And if someone tries to force you, change your supplier.

 

[Freddyjersey2016]

As a project manager, I wonder who the idiots are who are running the 'smart' meter rollout. I am with SSE in Bucks in a fairly large village. You would think the sensible way to run this rollout is to turn up in the street with several technicians in a couple of vans and do the whole street in one go; then tomorrow do the next street and so on; regardless of which supplier you are with.
Oh no - they send out endless requests to fit a meter which I ignore 'cos i cant see the point; so this rollout will take until 2025 and cost far more than it needs to because they have chosen totally the wrong way to go about it. Compare it with the way the gas companies are replacing gas pipework to whole streets of houses in one go - which is what they did to my mother in Hornchurch last year.
And the meter wont save me any money; I know a kettle uses a lot of power; and I have replaced all my bulbs with LEDs....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There is rarely any forward planning. Some 40+ years ago a main road near me was closed in stages for five miles and trenches dug twelve feet deep all the way for new sewers. The village at the end of the road still has no mains gas.

 

[thetyreman]

they are a clear breach of privacy, I have major concerns over the security of them, my gut tells me it's a bad idea having a device in your home that communicates with servers that can data mine everything you use in your house, what time you use it, how often, they'll even know when you're asleep and awake just from the information, can't imagine what could possibly go wrong...

 

[Rorschach]

A bigger issue is that the installers are not competant.

 

[flying haggis]

I forgot, I should have mentioned - I reported the TV advert (the one that informs you a smart meter will save you money) to the ASA. A few days later I had an email back saying they wouldn't look into my complaint as an individual complaint as they had had so many of the same complaint they were all being treated as one. They will email me of any decision made (although I expect the national press will get to it first ).
When I get a reply I'll post it.

I also reported the ads as misleading.

 

[Tasky]

My vista laptop has been without support (or crashes) for a half dozen years.

And without security updates, too...
We're not allowed to use anything older than 7 at work, due to various vulnerabilities.

I forgot, I should have mentioned - I reported the TV advert (the one that informs you a smart meter will save you money) to the ASA. A few days later I had an email back saying they wouldn't look into my complaint as an individual complaint as they had had so many of the same complaint they were all being treated as one.

They can save you money.... but only if you're using less than the average similar household.
If you're a heavy user, then it's time to pay up - I'm not going to pay my rates just so you can leave your lights and your central heating on 24/7... and I don't care if it is Christmas, you house looks stupid with 15,000 lights sparkling away like an airport runway!!

But seriously, it's all about charging people for what they actually use.

And if someone tries to force you, change your supplier.

Soon you will be able to do this for all utilities... But the service provider will remain the same.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I forgot, I should have mentioned - I reported the TV advert (the one that informs you a smart meter will save you money) to the ASA. A few days later I had an email back saying they wouldn't look into my complaint as an individual complaint as they had had so many of the same complaint they were all being treated as one.

They can save you money.... but only if you're using less than the average similar household.
If you're a heavy user, then it's time to pay up - I'm not going to pay my rates just so you can leave your lights and your central heating on 24/7... and I don't care if it is Christmas, you house looks stupid with 15,000 lights sparkling away like an airport runway!!

But seriously, it's all about charging people for what they actually use.

No it's not. Any meter allows you to be charged for what you use. The smart meter allows charging according to when it was used. Allows you to see what you're using without going headlong into the cupboard under the stairs (or where ever), and allows remote meter reading. So it can only save you energy if you use it to understand what is using energy, and change your behaviour to minimise it. Of itself, it just consumes batteries as well as mains electricity.

 

[Tasky]

No it's not. Any meter allows you to be charged for what you use.

OK, so your dumb meter knows when you're being supplied by wind instead of solar or coal-generated electricity, and charges you appropriately, does it?
Knows when your water is actually being used instead of just leaking on your property?

Many of our customers are still on rates and dumb-metering them won't help fix most of the problems. Smart meters will.

