Smart energy meters, should I/shouldn't I?

[albion]

The Powershop tariff?

 

[I like Skol]

Ho Ho!

Just had a call from OVO, my recently switched to energy supplier. They have engineers in the area at the moment for the next couple of weeks and would it be convenient to schedule a visit to fit smart meters for me?

I said no because;

• I don't have to have them
• I am not confident in their accuracy
• I am waiting until an industry wide standardised unit is introduced so I do not have trouble if I want to swap suppliers in the future

He didn't disagree with any of my points and politely thanked me for my time. You would think he might have at least challenged me on the second point?

 

[swansonj]

Ho Ho!

Just had a call from OVO, my recently switched to energy supplier. They have engineers in the area at the moment for the next couple of weeks and would it be convenient to schedule a visit to fit smart meters for me?

I said no because;

• I don't have to have them
• I am not confident in their accuracy
• I am waiting until an industry wide standardised unit is introduced so I do not have trouble if I want to swap suppliers in the future

He didn't disagree with any of my points and politely thanked me for my time. You would think he might have at least challenged me on the second point?

Yes, I would challenge you on your second point

Your third point is unassailable though. I had a smart meter fitted while I was with OVO. I have now reluctantly switched supplier to a cheaper but actually more green supplier, and my smart meter has reverted to dumb mode - I'm back to taking manual meter readings from the damn thing.

 

[subaqua]

Soon have no say anyway. The letter is the subtle way of letting you know, whilst letting you have the "choice".

Will need an act of parliament . And no they are useless. Brother fell for the spiel and still gets estimated bills .....

 

[potsy]

We recently had our electricity smart meter installed, I can say with certainty that it is now costing more.

It comes with a little mobile phone sized screen thing that has to be plugged into the wall socket, costs 80p a year!!

 

[I like Skol]

Having just reread all the posts in this thread I have decided there are not enough (if any) positive arguments to counter any real or theoretical negatives of having a smart meter at this point in time. I will hold out a while and see what happens. Who knows, they may even pay me to swap when they are trying to mop up the last few stragglers?

Ho ho ho...…

I will hold out for a while longer I think

 

[Drago]

Thirty sovs? Tight gits!

 

[Tanis8472]

Try switching Most are now making it a requirement to switch

Bastids

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Our smart meter display doofer has been switched off for months.
We installed LED bulbs, saw the difference, and couldn't make things any better, so now we save the electricity that the display uses.
Plus our meter is British Gas, which probably won't talk to another provider.

Except for saving British Gas from paying meter readers, and stopping the angst of querying estimated bills, I can't see the point.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

No benefit what so ever to the consumer. Lots of benefit to the providers.

 

[MikeG]

No benefit what so ever to the consumer. Lots of benefit to the providers.

............and I can't wait to see the panic when some Russian hackers get into the system and switch off everyone's supply for 2 minutes. Or worse, tamper with the bills.

 

[Bazzer]

And if you have solar panels.....
https://utilityweek.co.uk/sta-warns-smart-meters-solar-panels-decoupled/

 

[icowden]

If you are going to switch - make sure it's to a second gen Smart Meter. Lots of companies are only offering the original version which is then pretty much tied to the company that supplied it. Second gen links to a national network which means that any supplier to take over receiving the data.

 

[classic33]

............and I can't wait to see the panic when some Russian hackers get into the system and switch off everyone's supply for 2 minutes. Or worse, tamper with the bills.

Done.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/69819/iot/energy-smart-meters-hack.html

 

[Drago]

I'll be dead in the cold cold ground before In have a communist big brother smart meter at Dragofork Ranch.