 

[OscarG]

I was with nPower for several years and ended up in a legal battle with them. If they were the last supplier in the country I would rather go off-grid. Never again, under any circumstances.

That echoes my experience with them. My monthly DD went from £80 to £400, then £5 (five! cinque! cinq!) It's like they have a monkey pulling numbers out of a hat and that's what you pay.

With another supplier First Utility I got a so called smart meter, there was the meter itself installed downstairs and some little limpet thing that goes inside the flat and supposed to talk to the meter. Well the limpet thing never worked, "no data to show", absolutely useless.

Changed supplier again, now with Bulb. All is well but I still have to go downstairs and manually provide the supplier with the reading from my "smart" meter, just like I did with the old "dumb" meter (hammer)

The whole exercise is a spectacular waste of time.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The whole of my bungalow is on one ring (workshop is separate) - it has possibly a couple of dozen things permanently plugged in that may or may not be switched on at the time. It would take a very, very smart meter indeed to tell what was using what. Good job I know what a ratings plate is is all I can say.
I think we'll end up with a system like Economy 7 only much more variable - there's no reason why electricity shouldn't be more expensive between say 5.00pm and 7.00pm than it is the rest of the day, then perhaps more between 4.00pm - 5.00pm and 7.00pm - 8.00pm, and so on until the cheapest is at 4.00am (or whatever).
There is no reason why there shouldn't be a warning traffic light, perhaps in the kitchen which could be used to show when there's a power surplus due to solar or wind (or other) input - you could see a green light and put your tumble drier, washing machine etc. on when it was cheapest and better for the grid or conversely avoid doing so when it was red if were watching the cost. To get the cheapest you'll tolerate a little inconvenience.

 

[transatlantic]

I don't have a smart meter and as others have said, will try to postpone it as long as possible.

Having said that, I do have a monitor that I purchased and installed myself (geo Minim Energy Monitor). I think it's great, wouldn't be without it now. So when they do sort out all the issues, I think most people will find them very useful.

I still can't believe they rolled out a system where the meters were not transferable though. The companies should be fined for how much wastage that produced.

 

[Robbo3]

Eventually the cost of electricity for those without a smart meter will rise to force the change just as it did for direct debit vs quarterly bills & on line billing vs paper.

 

[sunnybob]

I dont understand how they can generate the same electricity cheaper at night than in the day.
Theyre just profiteering on customers actual needs. Its worse than air fare prices (and thats saying something).
For once, Cyprus has its head in gear, instead of somewhere the sun dont shine.

you get a basic rate for a basic amount. then if you use more, you get charged more per unit. about 5 different bands.
If you use it you pay for it. If you dont want to pay, you turn all the junk off.
Easy peasy.
And all the house meters are in a seperate block nearby accessible from the road (mine is over 50 metres from my house, in a box with 6 others)). They never need to knock on a door or guesstimate a reading.

 

[RogerS]

.... on line billing vs paper.

You mean just like all those financial institutions who encouraged us all to go paperless only to find out that when you next wanted to open a bank account or similar that they insisted on the last three months of paper statements. Computer printouts....their computer printouts, mark you....were not acceptable. :evil:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I dont understand how they can generate the same electricity cheaper at night than in the day.

They don't. They do their best to encourage you to use it at night as it helps keep demand constant - the whole system runs to suit the maximum demand, it would be cheaper to produce if the demand were to flatline rather than their having to dump surplus power at quiet times.

 

[whatknot]

There is the perception by some, that in this day and age with all the record keeping of every mortal thing we do, that our lives will be heavily recorded for posterity, they do not seem to realise that due to various regulations and the fear of litigation, companies dispose of as much as they can, as soon as they can, or restrict what is viewable, even to those who it pertains to, then there are the data losses through bad management practices, so there will be little to mark our time on earth by the time its all done

 

[transatlantic]

Barclays : Save the planet with paperless monthly statements!
Barclays : Let me send you a thick wod of rubbish every few weeks for a barclay card you'll never want!